Ebenezer Norman is a Liberian philanthropist, humanitarian, public speaker, and founder of the education non-profit ''A New Dimension of Hope (NDHope)''. He is involved in humanitarian efforts in Liberia and throughout West Africa, notably for efforts to build schools in attenuated or war-torn communities after the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003 and the

Ebola virus epidemic in Liberia An epidemic of Ebola virus disease occurred in Liberia from 2014 to 2015, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The first cases of virus were reported by late March 2014. The Ebola virus, a biosafety level four path ...

in 2015.

Early life

Norman was born in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

, Liberia, in 1981 and moved to the United States as a teenager on a student visa. In the aftermath of the Second Liberian Civil War, Norman returned to Liberia to assist with peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts. It was at this time he first connected with

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

Laureate

Leymah Gbowee Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's nonviolent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her ef ...

. In 2010, while on a tour of the school system in Monrovia, Norman was inspired to develop an organization that would construct and manage school systems in Liberia that could be held to the same academic standards as the school systems in the United States. On this basis, Norman was granted an opportunity to study Non-profit Organization Development at Regis University and founded the organization NDHope while an undergrad at the university. He self-funded NDHope in its early stages by working part-time as an HR Rep at Dish Network and Comcast Cable. It was during this period that Norman garnered funding in order to build his first school in Troyah Town, Liberia.

Career

New Dimension of Hope

While still struggling to fundraise on behalf of NDHope, Norman managed to gather the funding to construct his first school through his personal savings and bank loans while living in Denver, Colorado. He managed the resources and labor of the school's construction from the United States, traveling a few times to Liberia to oversee it. After the initial construction of this first school, the outbreak of Ebola in the region forced all educational buildings in the area to close. By the time the virus had subsided, the school had been largely abandoned and decrepit. The closure of this first school due to the Ebola outbreak was the catalyst for an expanded fundraising effort. Norman brought on a new team of media strategists and fundraisers to increase visibility and showcase the work he was doing in Liberia. The new strategy included a crowd-funding campaign in which

offered to write handwritten letters to the highest donors and was a success. The school re-opened in 2015 and Gbowee cut the ribbon at the ceremony.

School's destruction

Less than a year after the inaugural school's construction, internal real estate issues between the government of Liberia and the

University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

campus near the site of the school resulted in the school's destruction. This resulted in a public outcry on behalf of Norman and NDHope. In the two years following the incident, both Leymah Gbowee and Dr. Jerry Brown, one of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine's 2014 People of the Year, attended fundraisers on behalf of NDHope. In 2019, the school was rebuilt in a neighboring village. The new school, according to a Facebook post by the organization, is more than three times as big as the original school and includes updated facilities and technology. Currently, plans for a third school are underway.

Awards

Ebenezer Norman is a recently elected Global Goodwill Ambassador (GGA). In 2013, he was a nominee of the World of Children award. He was also a recipient of the Leaders Overcoming Obstacles to Peace or LOOP Award.

Personal life

Norman currently lives in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado. Norman has served as a leader for various other organizations, including the "Father's Project".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Ebenezer 1981 births Living people Regis University alumni Liberian human rights activists Liberian anti-war activists Liberian pacifists Military history of Liberia Nonviolence advocates People from Monrovia Women's rights in Africa Liberian Lutherans Lutheran pacifists Liberian writers 21st-century Liberian writers Education activists