 I'm your host today, Alex Silva-Satter, and my guest is Kwanukwanei Karmu. And he is the author of this book, Witness, a Civil War through the Eyes of a Child. And he is also the executive director and co-founder of Save More Kids, which is a non-profit in Liberia and operates there and you also have come have elements here in the United States here at UC Davis, agricultural collaborations and other things. So we're here today to talk about what's going on in Liberia today, what Save More Kids is doing, and what the future holds. In a previous episode we discussed the Liberian Civil War and your experiences as a child during that war. And I think just for context for this, during that civil war which lasted 10 to 20 years, 14 years, 90% of the economy in Liberia was destroyed. About half the population at the time it was around 2 million. So around 1 million people were displaced as a result of the war. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed during the civil war. And currently Liberia's population is around 4 million, 4.5 million. And the majority, 70%, right, of the people are under the age of 25. So that's some of the consequences that Liberia is dealing with today as a result of all of the war, the two civil wars. And Save More Kids was founded to address many of these issues. That's correct. And to develop a new future. So could you tell us about Save More Kids? Yes. Thank you for asking again. Thank you for having me on the show. Save More Kids were created based on our promise my mother made in our killing field. And it was created to commemorate the struggle of what happened in Liberia, but it also provided a realistic solution to a country that had been devastated by civil war. When we first got into Liberia for Save More Kids, literally we know that what we were doing would be so paramount to the solutions, to drive solutions to problems in Liberia. When we approached Liberia, we approached it not from the outside looking in, but from an individual who understand the struggle of what happened in Liberia. And then, of course, having been fortunate to get education in the United States to adopt to American living. Taking all of my development that I took from here, going back to Liberia with my passion for humanity, allowed us to be able to see things a little differently. So we were on designing solutions from the outside of Liberia, bringing it into Liberia and hoping that it works for Liberians. We were designing solutions after absorbing the crisis of what is happening in Liberia to be able to find realistic solutions to Save More Kids, to just be able to put in a solution that would be able to help the country in the long run. And the best way to go about that was Save More Kids, was just to be able to find that 70% of a population of a little over 4 million is under 25 years old. That was striking to us. And it was something that was right in our face, that if the future of Liberia is to hold, we have to invest in a young mind, into the individuals that will become the 20 years old, the 25 year old, young adults one day. If they are not in power to be able to become a solution in the country, then the country will be a dependent country on the rest of the world. And that's very limited to its potential for what is there. So we turn our attention to mental and kids. And we first started by opening up an orphanage home in memory of my mother for her promise that she made in our killing field in order for us to be able to expand on that promise that she made. We opened up an orphanage home and took in children who had been devastated by the war right from the beginning. So we took in 44 kids into this home and created this environment of empowerment and love on these kids in order to turn them into children who can not only grow beyond their circumstances, but they can become empowered and be able to become a solution in their environment. So over the last 10 plus years, a little over 10 years now, we have ran this home effectively and has been able to impact these 44 kids to begin with. The goal is to expand this home. We are building a bigger facility that's going to house 68 kids. It's also going to turn into an innovative center where the rest of the world can be able to descend in this place and impact these kids from this middle of this country, but also send these kids outside is be able to empower these kids so that one day they cannot be able to go into Liberia and become effective asset of the community. So from the home, we're able to then do a lot of programs. We have a lot of initiatives that we institute in order to be able to solve the problems around the home. So education in this home is not like a normal type of education where you just go and sit in class all day. It's really taking the solution, exposing the kids to the problems in their environment and then innovatively aligning them with those issues and growing a passion in their system to be able to solve those issues. So not pretending that the problems don't exist, but making sure that they acknowledge the problems and that they can see that their solutions to the problem and they can become part of those solutions. Exactly. So a lot of what we're doing now is trying to build an academy, save more kids impact academy is what we're calling it, and that academy will speed up the age limit for education because of the war on the atrocity. Many kids start of school later in life. So you will have a 22 year old kid sitting in a 10th grade class or a ninth grade class after having any education. Most of those kids, the future just looks for them because even after high school then trying to go to college and trying to make life all those years go to waste. So we have an innovative concept to be able to build an academy that combines college and high school together in the same type of year. So that a lot of the kids, most of the kids I already make show to be able to handle the multitask things that we will introduce to them. We want to introduce them to trade that they can start learning right from the eighth grade. So they'll have eighth grade all the way to 12th grade, five years of experiencing learning those trades. So by the time you get a 12th grade, you have another experience almost like a dual type of system where you get a high school curriculum, then you have your college curriculum in the same school. And that's one of the ones that you're building right now? That's the one we're building right now. And we can use all of the partnerships possible with institutions that are passionate about change. We're asking them to join us to help us to innovatively build an education system in a society that can speed up progress and be able to have a lot of impact. And one of the other programs that you're doing is also a rubber planting rubber trees and creating a sustainable income that can fund these projects in these schools. Correct. Yes. So one of the things that we started to look at when we got to Liberia, remember when I told you solving problems from inside versus from outside help us to be a lot more effective. We realized that people don't have jobs. So what is the practical notion of trying to give hope to somebody if they can't afford to feed their families? I don't want to be an organization that just feeds people. I want to be an organization that helps people feed themselves. So we started to buy large pieces of land throughout Liberia. The organization owns somewhere close to 2,000 acres of land over Liberia. And we decided that since Firestone has been planting rubber in this place for a long time, why don't we start a plan rubber? So we have about 200 acres of rubber trees that we planted over the last five years. And even with that with those trees that we have planted, we are now innovatively bringing that into the classroom. I mean, it's going to be a part of the curriculum for the same old kids impact Academy where kids, teenagers will start learning about rubber technician, you know, how do you take out these trees? Because then when they graduate, they choose not to go to college, they can go straight and get a job in the farm or open their own rubber, open that own rubber planting farm and stuff like that too as well. And you're you're up to I think it's on the website. It's your goal was 125,000 trees, right? You're already at like 40,000 trees steadily going. And we projected income from that will support a lot of schools and the college the trade college that you were talking about sort of combined. And also a clinic, it mentioned a clinic. That's right. So there's enough money from rubber, because it's a very critical crop around the world. Yeah, to support all those activities. Correct. And it grows naturally very well in my area. And then you're also working with UC Davis right to study some other sustainable crops that would provide income and be an alternative to Yes. So we haven't started working with UC Davis. I know David have a program to work with international organizations or even places like Liberia, where farming can be sustainable farming can be a key thing in a place like Liberia. So as part of our institution that we're building in Liberia, we are creating room for schools like Davis students from here to be able to take trips and become part of our impact. So as part of the witness experience, the book, we created a book so that it become it's not just a book you read, but it gave you an experience. So that experience lies in Liberia. So when you read a book, we transport you for the witness experience to Liberia, so that you can actually engage in some of the work that we are doing on the ground, not only where you then come with our team to Liberia, but you get to experience parts of the book and go through what I went through from a tourism standpoint, but with a purpose. And then after you land in Monrovia, we transport you all the way to Banga. It's a 10 day trip. And you come to Sugar Hill where my home is where the home is actually on the still in the home that I grew up in Sugar Hill, we turn into this orphanage home. You experience all of this as from academia perspective, we create a curriculum that that that you go by throughout the trip. But an amazing surprise on top of this hill is you get to discover whether or not my mother made that promise, the promise that she made in a killing field, whether she lived, you get to see everything in action results of all that from that one promise. That's right. And then stemming from all of that, you, you as an academic institution are involved from academia perspective on how do you combine partnerships with a place that desperately need growth and aspiration with organization as forward thinking, obviously about a lot of this, how do you bring that together from from the classroom to another classroom in Liberia, where other students cannot collaborate with students here to be able to solve problems to put your learning and training into effect in a positive way. That's right. Yeah, so we one of our program manager for Save More Kids did a whole practicum on this. So we have a we have a well written curriculum practicum that colleges are looking at. We've already done some of the witness experience or other schools at University of San Diego has put this into their curriculum to be able to to start teaching from this next year. We've had schools in Massachusetts that have come on this trip and students from those trip from our witness experience trip took chapter two of the book, which is called Catching Light and create an entire program called Catching Light based on based on my father bringing electricity to the home. And these students are now providing electricity to impoverished communities around Liberia as a result of coming on the trip to Liberia. And electricity is one of the things that Liberia needs more on, right? Solar. Solar. Yeah. So that sort of with let's leave off on the future. Yes. What do you think is going to for the next 10 years of Liberia? What's what are sort of the main goals you think the country needs to achieve? Not just with the kids program, but in general, that's a great question. The next 10 years of Liberia, if I could imagine it being a great, perfect 10 years, I will imagine an open door where the word is invited to Liberia to be part of impact. We desperately want innovators from the classroom to individuals that are retired to take another look at Liberia, but come with an organization like myself. We are we have the foundation already laid in place where if you feel like you are at a place where your skill set is just dormant, we can put it to use and it will make you feel like you're living again in a whole another way. So it's not only that Liberia is calling you, but you will be transformed as a result of feeling like you are needed in a place and that you will fall in love with Liberia in ways that I can't even put in the words. So I think the next 10 years has to tourism in Liberia has to improve. And then of course infrastructure, building infrastructure, the educational sector in Liberia, we have to take an innovative approach to education in Liberia. We can't go about it like a normal society. You know, our crisis are way bigger than ever. So you can't solve problems the same way it was created. So we have to take an innovative way of solving problems for education, health care, just about everything that that from us. That's why I love students because from a student perspective, they're in it to learn they're in it to give something. So if Liberia was on a plate on, you know, if it was a canvas, how can we paint it together in order to build a future in the in in the place and be able to transform life for a long time. Excellent. That's a great a great way to think leave off on Liberia's had rough past. And it's all about the future now. That's right. All right, we're moving headstrong. And I would just like to say one more thing. Sure. Savemorekids.org. Go to our website. Find out more. The witness experience is on there. So just look for witness experience. Sign up. You know, get more information about what we're doing. Of course, the book you can find on Amazon. You go to witness Liberia that come and it will come up and and start the experience. Okay, well, thank you for joining us and sharing your experience. And again, I recommend the book. I've read it. It's fantastic book. And I think it will open your eyes to a whole new experience.