There's a group of people in Kenya. People cross oceans to go see them. These people are tall. They jump high. They wear red. And they kill lions. You might be wondering, who are these people? These are the Maasais. And you know what's cool? I'm actually one of them.
Ada sekelompok orang di Kenya. Banyak orang dari jauh ingin bertemu mereka. Orang-orang ini berbadan tinggi. Mereka bisa melompat tinggi. Mereka selalu pakai baju merah Dan mereka bisa membunuh singa Mungkin anda berpikir, siapakah orang-orang ini? Mereka adalah sukubangsa Maasais. Dan sebenarnya saya adalah salah satu dari mereka.
The Maasais, the boys are brought up to be warriors. The girls are brought up to be mothers. When I was five years old, I found out that I was engaged to be married as soon as I reached puberty. My mother, my grandmother, my aunties, they constantly reminded me that your husband just passed by. (Laughter) Cool, yeah? And everything I had to do from that moment was to prepare me to be a perfect woman at age 12. My day started at 5 in the morning, milking the cows, sweeping the house, cooking for my siblings, collecting water, firewood. I did everything that I needed to do to become a perfect wife.
Anak laki-laki bangsa Maasais dibesarkan untuk menjadi pejuang. Anak perempuan dibesarkan untuk menjadi ibu. Waktu saya berumur 5 tahun Saya diberi tahu bahwa saya telah ditunangkan dan akan dinikahkan segera sesudah akil balik. Ibu, nenek, bibi saya berulang-ulang mengingatkan manakala suami saya baru saja lewat. (Tawa) Seru ya? Sesudah itu segala sesuatu yang saya lakukan adalah mempersiapkan diri saya sendiri menjadi wanita yang sempurna di usia 12 tahun. Hari-hari saya dimulai dari pukul 5 pagi, memerah susu, menyapu rumah, memasak untuk saudara-saudara saya, mencari air, kayu bakar. Saya melakukan semua hal yang perlu untuk menjadi istri yang sempurna.
I went to school not because the Maasais' women or girls were going to school. It's because my mother was denied an education, and she constantly reminded me and my siblings that she never wanted us to live the life she was living. Why did she say that? My father worked as a policeman in the city. He came home once a year. We didn't see him for sometimes even two years. And whenever he came home, it was a different case. My mother worked hard in the farm to grow crops so that we can eat. She reared the cows and the goats so that she can care for us. But when my father came, he would sell the cows, he would sell the products we had, and he went and drank with his friends in the bars. Because my mother was a woman, she was not allowed to own any property, and by default, everything in my family anyway belongs to my father, so he had the right. And if my mother ever questioned him, he beat her, abused her, and really it was difficult.
Saya bersekolah bukan karena semua wanita atau gadis Maasais bersekolah. Tapi karena ibu saya dilarang menempuh pendidikan, dan beliau selalu mengingatkan kami bahwa ia tidak menginginkan kami hidup seperti dirinya. Mengapa ia berkata demikian? Ayah saya bekerja sebagai polisi di kota. Dia pulang sekali setahun, Kadang kami tidak bertemu dia sampai 2 tahun. Dan acapkali beliau pulang, masalahnya berbeda lagi. Ibu saya bekerja keras bertani dan menanam tanaman supaya kami bisa makan. Dia memelihara sapi dan kambing untuk membesarkan kami. Tapi kalau ayah pulang, dia akan menjual sapi, dia akan jual semua barang yang kami punya lalu dia akan pergi minum-minum bersama teman-temannya. Karena ibu saya perempuan, beliau tidak diijinkan memiliki properti apapun, dan secara hukum, semua posesi milik keluarga menjadi hak milik ayah saya. Dan kalau ibu saya sesekali mempertanyakan hal ini, ayah saya akan memukul dan menyiksanya. Keadaannya sangatlah sulit waktu itu.
When I went to school, I had a dream. I wanted to become a teacher. Teachers looked nice. They wear nice dresses, high-heeled shoes. I found out later that they are uncomfortable, but I admired it. (Laughter) But most of all, the teacher was just writing on the board -- not hard work, that's what I thought, compared to what I was doing in the farm. So I wanted to become a teacher.
Waktu saya mulai sekolah, saya bermimpi. Saya ingin menjadi guru. Menjadi guru sepertinnya nyaman. Pakaian mereka bagus-bagus, dan mereka mengenakan sepatu hak tinggi. Belakangan saya baru tahu kalau mereka sama sekali tidak merasa demikian, tapi kekaguman saya tidak berkurang. (Tawa) Tapi yang paling hebat, guru cuma menulis di papan tulis -- kerjanya tidak berat, pikir saya, berbeda dengan pekerjaan saya di lahan pertanian. Jadi saya ingin sekali menjadi guru.
I worked hard in school, but when I was in eighth grade, it was a determining factor. In our tradition, there is a ceremony that girls have to undergo to become women, and it's a rite of passage to womanhood. And then I was just finishing my eighth grade, and that was a transition for me to go to high school. This was the crossroad. Once I go through this tradition, I was going to become a wife. Well, my dream of becoming a teacher will not come to pass. So I talked -- I had to come up with a plan to figure these things out. I talked to my father. I did something that most girls have never done. I told my father, "I will only go through this ceremony if you let me go back to school." The reason why, if I ran away, my father will have a stigma, people will be calling him the father of that girl who didn't go through the ceremony. It was a shameful thing for him to carry the rest of his life. So he figured out. "Well," he said, "okay, you'll go to school after the ceremony."
Saya belajar keras di sekolah, tapi di kelas delapan, terjadi sesuatu yang akan menentukan masa depan saya. Menurut tradisi kami, ada satu upacara yang harus dilalui orang para anak gadis untuk menjadi wanita, dan ini merupakan ritual untuk masuk ke dunia wanita. Tapi saat itu saya baru menyelesaikan kelas delapan, dan ini merupakan transisi bagi saya untuk memasuki sekolah menengah atas. Saya ada di persimpangan jalan. Sekali saya lakukan tradisi ini, saya akan menjadi seorang istri. Tentunya, impian saya untuk menjadi guru tidak akan terjadi. Jadi, saya membuat rencana untuk mengatasi hal ini. Saya bicara ke ayah saya. Saya melakukan sesuatu yang tidak pernah dilakukan kebanyakan gadis. Saya bilang, "Saya hanya mau melalui upacara ini kalau ayah mengijinkan saya kembali ke sekolah." Karena, kalau saya melarikan diri, ayah saya akan dipermalukan. Orang-orang akan menganggap beliau sebagai ayah dari gadis yang tidak ikut upacara. Hal itu akan menjadi hinaan seumur hidup baginya. Jadi terpaksa dia bilang, "Baiklah, kamu boleh balik ke sekolah sesudah upacara."
I did. The ceremony happened. It's a whole week long of excitement. It's a ceremony. People are enjoying it. And the day before the actual ceremony happens, we were dancing, having excitement, and through all the night we did not sleep. The actual day came, and we walked out of the house that we were dancing in. Yes, we danced and danced. We walked out to the courtyard, and there were a bunch of people waiting. They were all in a circle. And as we danced and danced, and we approached this circle of women, men, women, children, everybody was there. There was a woman sitting in the middle of it, and this woman was waiting to hold us. I was the first. There were my sisters and a couple of other girls, and as I approached her, she looked at me, and I sat down. And I sat down, and I opened my legs. As I opened my leg, another woman came, and this woman was carrying a knife. And as she carried the knife, she walked toward me and she held the clitoris, and she cut it off.
Maka saya melalui upacara tersebut. Satu minggu dipenuhi keceriaan. Semua orang menikmati upacara tersebut. Dan sehari sebelum upacara yang sesungguhnya, kami semua menari, bergembira, dan tidak tidur sepanjang malam. Hari yang dinanti tiba, dan kami keluar dari rumah dimana kami menari. Ya betul, kami menari dan menari. Kami berjalan melalui lapangan dan segerombolan orang menunggu. Mereka membentuk sebuah lingkaran. Dan sambil terus menari kami mendekati lingkaran itu. Wanita, laki2, anak2, semuanya disana. Ada seorang wanita yang duduk di tengah lingkaran, dan dia menunggu untuk meraih kami. Saya yang pertama. Ada juga kakak saya dan dua anak gadis lain. Waktu saya mendekati dia, dia memandang saya dan menyuruh saya duduk. Jadi saya duduk, dan merentangkan kaki saya. Kemudian, seorang wanita lain datang, sambil membawa pisau. Ia berjalan ke arah saya dan memotong klitoris saya.
As you can imagine, I bled. I bled. After bleeding for a while, I fainted thereafter. It's something that so many girls -- I'm lucky, I never died -- but many die. It's practiced, it's no anesthesia, it's a rusty old knife, and it was difficult. I was lucky because one, also, my mom did something that most women don't do. Three days later, after everybody has left the home, my mom went and brought a nurse. We were taken care of. Three weeks later, I was healed, and I was back in high school. I was so determined to be a teacher now so that I could make a difference in my family.
Dan seperti yang anda harapkan, saya berdarah-darah. Saya pingsan setelah beberapa saat setelahnya. Ini terjadi di hampir semua anak2 gadis itu -- Saya beruntung saya masih hidup - tapi banyak yang meninggal. Namun ini merupakan kebiasaan kami, tanpa bius, dengan pisau yang sudah berkarat, dan sangatlah sakit. Saya beruntung, karena ibu saya melakukan hal yang jarang dilakukan wanita lain. 3 hari kemudian, sesudah semua orang pergi dari rumah, ibu saya memanggil perawat. Kami dirawat dengan baik. 3 minggu kemudiann, saya sembuh dan kembali ke sekolah. Saya semakin ingin menjadi seorang guru, supaya saya bisa membawa perubahan di keluarga saya.
Well, while I was in high school, something happened. I met a young gentleman from our village who had been to the University of Oregon. This man was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, camera, white sneakers -- and I'm talking about white sneakers. There is something about clothes, I think, and shoes. They were sneakers, and this is in a village that doesn't even have paved roads. It was quite attractive.
Tapi, ketika saya SMA, terjadi sesuatu. Saya bertemu seorang pemuda dari desa kami yang pernah menempuh pendidikan di Universitas Oregon. Pemuda ini memakai kaos putih, jeans, kamera, sepatu karet putih -- ya, benar-benar sepatu karet putih. Ada sesuatu yang ajaib tentang bajunya, dan sepatunya. Dia pakai sepatu karet disini di desa dimana jalan beraspal pun tidak ada. Ini cukup menarik perhatian.
I told him, "Well, I want to go to where you are," because this man looked very happy, and I admired that.
Saya bilang kepadanya, "Saya ingin pergi ke tempat kamu pergi," karena pemuda ini kelihatan begitu bahagia, dan saya mengaguminya.
And he told me, "Well, what do you mean, you want to go? Don't you have a husband waiting for you?"
Dan dia berkata, "Apa maksudmu, 'kamu mau pergi'?" Bukankah ada suamimu menunggu di desa?
And I told him, "Don't worry about that part. Just tell me how to get there."
Saya berkata,"Jangan khawatir. Beritahu saja bagaimana caranya untuk kesana."
This gentleman, he helped me. While I was in high school also, my dad was sick. He got a stroke, and he was really, really sick, so he really couldn't tell me what to do next. But the problem is, my father is not the only father I have. Everybody who is my dad's age, male in the community, is my father by default -- my uncles, all of them -- and they dictate what my future is.
Pemuda ini mau membantu saya Pada saat yang bersamaan saat saya SMA, ayah saya jatuh sakit. Beliau terkena stroke, dan cukup parah, jadi dia tidak mampu memaksa saya melakukan apapun. Masalahnya, beliau bukanlah satu-satunya ayah saya. Semua pria yang sama tuanya dengan ayah saya di desa tersebut, secara otomatis menjadi ayah saya -- mereka semua paman saya - dan mereka bisa mendikte masa depan saya.
So the news came, I applied to school and I was accepted to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I couldn't come without the support of the village, because I needed to raise money to buy the air ticket. I got a scholarship but I needed to get myself here. But I needed the support of the village, and here again, when the men heard, and the people heard that a woman had gotten an opportunity to go to school, they said, "What a lost opportunity. This should have been given to a boy. We can't do this."
Saya mendaftar ke sekolah tinggi, dan diterima di Randolph-Macon Woman's College di Lynchburg, Virginia. Tapi saya tidak bisa kesana tanpa restu dari desa karena saya membutuhkan dana untuk membeli tiket pesawat. Saya mendapatkan beasiswa tapi saya harus berangkat kesana. Dan saya butuh sokongan dari desa. Dan di desa itu juga, saat para lelaki di sana mendengar, dan semua orang mendengar bahwa seorang wanita mendapat kesempatan untuk bersekolah, mereka berkata, "Sayang sekali." Kesempatan semacam ini seharusnya diberikan ke anak laki-laki. Kita tidak bisa mendukung hal ini."
So I went back and I had to go back to the tradition. There's a belief among our people that morning brings good news. So I had to come up with something to do with the morning, because there's good news in the morning. And in the village also, there is one chief, an elder, who if he says yes, everybody will follow him. So I went to him very early in the morning, as the sun rose. The first thing he sees when he opens his door is, it's me.
Jadi saya pulang dan harus kembali menuruti tradisi. Ada kepercayaan di kalangan kami, bahwa pagi hari selalu membawa kabar baik. Jadi saya merencanakan sesuatu di pagi hari, karena itu artinya kabar baik. Ada seorang tua, kepala desa, yang perkataannya selalu ditaati orang lain. Jadi saya ke rumahnya pagi-pagi sekali, waktu matahari terbit. Hal pertama yang beliau lihat saat membuka pintu rumahnya adalah saya.
"My child, what are you doing here?"
"Anakku, apa yang kamu lakukan disini?"
"Well, Dad, I need help. Can you support me to go to America?" I promised him that I would be the best girl, I will come back, anything they wanted after that, I will do it for them.
"Ayah, saya perlu bantuan. Bisakah mendukung saya untuk pergi ke Amerika?" Saya berjanji kepadanya bahwa saya akan jadi yang terbaik, saya akan kembali, dan melakukan apa pun yang mereka ingin saya lakukan sesudahnya, akan saya turuti.
He said, "Well, but I can't do it alone." He gave me a list of another 15 men that I went -- 16 more men -- every single morning I went and visited them. They all came together. The village, the women, the men, everybody came together to support me to come to get an education.
Dia bilang, "Baiklah, tapi saya tidak bisa melakukan ini sendirian." Dia memberikan daftar berisi 15, eh 16 orang yang harus saya temui setiap pagi. Jadi saya mengunjungi mereka satu persatu. Mereka semua akhirnya sepakat. Semua orang di desa, wanita dan pria, sepakat untuk mendukung saya bersekolah.
I arrived in America. As you can imagine, what did I find? I found snow! I found Wal-Marts, vacuum cleaners, and lots of food in the cafeteria. I was in a land of plenty.
Saya tiba di Amerika. Coba tebak apa yang saya dapatkan? Salju! Saya melihat Wal-Marts, penyedot debu, dan banyak sekali makanan di kafetaria. Saya berada di tanah yang berkelimpahan.
I enjoyed myself, but during that moment while I was here, I discovered a lot of things. I learned that that ceremony that I went through when I was 13 years old, it was called female genital mutilation. I learned that it was against the law in Kenya. I learned that I did not have to trade part of my body to get an education. I had a right. And as we speak right now, three million girls in Africa are at risk of going through this mutilation. I learned that my mom had a right to own property. I learned that she did not have to be abused because she is a woman. Those things made me angry. I wanted to do something. As I went back, every time I went, I found that my neighbors' girls were getting married. They were getting mutilated, and here, after I graduated from here, I worked at the U.N., I went back to school to get my graduate work, the constant cry of these girls was in my face. I had to do something.
Saya berpuas diri, tapi selama saya disini, saya juga menemukan banyak hal. Saya belajar bahwa upacara yang saya lalui waktu berumur 13 tahun, disebut mutilasi alat kelamin wanita. Saya baru tahu bahwa hal tersebut ilegal di Kenya. Saya belajar bahwa saya tidak perlu menukar organ tubuh saya untuk mendapat pendidikan. Saya punya hak. Selagi saya bicara sekarang ini, 3 juta anak gadis di Afrika terancam mengalami mutilasi ini. Saya belajar bahwa ibu saya berhak memiliki properti. Saya belajar bahwa dia tidak harus disiksa hanya karena dia perempuan. Semua hal itu membuat saya marah. Saya ingin berbuat sesuatu. Saat saya kembali, setiap saat saya melihat anak gadis tetangga saya menikah. Mereka mengalami mutiilasi, sedangkan disini, sesudah lulus, saya bisa bekerja di PBB. Saya bisa kembali bersekolah untuk mendapat gelar doktor. Tapi tangisan anak-anak perempuan itu selalu menghantui saya. Saya harus melakukan sesuatu.
As I went back, I started talking to the men, to the village, and mothers, and I said, "I want to give back the way I had promised you that I would come back and help you. What do you need?"
Ketika pulang, saya memulai dialog dengan para pria seluruh desa, dan para ibu. Saya berkata, "Saya ingin membalas budi seperti janji saya dulu, bahwa saya akan kembali dan membantu kalian. Apa yang kalian butuhkan?"
As I spoke to the women, they told me, "You know what we need? We really need a school for girls." Because there had not been any school for girls. And the reason they wanted the school for girls is because when a girl is raped when she's walking to school, the mother is blamed for that. If she got pregnant before she got married, the mother is blamed for that, and she's punished. She's beaten. They said, "We wanted to put our girls in a safe place."
Waktu saya berbicara dengan para wanita, mereka berkata, "Kamu tahu apa yang kami butuhkan? Kami perlu sekolah untuk anak perempuan." Sebab belum ada sekolah untuk anak-anak perempuan. Dan anda tau kenapa? Karena kalau ada anak gadis yang diperkosa dalam perjalanannya ke sekolah, Ibunya lah yang disalahkan. Kalau dia hamil sebelum menikah, ibunya juga yang disalahkan dan dihukum. Ia dipukuli. Mereka bilang, "Kami ingin menempatkan anak-anak gadis kami di tempat yang aman."
As we moved, and I went to talk to the fathers, the fathers, of course, you can imagine what they said: "We want a school for boys."
Waktu saya bicara dengan para ayah, anda bisa tebak, mereka berkata, "Kami ingin sekolah untuk anak laki-laki."
And I said, "Well, there are a couple of men from my village who have been out and they have gotten an education. Why can't they build a school for boys, and I'll build a school for girls?" That made sense. And they agreed. And I told them, I wanted them to show me a sign of commitment. And they did. They donated land where we built the girls' school. We have.
Jadi saya bilang, "Ada beberapa pria dari desa saya yang sudah pergi keluar dan mengenyam pendidikan. Mengapa bukan mereka yang membangun sekolah buat anak laki-laki, dan saya membangun sekolah buat anak perempuan?" Itu masuk akal. Dan mereka setuju. Dan saya utarakan bahwa saya ingin menunjukkan komitmen saya terhadap mereka. Mereka setuju. Mereka menyumbangkan tanah untuk membangun sekolah anak perempuan. Sekarang kami sudah memiliki sekolah tersebut.
I want you to meet one of the girls in that school. Angeline came to apply for the school, and she did not meet any criteria that we had. She's an orphan. Yes, we could have taken her for that. But she was older. She was 12 years old, and we were taking girls who were in fourth grade. Angeline had been moving from one place -- because she's an orphan, she has no mother, she has no father -- moving from one grandmother's house to another one, from aunties to aunties. She had no stability in her life. And I looked at her, I remember that day, and I saw something beyond what I was seeing in Angeline. And yes, she was older to be in fourth grade. We gave her the opportunity to come to the class. Five months later, that is Angeline. A transformation had begun in her life. Angeline wants to be a pilot so she can fly around the world and make a difference. She was not the top student when we took her. Now she's the best student, not just in our school, but in the entire division that we are in. That's Sharon. That's five years later. That's Evelyn. Five months later, that is the difference that we are making.
Saya ingin Anda menemui salah satu gadis di sekolah tersebut. Angeline datang mendaftar di sekolah tersebut, dan dia tidak memenuhi kriteria kami. Dia seorang anak yatim piatu. Tentu, kami bisa saja menerimanya dengan alasan tersebut. Tapi dia terlalu besar. Umurnya 12 tahun. Sedangkan kami hanya mengambil anak-anak yang duduk di kelas 4. Angeline sudah pindah kemana-mana -- karena dia anak yatim-piatu, tanpa ibu dan ayah -- ia berpindah-pindah dari rumah nenek yang satu ke rumah yang lain, dari rumah bibi yang satu ke bibi yang lain. Tidak ada kestabilan dalam hidupnya. Dan saya memandangnya hari itu, dan saya teringat saya sendiri. Saya melihat sesuatu di dalam Angeline. Memang dia terlalu tua untuk kelas 4. Akhirnya kami memberinya kesempatan untuk mengikuti kelas. Lima bulan kemudian, inilah Angeline. Terjadi transformasi dalam hidupnya. Angeline ingin menjadi pilot supaya bisa keliling dunia dan membuat perubahan. Dia bukanlah siswi yang paling pintar saat kami pertama menerimanya. Sekarang dia adalah siswi terbaik, bukan cuma di sekolah kami, tapi di seluruh divisi yang kami bentuk. Ini Sharon. Yang ini ia lima tahun mendatang. Ini Evelyn. Lima bulan kemudian, inilah perbedaan yang kami buat.
As a new dawn is happening in my school, a new beginning is happening. As we speak right now, 125 girls will never be mutilated. One hundred twenty-five girls will not be married when they're 12 years old. One hundred twenty-five girls are creating and achieving their dreams. This is the thing that we are doing, giving them opportunities where they can rise. As we speak right now, women are not being beaten because of the revolutions we've started in our community.
Bagaikan matahari terbit di sekolah saya, suatu awal yang baru terjadi. Saat ini, 125 anak perempuan tidak akan pernah dimutilasi. 125 anak perempuan tidak akan menikah di umur 12. 125 anak perempuan menciptakan dan menggapai impiannya. Inilah yang sedang kami lakukan, memberi kesempatan untuk mereka bangkit. Saat ini, wanita tidak akan dipukuli lagi karena revolusi yang telah kami mulai di komunitas kami.
(Applause)
(Tepuk tangan)
I want to challenge you today. You are listening to me because you are here, very optimistic. You are somebody who is so passionate. You are somebody who wants to see a better world. You are somebody who wants to see that war ends, no poverty. You are somebody who wants to make a difference. You are somebody who wants to make our tomorrow better. I want to challenge you today that to be the first, because people will follow you. Be the first. People will follow you. Be bold. Stand up. Be fearless. Be confident. Move out, because as you change your world, as you change your community, as we believe that we are impacting one girl, one family, one village, one country at a time. We are making a difference, so if you change your world, you are going to change your community, you are going to change your country, and think about that. If you do that, and I do that, aren't we going to create a better future for our children, for your children, for our grandchildren? And we will live in a very peaceful world. Thank you very much.
Saya ingin menantang anda hari ini. Anda duduk disini memperhatikan saya karena anda orang yang sangat optimis. Anda adalah orang-orang yang terbeban untuk melihat dunia yang lebih indah. Anda adalah orang-orang yang ingin agar perang dihentikan dan kemiskinan dibasmi. Anda adalah orang-orang yang ingin membuat perubahan. Anda adalah orang-orang yang ingin membuat hari esok yang lebih baik. Saya ingin menantang anda hari ini untuk menjadi pemula, karena orang lain akan mengikuti langkah anda. Jadilah yang pertama. Orang lain akan mengikuti Anda. Jadilah berani. Berdirilah tegak. Tanpa takut dan percaya diri. Melangkahlah keluar, karena di saat anda merubah dunia anda, saat anda merubah komunitas anda, saat kita percaya bahwa kita telah mempengaruhi satu anak perempuan, satu keluarga, satu desa, satu negara -- satu per satu dari mereka, kita telah membuat perubahan. Jadi saat anda merubah dunia anda sendiri, anda akan merubah komunitas anda, anda akan merubah negara anda, dan coba pikirkan. Jika anda melakukan hal ini, dan saya juga, tentu kita akan menciptakan masa depan lebih baik untuk anak-anak kita, untuk anak-anak anda, untuk anak cucu kita. Kita akan hidup di dunia yang damai. Terima kasih banyak.
(Applause)
(Tepuk tangan)