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Liberian immigrant realizes dream of becoming FDNY EMT

Mentored by a retired firefighter, got first view of FDNY heroism when his home caught fire

By John M. Annese
Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Edison Gbor says he wants to help as many people as possible, and now, thanks in no small part to a retired firefighter as a mentor, he’ll get his chance.

The 21-year-old Port Richmond resident left his native Liberia as a young boy just before the country’s bloody second civil war, and on Monday, he graduated from the FDNY’s EMS Academy as a newly minted emergency medical technician.

“My plan is to move up the ladder as high as I can go and do as much good as I can,” Gbor told the Advance, adding that he hopes to get full citizenship and one day become a city firefighter. “I want to be the best I can.”

Full Story: Staten Island man, a native of Liberia, fulfills longtime dream of becoming an EMT