{"id":235452,"date":"2017-04-13T15:04:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T19:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=235452"},"modified":"2017-04-13T15:26:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T19:26:37","slug":"projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/","title":{"rendered":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_235832\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235832\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-235832\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/emmanuel.jpg\" alt=\"Emmanuel Gweamee \u201820 \" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235832\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emmanuel Gweamee \u201820<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Emmanuel Gweamee &#8217;20 was 9 years old when he began having sharp pains in his legs. Soon, it was difficult even to walk. But there was little his parents could do. It was 2003, and their country, Liberia, was recovering from 14 years of civil war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople thought I had polio,\u201d Gweamee says. \u201cBut my family was displaced, and we had no means to visit a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee\u2019s parents eventually found a cane for their son, and he used it until he was able to switch to crutches in 2012. Last fall, 13 years after his pains began, he visited his first real hospital\u2014the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\u2019s Strong Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey took a lot of x-rays and said I might have had infections in my legs that caused damage to the bone,\u201d Gweamee says. \u201cI have difficulty moving my right leg, and it doesn\u2019t function as well as my left does. I feel pain when I\u2019ve walked a long distance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee\u2019s condition inspired him to join with classmate Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 to launch \u201cHope Restoration Initiative: Disabled Liberian Youth, Civic Education, and Political Participation.\u201d The project was chosen by a University committee for national consideration and has been awarded a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davisprojectsforpeace.org\/\">Davis Projects for Peace<\/a> grant worth $10,000.<\/p>\n<p>For one week in July, Gweamee and Twizerimana, a native of Rwanda, will visit the Liberian capital of Monrovia to teach voting-age young people with disabilities about their civic responsibilities and the process for the nation\u2019s general elections in October. They also will create a plan to transport the youths to voting sites on election day.<\/p>\n<p>According to a census conducted in 2008, 16 percent of the Liberian population had some form of disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main purpose is to make them understand their civic responsibilities,\u201d Gweamee says of the youths. \u201cMany times, disabled people in general are excluded in major decision making activities.\u201d The upcoming election is an opportunity for them \u201cto raise their voices and create awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235842\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235842\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-235842\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/aime.jpg\" alt=\"Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 \" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235842\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gweamee notes that political participation among young voters is especially important. \u201cWe want disabled youth to participate in the developmental process and the peace building initiative of Liberia, a country that is still recovering from the impact of the civil war,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee is a dual major in environmental science and international relations, and Twizerimana studies chemical engineering. They plan to use the $10,000 grant to pay for equipment for their workshop and to fund transportation on the day of the elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope we can organize a system to drive these people to and from the voting booths,\u201d Twizerimana says. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a team on the ground organizing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is completing her second six-year term as president of Liberia, and a new president will be elected October 10, along with members of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee plans to share his personal story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many young people who feel their disability is holding them back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee and Twizerimana met last year while both were enrolled in the Bridge2Rwanda Scholar Program, a 16-month intensive course that prepares African students to apply for scholarships at universities across the globe. They were thrilled to discover both shared a love of philanthropy\u2014and both were headed to Rochester.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe became friends right away,\u201d Twizerimana says.<\/p>\n<p>Gweamee lived in Liberia during the 2005 and 2011 general elections and voted in a senatorial election in 2014. He noticed each time that it was challenging to motivate disabled youths to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany disabled people lack the passion to vote because they feel that they\u2019re abandoned after the elections process,\u201d says Gweamee, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mastercardfdn.org\/scholars-program\/\">MasterCard Foundation Scholar<\/a>. \u201cOur goal is to make them feel empowered, that they can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For one week in July, Emmanuel Gweamee  \u201920 and Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 will visit the Liberian capital of Monrovia to teach voting-age young people with disabilities about their civic responsibilities, with the help of a Davis Projects for Peace grant worth $10,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":235852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[486,5886,8756],"class_list":["post-235452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-awards","tag-davis-projects-for-peace","tag-elections"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For one week in July, Emmanuel Gweamee \u201920 and Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 will visit the Liberian capital of Monrovia to teach voting-age young people with disabilities about their civic responsibilities, with the help of a Davis Projects for Peace grant worth $10,000.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Mandelaro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Mandelaro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim Mandelaro\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\"},\"headline\":\"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":645,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/Davis.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"awards\",\"Davis Projects for Peace\",\"elections\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus &amp; Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/Davis.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/Davis.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/Davis.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Friends and classmates Emmanuel Gweamee \u201820 and Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 have been awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant to help expand voting for vulnerable populations in Liberia. (University photo: Jim Mandelaro)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\",\"name\":\"Jim Mandelaro\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/jmandelaro\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia","og_description":"For one week in July, Emmanuel Gweamee \u201920 and Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 will visit the Liberian capital of Monrovia to teach voting-age young people with disabilities about their civic responsibilities, with the help of a Davis Projects for Peace grant worth $10,000.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Mandelaro","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Mandelaro","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim Mandelaro","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124"},"headline":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia","datePublished":"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/"},"wordCount":645,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg","keywords":["awards","Davis Projects for Peace","elections"],"articleSection":["Campus &amp; Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/","name":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg","datePublished":"2017-04-13T19:04:25+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-13T19:26:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Davis.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Friends and classmates Emmanuel Gweamee \u201820 and Aime Laurent Twizerimana \u201920 have been awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant to help expand voting for vulnerable populations in Liberia. (University photo: Jim Mandelaro)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/projects-for-peace-grant-winners-to-help-expand-voter-turnout-in-liberia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Projects for Peace grant winners to help expand voter turnout in Liberia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124","name":"Jim Mandelaro","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/jmandelaro\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/672"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235452"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235912,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235452\/revisions\/235912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}