17 years support of Youth Action International (YAI) & Kimmie Weeks.
Kimmie Weeks, with his sightly tilted “Bing Crosby” hat over his left eye, was there to meet us when we first step foot off the plane at Monrovia airport into a hustling post war Liberia in 2007. Kimmie was the young twenty something national orator of his country, invited back by the first female President ever in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She saw that Kimmie was shaped to unite the youth not only of Liberia but of all West Africa. Just before we met he had founded Youth Action International.
Now Dr. Kimmie is 42. He is a leader of people, of countries and maybe destined to be a leader of an emerging new Africa. Both he and Youth Action International (YAI) are globally respected for their humanitarian, national and African work and impact over the last twenty years. It has been an honor for me, my family and our businesses, Humanity Unites Brilliance, Sanara, Real Coconut Kitchens and our Influence Foundation to work closely with Kimmie in forging a bright future for his beloved country.
Over the years we have united orphans with their mums who years before had fled the country, escaping the child solder armies that hunted them. We found a derelict building and established a woman’s empowerment college that has now graduated thousands since its first graduation class on 2009. We were blessed with the patronage of President Sirleaf who came to the opening and the first graduation. We have built and opened schools for children and computer lab buildings for the youth, we have fixed water wells after we realized it cost so little to fix a well compared with its original drilling cost; We have watched as Kimmie as Chairman of Water and Sewage, brought fresh water across his country, in the midst of Ebola and then Covid challenges; Now we support the emergence of Liberia as a food kitchen for Africa and then the world as we help Kimmie turn a 100% import reliant country to having a sustainable and vibrant export economy; This is the future, the ultimate future. Also today we support computer labs expansion and digital training, celebrating with Kimmie and YAI winning yet another award for their globally recognized work.
Charlie Stuart Gay
ABOUT YOUTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL
YAI was established in 2006 by Liberian activist and civil war survivor Kimmie Weeks. The organization’s early projects were focused on meeting urgent needs around education, health care and economic empowerment.
Since its establishment, YAI’s programs have benefited more than half a million people in Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Past successful programs have established computer training centers, vocational training centers and high schools. The organization has also run initiatives around early childhood education and access to clean water.
Both Kimmie Weeks and YAI have been recognized globally and have received numerous awards for YAI’s work against poverty. Notable amongst them includes the World’s Children’s Prize from the Queen of Sweden and Liberia’s highest civilian award from former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Our work has been profiled on major television networks including CNN, BBC TV, CCTV, Discovery Channel, and MTV Canada.
Youth Action International is a registered 501.C.3 organization in the United States and is an accredited non-governmental organization with the governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
ABOUT KIMMIE WEEKS
Kimmie Weeks is an internationally acclaimed Liberian activist and humanitarian. He was born in Liberian in 1981 and is a survivor of the Liberian civil war. In 1997, Kimmie Weeks was forced to flee Liberia and was granted political asylum in the United States as a result of his advocacy for the disarmament of child soldiers. He started Youth Action International while in the United States and the organization has since provided education, health care and economic empowerment for close the 500,000 people in six post war African countries.
Weeks has received many national and international awards for his work. He has served in many other capacities with the United Nations, with the Liberian government as Chairman of the Board for the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, and as Communications Strategist for Orange Liberia. He currently serves as Executive Director of Youth Action International and as Senior Director of Africa Operations for Integrum Scientific.
He is actively involved in various agriculture projects including Hope Farm, mentored by Influence Foundation, and is promoting sustainable agriculture as a solution for many of Africa’s fundamental problems.
