Region: Liberia, Africa

Main Areas Of Interest: human rights, conflict resolution

Fellowship Period: September- November 2006

Keywords: peace-building, non-violence, ethnic and tribal discrimination, religious intolerance

Biographical Profile:
Lorma was born in a traditional village at Lofa County, Liberia. From the age of 6, Lorma walked for 2 hours from his village to the school compound near the motor car road until he graduated from the Vezala Elementary School in 1982. He then completed the Voinjama Multilateral High School and subsequently obtained a diploma in Liberian History at the Zorzor Teacher Training Institute. In 2002, he enrolled at the United Methodist University, where he studied Sociology and Social Work.

Due to his experiences of atrocities during the civil war in Liberia, Lorma became a human rights and peace activist, in order to contribute to the resolution of the civil crises in Liberia. He has engaged in a series of human rights and peace-training programs in Liberia under the auspices of national and international organizations including the US and EU Embassies. Heading the Rural Human Rights Activists Program (RHRAP), Lorma has worked with several local human rights organizations in Liberia to mediate on ethnic/tribal-based and religious conflicts.

At SoT, Lorma applied himself to learning about conflict resolution methodologies with particular reference to ethnic and tribal discrimination and religious intolerance.