I came back to my home of Rwanda two years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The country was devastated. The children I was caring for in the hospitals were dying from treatable conditions, because we didn't have equipment or medicine to save them. I was tempted to pack my bag and run away. But I debated with myself. And because I'm really dedicated to social justice and equity, and there were only five pediatricians in total for millions of children in Rwanda, I decided to stay.
1994 年圖西族遭大屠殺的兩年後, 我回到盧安達的老家。 飽受摧殘的盧安達,百廢待興。 醫院裡我所照顧的孩子, 死於可治療的疾病, 只因我們缺乏所需的設備及藥物。 當時很想打包行李一走了之。 但我內心在交戰。 一方面是我衷心想致力於 社會的公正平等, 另一方面,盧安達有數百萬名兒童, 卻只有五位小兒科醫生, 最終我決定留下。
But among the people who have motivated my decision to stay, there were some fantastic women of Rwanda, some women who had faced the genocide and survived it. They had to overcome unbelievable pain and suffering. Some of them were raising children conceived through rape. Others were dying slowly with HIV and forgave the perpetrators, who voluntarily infected them using HIV and rape as a weapon. So, they inspired me. If they can do that, I can stay and try to do my best.
在那些鼓勵我留下的人當中, 有一些很了不起的盧安達女性, 她們經歷了大屠殺,活了下來。 她們克服了難以想像的痛苦和折磨。 其中一些人甚至得扶養 被強暴後生下的孩子。 也有些因為感染愛滋病 而籠罩在死亡陰影下, 卻選擇原諒那些將愛滋病 傳染給她們的強暴者, 是她們鼓舞了我。 若她們可以做到,那我也應該 留下來盡我的一份力量。
Those ladies were really activists of peace and reconciliation. They show us a way to rebuild a country for our children and grandchildren to have, one day, a place they can call home, with pride.
這些女性是真正的 和平和解的實踐者。 讓我們看見如何重建我們的國家, 讓我們的子孫有朝一日, 能以自己的國家為傲。
And you can ask yourself where this shift of mindset has brought our country. Today in Rwanda, we have the highest percentage of women in parliament.
各位一定想問, 這個心態上的轉變能帶給 我們的國家甚麼樣的影響。 今天的盧安達, 國會的女性比例是全球最高的。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Wait till I tell you the percentage -- sixty-one percent.
等我說完比例再拍手不遲── 61%。
(Applause)
(掌聲與歡呼聲)
Today, we have the best campaign for the vaccination of children with, among our success, 93 percent of our girls vaccinated against HPV --
今天,我們也有最好的 兒童疫苗接種成果, 其中包括── 93% 的女孩都接種了 HPV 疫苗──
(Applause)
(掌聲)
to protect them against cervical cancer. In this country, it's 54.
保護她們不受子宮頸癌威脅。 在美國,只有 54%。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
We have reduced child mortality by 75 percent, maternal mortality by 80 percent. In early 2000s, there were nine women who were dying every day around delivery and pregnancy. Today, it's around two. It's an unfinished agenda. We still have a long way to go. Two is still too much.
我們同時也讓兒童死亡率 降低了 75%, 孕婦死亡率也降低了 80%。 在 2000 年初期, 平均每天有九名女性 因生產和懷孕而死。 現在已經降到一天兩名左右。 目標尚未達成, 我們還有很長的路要走。 一天兩名仍然太多了。
But, do I believe that those results are because we had a big number of women in power positions? I do.
不過我相信, 這一切的進展, 要歸功於有許多 重要職務是由女性擔當, 毫無疑問。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
There is -- yes --
有……是的…… (掌聲)
(Applause)
there is a study in the developing world that shows that if you improve the status of women, you improve the status of the community where they live. Up to 47 percent of decrease in child mortality. And even in this country where we are now, it's true. There is a study by a lady called Patricia Homan, who projected that if women and men were at parity in state legislatures, there would be a drop of 14.5 percent in child mortality -- in America!
有一項開發中國家的研究指出: 只要改善女性的地位, 就能改善她們所處之社群的生活。 兒童死亡率可降低 47%。 這理論放在我們現在所在的 國家(美國),亦是如此。 派翠夏·霍曼女士做了一項研究, 她說,如果各州的立法機關 男女勢均力敵, 兒童死亡率可望下降 14.5%── 在美國喔!
So we know that women, when they use their skills in leadership positions, they enhance the entire population they are in charge of. And imagine what would happen if women were at parity with men all over the world. What a huge benefit we could expect. Hmm? Oh, yeah.
因此可以得知,當女性 得以發揮技能在領導職務上時, 能讓所有她們負責照管的人過得更好。 想像一下, 如果全世界的男女 都平起平坐,那會怎樣? 不知可以造福多少人。 對嗎? 喔,一定的。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Because in general, we have a different style of leadership: more inclusive, more empathetic, more caring for little children. And this makes the difference.
因為一般來說, 我們的領導風格不同: 比較包容、比較有同理心、 比較關心兒童福祉。 差異因此而來。
Unfortunately, this ideal doesn't exist in the world, and the difference between men and women in leadership positions is too big. Gender inequity is the norm in the majority of professions, even in global health.
可惜, 這個理想化的世界並不存在, 且男女在領導職務上的差異也太大了。 性別不平等在大部分的職業中是常態, 即使是全球保健的領域。
I have learned that if we focus on women's education, we improve their life positively as well as the well-being of their community. This is why now I dedicate my life to education. And this is totally aligned with my sense of equity and my pursuit of social justice, because if you want to increase access to health services, you need first to increase access to health education.
我學到的是,如果我們 把焦點放在女性教育上, 我們就能改善她們的生活, 同時也提升她們所屬的社群。 這就是為什麼 我現在全力投入教育。 這完全符合我追求平權 及社會正義的理念, 因為,要做到保健服務的普及化, 必得先提高醫學教育的普及度。
So with friends and partners, we are building a beautiful university in the rural north of Rwanda. We educate our students to provide quality, equitable, holistic care to everyone, leaving no one out, focusing on the vulnerable, especially women and children, who are historically the last to be served. We transform them into leaders and give them managerial skills and advocacy skills for them to be smooth changemakers in the society where they will be, so that they can build health systems that allow them to care about the vulnerable where they are.
所以,我和朋友及夥伴 合作建了一所美麗的大學, 位在盧安達北部鄉村地區。 學校教育的宗旨是: 提供有品質、公平、完整的照護, 給所有人,不能漏掉任何人, 著重在弱勢, 特別是女性和孩童── 過去他們往往是最不受重視的一群。 我們希望把學生們教育成領袖, 帶著所學到的管理 和宣導技巧進入社會, 平穩順暢地促進社會變革, 如此,他們才能建立一套 照顧弱勢的健康體制, 無論身在何處。
And it's really transformative. Because currently, medical education, for example, is given in institutions based in cities, focused on quality health services and skills, clinical skills, to be given in institutions. We also focus on quality clinical skills but with biosocial approach to the condition of patient, for care to be given in communities where the people live, with hospitalization only when necessary. And also, after four to seven years of clinical education in cities, young graduates don't want to go back to rural area. So this is why we have built the University of Global Health Equity, an initiative of Partners in Health, called UGHE, in the rural north of Rwanda.
只有這樣才真的能有所改變。 因為,目前, 以醫學教育為例, 只有在大城市才有, 著重在保健服務品質 和技術,臨床方面的技術, 而這些都是限制在 大城市的學校、醫院。 我們學校也注重臨床技術的品質, 可是針對病人的狀況 多了一個生物社會的策略, 只要有人的地方就有健康照護, 除非必要,否則無須住院。 另一個問題是, 在城市讀過 四到七年的醫學院後, 年輕的畢業生不太想回去鄉下。 這就是為什麼我們選擇將 倡議醫療資源平等的 「UGHE 全球平等醫衛大學」, 建在盧安達北部鄉村地區。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Our students are meant to go and change the world. They will come from all over -- it's a global university -- and will get the medical education for free at one condition: they have to serve the vulnerable across the world during six to nine years. They will keep the salary for themselves and their families but turn the education we give in quality clinical services, especially for the vulnerable. And doing so, they sign an agreement at the start that they will do that, a binding agreement. We don't want money. We have to go and mobilize the money. But they will turn this in quality service delivery for all.
我們的學生的使命是改變世界。 這是一所全球性的大學── 學生來自世界各地── 我們提供免費的醫學教育, 只有一個前提: 學生畢業後得為世界各地的弱勢族群 服務六到九年的時間。 薪水完全歸他們和他們的家人, 但得運用他們的醫學訓練 提供有品質的臨床服務, 尤其是弱勢族群。 我們的做法是, 學生在入學時得先簽約, 保證會答應做到, 這是有約束力的合約。 我們不收學費, 而是讓錢流通、動起來。 學生畢業後再將之轉變成 有品質的服務,提供給所有人。
For this, of course, we need a strong gender equity agenda. And in all our classes, master's course, minimum of 50 percent of women.
當然,要做到這一點, 我們就需要致力於性別平等。 因此,我們所有的碩士課程 都至少有 50% 的女性。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
And I'm proud to say that for the medical school that started five months ago, we have enrolled 70 percent girls.
我可以很驕傲地說, 我們五個月前幕的醫學院, 已經招到了 70% 的女學生。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
This is a statement against the current inequity for women to access medical education in our continent.
這是我們針對當前的非洲大陸 女性在醫學教育上遭受不平等待遇── 所做出的回應。
I believe in women's education. This is why I applaud African ladies who go all over the world to increase their education, their skills and their knowledge. But I hope they will bring that back to Africa to build the continent and make the continent a strong continent, because I'm sure a stronger Africa will make the world stronger.
我堅信女性教育。 這就是為什麼我支持 非洲女性到世界各地 去加強她們的教育、技能和知識。 但,我希望她們將所學帶回非洲, 用來建設一個強大的非洲大陸, 因為我敢說, 只要非洲強盛,世界就會更強盛。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Twenty-three years ago, I went back to Rwanda, to a broken Rwanda, that now is still a poor country but shining with a bright future. And I am full of joy to have come back, even if some days were very difficult, and even if some days I was depressed, because I didn't find a solution and people were dying, or things were not moving enough. But I'm so proud to have contributed to improve my community. And this makes me full of joy.
23 年前, 我回到盧安達, 當時破落的盧安達, 現在雖然仍然貧窮, 卻已經開始閃爍一個光明的未來。 我很高興我回來了, 即使曾經艱難困苦, 即使有時沮喪難當, 因為對人們的死傷束手無策, 或者改革速度緩不濟急。 但我很驕傲能貢獻一己之力, 這讓我滿心喜悅。
So, African women from the diaspora, if you hear me, never forget your homeland. And when you are ready, come back home. I did so. It has fulfilled my life. So, come back home.
所以,身在異鄉的非洲女性們, 如果你們聽得到, 千萬不要忘記你們的家鄉。 時間到了,就回來吧。 我回來了。 我的人生因此而圓滿。 所以,回家吧。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)