Where DID This Journey Began?
One Life Liberia was established in December 2017 by Emmanuel King Urey, Ph.D. and a group of friends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Emmanuel grew up in a rural village situated near the Guinea border in Liberia. The village and surrounding villages did not have school or any government services. This coupled with a 14- civil war that destroyed the entire country and killed more than 250 thousand people and displaced more than a million people prevented Emmanuel from attaining education during his childhood. He started school at the age of 13 in a Refugee Camp in Guinea.
In 2011 Emmanuel got a US Government funded scholarship to pursue a Second Master Degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He graduated in 2013 and got a University of Wisconsin-Madison funded scholarship through his mentor, Professor Gregg Mitman. While pursuing his terminal degree, Emmanuel frequently travelled to his home village in Liberia where he saw children without any education opportunities. In his own words, Emmanuel wrote: “Each time I traveled to Gormue, I felt sad to see the over 80 school age children who were not going to school”. His passion of providing educational opportunities to young children led to establish OLLI.
In 2011 Emmanuel got a US Government funded scholarship to pursue a Second Master Degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He graduated in 2013 and got a University of Wisconsin-Madison funded scholarship through his mentor, Professor Gregg Mitman. While pursuing his terminal degree, Emmanuel frequently travelled to his home village in Liberia where he saw children without any education opportunities. In his own words, Emmanuel wrote: “Each time I traveled to Gormue, I felt sad to see the over 80 school age children who were not going to school”. His passion of providing educational opportunities to young children led to establish OLLI.