KUSA- It's a lifelong dream that was finally fulfilled for Ebenezer Norman.
"We were waiting for this big day, for four years," he said.
Norman is from Liberia. He is a Regis University graduate who came to the U.S. to further his education and eventually became an American citizen. Yet, he never forgot about the people in his native country, where education isn't as accessible as it is in America.
"To me, this is just the beginning of something bigger that would happen not only in Liberia, but in the entire Africa as a whole," Norman said.
It all starts he said, with this new school he just opened in a rural Liberian village. It's called "A New Dimension of Hope."
"It brought light," Norman said. "It brought light to the entire community."
9NEWS first introduced you to Norman last year, as he and his team of educators tried to open the school back then -- only to be stopped when the Ebola epidemic ran rampant through Liberia.
"I didn't realize how devastating it was going to be for that country," the school's instructional trainer, Nancy Williams, said. "It took a toll. The people, the devastation, the deaths—just all of that was very hard."
The Ebola situation improved dramatically this year, so Norman and his team finally opened the school this past week, welcoming not just 102 elementary school students, but also a surprise guest: Leymah Gbowee, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
"For someone who wins the Nobel Peace Prize to come embrace my project, it was like a dream come true," Norman said.
The work is now beginning to get these children on the path to an education.
"I want people to know that what I'm trying to do with the students is to make them free," Norman said.
Norman said they originally built the school to accommodate 90 students, but ended up accepting more than 100. He said they still had to turn some children away and he hopes to expand the school in the coming years.
(© 2015 KUSA)
