User:Yekeseh Tongoleh/sandbox

Wantoe Teah Wantoe born (December 24, 1994 ) currently an enrolled student of the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York majoring in Public Policy, Is a Liberian child's right and Environmental Advocate, Humanitarian and Blogger. He is the 2018 Global Young Voices SDGs World Cup winner out of 20 Finalist, for his commitment to the SDGs and his social venture on Environmental Preservation in Liberia. In 2017 Out of 800 global Change-makers from around the world, Wantoe emerged as FAF First Merit Scholarship Recipient due to his unparalleled commitment to humanitarian and environmental action by mobilizing youth and empowering his community, advocating for global awareness on the Ebola virus disease outbreak at United Nations main events, Championing the rights of children in Liberia from domestic and sexual violence since the age of nine, and creating innovate solutions to pressing crises in his country. In 2014, Wantoe was an active responder in the Ebola outbreak. He assisted by visiting quarantine emergency-zones organizing media talk shows with prevention messages, while providing Psychosocial support for Ebola orphans and semi orphans, and advocated for them locally and internationally by sharing their existing challenges and difficulties with the rest of the world through  Writing of Blogs  and creating Video Vlogs. He initiated the first ever statistical data that tabulated the among of children that had become vulnerable orphans and semi orphans during the Ebola outbreak and wrote blogs to create awareness for Governmental and International support. On May 24, 2016, He further delivered a preliminary statement at the United Nations World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul highlighting the casualties caused by the Ebola Virus Disease and the Vulnerabilities it Unveiled and calling for the support of youth grassroots institutions to combat Humanitarian issues.

Biography
Wantoe was born on the 24th of December 1994 in Montserrado county, Liberia. His father worked as a security personnel while his mother was a small scale trader. At an early he began his Education at the Lacy Kofi Memorial Academy in Liberia. He grew up in in the People United Community a local slum in Monrovia that is subject to persistent Sea erosion. As most children growing up in Liberia Wantoe grew up in a poverty stricken home where they couldn't afford a meal per day. with his Dad working as security personnel, his minimal income couldn't desirably cater to him and his 15 siblings. He had to engage in street selling with items in tune of Mosquito net, machetes, candle and kerosene for lanterns with intent to contribute to his family existence. He always franchised Education as a tool and gateway to strive for a better future. These moments of circumstances inspired him to strive for the right of every child around the world through Advocacy and work in extreme situation as a Humanitarian crisis responder to bring relief, strive for global intervention through innovation, and be a community mobilizer.in these roles he have consistently worked to innovate change since age of 9 by organizing and participating in rallies, delivered online and offline petitions, protests, awareness campaigns, as well as speaking at  national and  international events and thematic dialogues to create Change.

Global Voice for Change
In 2013, Wantoe was a member of Plan International Child rights Advocates Global youth committee that seeks to help steer, develop, and implement the “Global Voice for Change” project, which supports young people around the world to connect, learn and advocate together., which  begin with Wantoe and few youth has within the span of just two years connects young people working with Plan International in over 14 countries advocating on issues including humanitarian action, climate change and girls’ rights at the start of 2014  In addition to the (GVC) project he is a champion for the fight against Sexual Gender Based Violence (#SGBV). Since being 9 years old, Wantoe participates in advocacies, rallies, petition protests, awareness campaigns, as well as dialogues and meetings concerning national policies. In 2015, he was selected as a youth representative to the Independent National Human Rights Commission of Liberia. In 2018 he submitted an online petition on Change.org calling for Governmental and international investigation of American Katie Meyler More Than ME Foundation alleged sexual exploitation of liberian children published by ProPublica. In 2018 he wrote an eye catching robust op-ed on Huffpost during the Day of the African Child highlighting the lack of commitment from African Leaders for the realization of African Children's Rights.

Expanded description
During the height of the Ebola crisis, It was clear that the lack of information on protection measures, persistent denial of the existence of the virus by community, towns and cities dwellers, increasing numbers of Ebola orphans and their vehement neglect by national and international responders and relief workers, led to intensifying spread of the virus claiming the lives of 4,808 individuals out of 10,672 cases including nurses and doctors, and vulnerability of children which is a breach of their fundamental rights. During these circumstances, Wantoe served as the Ombudsman of the National children and Youth Advisory Board. The Liberian National Children and Youth Advisory Board, as an institution, wants to achieve a world where violence against children and youths will be eliminated. He acknowledge that children’s rights are consistently compromised and violated during humanitarian emergencies. Families who normally live in a constant state of vulnerability can find themselves in immediate humanitarian need when disaster strikes, and, in these situations, the most vulnerable victims are children. Back then, He knew the elimination of the virus must happen not just at the top of society, and that individuals must contribute by volunteering to stop it. Therefore He suggested to his team of eleven fellow young people that they dedicate themselves to fighting Ebola. Wantoe was moved by the situation Liberian children and populace faced, and was not going to sit back and watch his family and friends die, so raised their personal funds to cover the costs of their planned activities. He ensured children and young people’s voices, concerns, question and ideas were heard, through radio, blogs, TV and films and in meetings with local and international leaders. He started with media awareness, because at that time, the vast majority of Liberians didn’t know what Ebola really was and how they could avoid getting it. Him an his colleagues conducted a week’s workshop for young people and communities, run by a trained medical practitioner. Then we visited all the local radio stations, walking long distances to get there, spreading our message that you could keep safe by abiding by all of the preventive measures. He didn’t think that being on the radio was enough, so we decided to engage in door-to-door awareness, we went door to door, sensitizing people on preventing and reporting the disease. They manned community checkpoints and reported potential Ebola cases even though we knew it was risky. We visited everyone from children to adults, the literate to the illiterate, government officials to pensioners. They were all inspired, educated and able to prevent contamination with their messages of knowledge and hope. They used Whats-app, text messages and telephone calls for young people to come together for psycho-social support, and developed communication strategies to ensure the right information were reaching communities. In September 2015, He participated in the crafting of the Doha Youth declaration on Reshaping the Humanitarian Agenda in Qatar where he also shared his work and the challenges toward building our resilience as a country after a deadly pandemic.

2016 World Humanitarian Summit
In May 2016, Wantoe participated and delivered a preliminary statement at the United Nations World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul Turkey.

2017 Friendship Ambassador Foundation Award
In 2017 Wantoe was recognized Out of  800 global Change-makers  as FAF’s first merit-based scholarship awardee. He has been selected based on impact in the community, as citizen of Liberia  demonstrating an unparalleled commitment to humanitarian and environmental action by mobilizing youth and empowering his community. With support from Global Voice for Change, steering the National Children and Youth Advisory Board during the Ebola epidemic of 2014 in spreading prevention methods and visiting quarantined areas. The award also highlight how He further discussed this self-led project in a preliminary statement at the World Humanitarian Summit that took place in Turkey in 2016. On August 12, he was awarded as the first Merit Based Scholarship Recipient of Friendship Ambassador Foundation. He addressed the 2017 Summer Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York; held in the United Nation Prestigious General Assembly Hall with participants over one thousand eight hundred from hundred plus countries globally. In 2018, he was a Campus Ambassador for Friendship Foundation Winter Youth Assembly. He mobilized Liberians for the 2018 winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations, and was also certified as an Esteem Campus Ambassador at the winter Assembly.

Inspiring at the College of Mount Saint Vincent
In 2018, Wantoe was one of 12 Liberians supported with educational advancement scholarship through a National Non for-Profit organization called Smart Liberia. They are supported by Liberian-American entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis. The program called Lift Liberians Scholars selected and worked with deserving Liberians Change-makers and scholars.They went through SAT preparation and their college application. On August 24, 2018 Wantoe arrived at the college of Mount Saint Vincent to continue his educational sojourned majoring in Public policy. During his first year at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, He recognized that he have an invisible pledge to contribute to his new community through service and help inspire to change lives by transmitting his Leadership and charisma through a club. He established Phins For Change. Phins for Change looks to inspire student's commitment to sustainable change and professional purpose through Service, Blogging, Capacity building seminars, panel dialogues, and a participation in the annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters. of notable events that ranges from Service, Club event and Collaborated event, The latest event was the hosting of a Symposium entitled Gender, Power and Oppression on December 6th. The event aimed at enhancing the conversation about the prevention and elimination of gender violence. On September 29, He was designated to represent the Mount at the Concern Worldwide U.S Leadership Summit. On November 1st, He completed a course with The Obama Foundation on Community Leadership: Assets & Dialogue after being selected through a competitive process. On November 8, He was selected as a member of Mount delegation to attend the fifty-second iteration of the University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference in Philadelphia. In addition to these service and global recognition, He is a member of the College of Mount Saint Vincent Model U.N Club and have also joined the College of Mount Saint Vincent “Midnight Run “rendering service to the homeless population of New-York. In September 2018 The College of Mount Saint Vincent dedicated an article highlighting Wantoe's global impact to Humanity and supporting his finalist pole in the Global Young Voices SDGs World Cup. According to Omar Nagi, Associate Professor of Sociology and Wantoe’s First Year Experience Instructor. We all benefit from association from people like Wantoe. We all can claim something great for our College because of his efforts—from professionals to students—and that’s a goal worth reaching.

Upcoming works
This year in 2018, Wantoe emerged as the winner of the Global Young Voices SDGs World Cup For his commitment to the SDGs and his project on Environmental Preservation in Liberia. The Global Young Voices provides a platform for globally-conscious millennial who share factual and ethical stories from their countries to alert cognizance about challenges injustices and impact stories  in order to promote the values of multi-culture, social inclusion and internationality. Wantoe project seeks to address barriers of insufficient knowledge and awareness among farmers on climate change. He is hoping to revitalize the agriculture sector and ensure that adaptation to climate change is integrated into relevant policies and planning processes at national level.His ultimate goal is his project realization of Goal 1: “No Poverty”, Goal 2: “Zero Hunger”, Goal 13: “Climate Action” and Goal 15: “Life on Land”. Wantoe is also working on his book which will be completed and published this year.

Philosophical and/or political views
"Tolerance, Justice and globalized commitments with youth at the heart is key to a sustainable world" (Wantoe)

Published works

 * The Day of The African Child(Huffpost) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-day-of-the-african-child_us_59442a83e4b0d188d027fe0c

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

 * Most Articulative Student (2013 – 2014) Calvary Baptist Church School System
 * Liberia SDGs Champion Winner July 2016
 * 2016 Global Youths at the Heart of Humanitarian Actions
 * Preliminary Statement, United Nations World Humanitarian Summit, May 2016, Istanbul, Turkey
 * Friendship Ambassador Foundation: First merit-based scholarship recipient August 2017
 * Friendship Ambassador Foundation:  Esteem Campus Ambassador February 2018
 * Global Young Voices: SDGs World Cup Global Winner. September 2018