Many times Kimmie and his family had to go days without real food and clean drink, which forced them to eat wild leaves and infested water since the national water supply was turned off. Dehydrated and emaciated from the cholera he had contracted, Kimmie began to show signs of death.
With no medicine or medical care, Kimmie's situation worsened. When his family could no longer feel a pulse in his chest and were dealing with the fact that they would have to bury him, his relentless mother screamed and hit his body until he regained consciousness.
Kimmie remembered, "All through the war, I saw children suffer worse than 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 children in my country spend long days on the streets of the capital under the blazing African sun trying to sell goods for other families to survive, while thousands of others carried guns, fighting and killing one another," he recalled. "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."
A nightmarish life such as Kimmie's and other children's in Africa would be enough to make someone give up and simply hope for the best. But there was something in Kimmie that knew he and others could have better lives.
The obstacles he faced only pushed him to find a way to create a new world for African children, a place where food, drink, shelter, and medicine would always be accessible.
At the age of 10, Kimmie decided to make this dream a reality. Starting with the issue of clean water, Weeks founded a volunteer organization to clean villages afflicted with toxic drinking water.
His next achievement was becoming a volunteer at hospitals for children, where he experienced a child dying in his arms. A few years later, Kimmie co-founded Voice of the Future Inc., a child advocate group. This organization works with the United Nations agency UNICEF, helping with children with family problems, drug problems, and peer counseling issues.
But all of this was not enough for Kimmie. He wanted to do more. With help from UNICEF, Voice of the Future managed to receive the disarmament of approximately 15,000 children in Liberia. Marching, public campaigns and meeting with political leaders all helped in the emancipation of many African children.
Continuing his quest for peace in Liberia, Weeks established The Children's Bureau of Investigation, which helps to assimilate child soldiers from the war back into Liberian society. A year later, Kimmie began to research the military training for children soldiers in Liberia, exposing many shocking and unbelievable truths.
After the publishing of his report on this topic, Weeks received many assassination threats, causing him to leave Liberia and come to the United States where he was granted political asylum.
Although Kimmie had to leave his homeland, this did not prevent him from keeping his dream alive. He attended the College and was a double major in political science and history.
Now, Weeks is at Columbia University where he will receive his masters degree in international affairs and human rights and diplomacy. He is also the executive director of Youth Action International (YAI), which he founded in 2002 to create programs for children dealing with problems such as drugs, war, and family violence. YAI has already raised more than $25,000 for global projects and is working with other organizations to ensure that every child will reach his or her potential no matter where he or she is from. Weeks' remarkable achievements have not gone unnoticed. He has been asked to speak at many universities and organizations, and has been compared to Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
Recently, Weeks has been honored with 2007 BRICK AWARD for his efforts in Africa and around the world. The BRICK Awards are sponsored by a not-for-profit Internet company called Do Something, that seeks to find people who "identify a problem in their community and then get up off the couch and do something about it." Not only does Weeks meet this expectation but he also regularly surpasses it.