KIMMIE WEEKS CHILD RIGHTS HERO NOMINEE pages 90–109
Why has Kimmie been nominated? Kimmie Weeks has been nominated for the 2013 World’s Children’s Prize because he has spent over 20 years, since he was ten years old, fighting for the rights of the child, especially for children affected by war.
When the war in Liberia begins, Kimmie Weeks is eight years old and flees from his home with his mother. In the refugee camp outside the capital city of Monrovia, Kimmie comes close to dying of cholera after drinking contaminated water. He survives and pledges to spend his whole life helping children who are suffering because of war. He has kept that promise.
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ut woman, your child is dead. He’s not breathing any more,” says a man to Kimmie’s mother in the refugee camp. He takes the little body from her and carries it away. Finally, Kimmie’s mother gathers the strength to get up and go looking for her son’s body. When she finds it among people who have died, she shakes it. Miraculously, Kimmie wakes up. Twenty years later, Kimmie Weeks is known for his commitment to helping children who have grown up in war zones.
FOTO: CHRIS HONDROS/GET TY IMAGES
while fleeing in wartime Liberia, Kimmie almost died of cholera. There and then he pledged to spend his whole life helping disadvantaged children. Kimmie and his friends founded ‘Voice of the Future’ and learned about the rights of the child. When Kimmie was 16 they organised a campaign to disarm the child soldiers in the civil war. This contributed to the liberation of 20,000 child soldiers. One year later, Kimmie had to flee. He had revealed that the newly elected President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, was recruiting child soldiers to the Liberian army. The President tried to have Kimmie killed. As a refugee in the USA, Kimmie continued his work for children affected by war, not only in Liberia but also in other countries, primarily Sierra Leone and Uganda. Kimmie and other young people now run an organisation called Youth Action International. YAI helps vulnerable children, providing a home for orphans, rehabilitation of child soldiers, education, health care and more. YAI also lobbies governments and parliaments to promote respect for the rights of the child.
One evening, after boys with weapons banged on the door of the home Kimmie shared with his mother, they decided to flee.
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