Humanitarian Spotlight: Kimmie Weeks
The 2007 BRICK AWARDS honored Kimmie Weeks, this year for his outstanding efforts in making a global impact, mainly on issues of children and war. The Brick Awards honor young people under the age of 25, who have taken and made amazing strides to make a difference. Please do check out the other winners, as they all are young people to keep an eye on. With the future in their hands, I know we can all sleep a little better tonight.
Kimmie was born in Liberia on December 6, 1981, a normal childhood which was soon turned upside down by the Liberian civil in 1989. At the time the war broke out Kimmie was only nine years old. Kimmie and his failed now faced poverty, and so much more suffering during the war. After weeks of hunger Kimmie became extremely ill, and was even declared dead…he was almost buried alive. Luckily he was saved and recovered to full health ,but Kimmie’s story was not remarkable, for he was one of the lucky ones, first of all he was alive. However many children where not so lucky, and may others faced torture and abuse as child soldiers. After his brush with death and witnessing the atrocities of war, and the many acts of violence committed against other children, Kimmie knew he had to do something. At only 10 years old Kimmie began his mission to make the world a better place for children.
“all through the war, I saw children suffer worse then I. I watched children die, cut down by bullets or disease that in other parts of the world would be considered no longer a threat. I saw the growing number of young children barely in their teens who were becoming prostitutes. School for these any many others was a fantasy.”
Kimmie’s mission began with cleaning the streets of the fragments and trash that littered the streets following the war. Soon he would volunteer in hospitals and shelters, with the children, and once again he would have his eyes opened even more to the destruction of war.
“It was there that a child first died in my arms and I knew then and there what it felt like for a mother who lost her child.”
In a mere few years, Kimmie helped found the Voice of the Future Inc. (VOF), which was Liberia’s first child rights advocacy and humanitarian organization, and was completely run by young people like Kimmie.
Kimmie Weeks
Youth Action International
How Stuff Works Interview with Kimmie Weeks
August 28th, 2007 at 12:28 am
[…] For now the question remains, will we see a true leader for this years prize, the winner of the first Mo Ibrahim Prize is to be announced on 22nd October 2007. However even in a continent such as Africa, true leaders have emerged, most notably, Nelson Mandela, who appears to be the forerunner of the prize. For others it may appear that the foundation shouldn’t look to the unlikely leaders in Africa, for a recipient of the prize, but maybe some of the victims of Africa’s worst political struggles…the countless children on the continent who struggle to overcome hardship on a daily basis. Children who where thrust into adulthood at an early age, many of whom accept their fate with pride and strength, leading others down the same path. Children like Nkosi Johnson, Kimmie Weeks, The children leading the Children’s Parliament in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and so many others. […]