[00:00:06] >> Grady's commissioners. Advocates for human rights in Minnesota fellow audience members. My name is I share Cooper I am the current Miss Minnesota Liberia I am also a young woman who has been affected by the war in Liberia and I am here today just to flight flies a little light on how women feel young women feel in America in America after the civil war in Liberia. [00:00:34] I will go ahead and just say that young women women in general we do have internal scars we go each day to day living with these testimonies experiences and all that we went through in the war and I think that I should just commend the tiara C.N.N. you guys our partners for taken up such in the shed up to allow women like ourselves to flight us briefly express what we went through I was about ten years old in nineteen ninety five or one thousand nine hundred six and a war broke out in Liberia. [00:01:11] And prior to that currents of their war my experiences has been devastating like many others. I was in a home with my parents and we experience armed robbery while I was so letters so I ran under the bad for you know rescue or safety and just to find out later on there were two women in my home who were great and it was just the chaos after that in the morning when we woke up so going through the war in Liberia it's been such a crazy experience for me even going through school now that I relocated here I first came here with my parents during the eighty's when I was born and everything and I never lived in the U.S. but when I went back best when the war broke out and I just moved here to live in two thousand and I found it really hard I had a lot of challenges and complexity. [00:02:03] And my freshman year in college because my mother was still in Liberia and there was another conflict that broke out causing me to not be able to focus in school because I was the only girl for her and going to school I had so much challenges and complexities just to focus what I want to say is that the war does have. [00:02:25] The war does have a psychological emotional and logical impact on young women a lot of young women here we are looking for direction we're looking for identifiable role models people we can look up to we're looking for a second chance we're looking for opportunities that will help build as an elevator stood in the next level and being most Liberia the main reason I could participate in the pageant was not because of beauty or what I thought I looked like it was all about me taking this position to hope to be an adult a fireball role models to other women there was a time in my life when people told me I wasn't pretty enough I wasn't smart enough or whatever the case may have been and going through the war on ball challenge being stuck on sea and all of these challenges I face that as a little girl I found within myself to believe that I could accomplish everything or whatever I put my mind to and there are a lot of young women out there who are who can a done a fight with me they do not have a place where they can go and express their stories that I have a friend that they can confide in and I mean there are a lot of young women who are really traumatized by what happened in Liberia and I'm just so glad that I'm actually an affiliate with this Doris organization I serve as a mentor to talk to you know I have a meant see and I talk to her about issues and I try to guide her encourage her with her education so there in closing I just want to say that. [00:03:58] Communities leaders would you know believe in our youth. Invest in us because we are the future for tomorrow Liberia right now is in pieces and it takes you and mean to rebuild it took our generation it's the young people if we abandon them there's not going to be powerful and elevated Liberia tomorrow so I just want to encourage all of you out there who are listening invest in the eyes because our future the future of Liberia the Liberia free land the meaning of that country alone is left upon the youth as is our responsibility. [00:04:36] To uplift our country and I just want to encourage you guys to support and invest in US So in closing thank you so much and I appreciate the time for being here.