Mange gange rejser jeg rundt i verdenen for at tale, og folk stiller mig spørgsmål om udfordringerne, mine øjeblikke, nogle af mine fortrydelser. 1998: Enlig mor til fire, tre måneder efter mit fjerde barns fødsel, tog jeg afsted for at arbejde som forskningsassistent. Jeg tog til det nordlige Liberia. Og som en del af arbejdet, gav landsbyen dig logi. Og de gav mig logi hos en enlig mor og hendes datter.
Many times I go around the world to speak, and people ask me questions about the challenges, my moments, some of my regrets. 1998: A single mother of four, three months after the birth of my fourth child, I went to do a job as a research assistant. I went to Northern Liberia. And as part of the work, the village would give you lodgings. And they gave me lodging with a single mother and her daughter.
Denne pige var tilfældigvis den eneste pige i hele landsbyen, som havde klaret det til niende klasse. Hele lokalsamfundet grinede af hende. Hendes mor fik ofte af vide af de andre kvinder, "Du og dit barn vil dø fattige." Efter at have arbejdet to uger i den landsby, var det tid til at tage tilbage. Moderen kom til mig, knælte ned, og sagde, "Leymah, tag min datter." Jeg ønsker, at hun bliver sygeplejerske." Extremt fattig, boende hjemme hos mine forældre, havde jeg ikke råd til det. Med tårer i mine øjne, sagde jeg, "Nej."
This girl happened to be the only girl in the entire village who had made it to the ninth grade. She was the laughing stock of the community. Her mother was often told by other women, "You and your child will die poor." After two weeks of working in that village, it was time to go back. The mother came to me, knelt down, and said, "Leymah, take my daughter. I wish for her to be a nurse." Dirt poor, living in the home with my parents, I couldn't afford to. With tears in my eyes, I said, "No."
To måneder senere, tog jeg til en anden landsby med den samme opgave og de bad mig bo hos landsbyhøvdingen. Kvindernes landsbyhøvding havde denne lille pige, lys farve som mig, fuldstændig beskidt. Og hele dagen gik hun rundt kun i sit undertøj. Da jeg spurgte, "Hvem er det?" Sagde hun, "Det er Wei. Hendes navn betyder gris. Hendes mor døde, da hun fødte hende, og ingen havde nogen ide om, hvem hendes far var." I to uger var hun min følgesvend, sov hos mig. Jeg købte brugt tøj til hende og hendes første dukke. Aftenen før jeg skulle afsted, kom hun til mit værelse og sagde, "Leymah, efterlad mig ikke her. Jeg ønsker at tage med dig. Jeg ønsker at gå i skole." Ekstremt fattig, ingen penge, boende hos mine forældre, sagde jeg igen, "Nej." To måneder senere, røg begge de to landsbyer ind i endnu en krig. Til dags dato har jeg ingen idé om, hvor disse to piger er.
Two months later, I go to another village on the same assignment and they asked me to live with the village chief. The women's chief of the village has this little girl, fair color like me, totally dirty. And all day she walked around only in her underwear. When I asked, "Who is that?" She said, "That's Wei. The meaning of her name is pig. Her mother died while giving birth to her, and no one had any idea who her father was." For two weeks, she became my companion, slept with me. I bought her used clothes and bought her her first doll. The night before I left, she came to the room and said, "Leymah, don't leave me here. I wish to go with you. I wish to go to school." Dirt poor, no money, living with my parents, I again said, "No." Two months later, both of those villages fell into another war. Till today, I have no idea where those two girls are.
Spol frem til 2004: Ved vores aktivismes højdepunkt, ringer ministeren for Gender Liberia til mig og sagde, "Leymah, jeg har en niårig til dig. Jeg vil gerne have, du tager hende hjem, fordi vi har ikke nogle tilflugtssteder." Denne lille piges historie: Hun var blevet voldtaget af sin farfar hver dag i seks måneder. Hun kom til mig oppustet, meget bleg. Hver aften når jeg kom hjem fra arbejde og lå på det kolde gulv. Lagde hun sig ved siden af mig og sagde, "Tante, jeg ønsker at få det godt. Jeg ønsker at gå i skole."
Fast-forward, 2004: In the peak of our activism, the minister of Gender Liberia called me and said, "Leymah, I have a nine-year-old for you. I want you to bring her home because we don't have safe homes." The story of this little girl: She had been raped by her paternal grandfather every day for six months. She came to me bloated, very pale. Every night I'd come from work and lie on the cold floor. She'd lie beside me and say, "Auntie, I wish to be well. I wish to go to school."
2010: En ung kvinde står foran Præsident Sirleaf og giver sit vidnesbyrd om hvordan hun og hendes søskende bor sammen, deres far og mor døde under krigen. Hun er 19, hendes drøm er at gå på universitetet for at kunne forsørge dem. Hun er meget atletisk. En af de ting, der sker, er, at hun ansøger om et legat. Fuldt studielegat. Hun får det. Hendes drøm om at gå i skole, hendes ønske om at blive uddannet, går endelig i opfyldelse. Hun går i skole den første dag. Idrætslederen, som er ansvarlig for at få hende ind i programmet, beder hende om at komme ud af klassen. Og de næste tre år, vil hendes skæbne være at have sex med ham hver dag, som tak for, at han fik hende ind i skolen.
2010: A young woman stands before President Sirleaf and gives her testimony of how she and her siblings live together, their father and mother died during the war. She's 19; her dream is to go to college to be able to support them. She's highly athletic. One of the things that happens is that she applies for a scholarship. Full scholarship. She gets it. Her dream of going to school, her wish of being educated, is finally here. She goes to school on the first day. The director of sports who's responsible for getting her into the program asks her to come out of class. And for the next three years, her fate will be having sex with him every day, as a favor for getting her in school.
Globalt set har vi politikker, internationale redskaber, arbejdsledere. Vidunderlige mennesker har forpligtet sig -- vi vil beskytte vores børn fra mangel og fra frygt. F.N. har børneretskonventionen. Lande som Amerika, har vi ting som No Child Left Behind. Andre lande har andre ting. FN's 2015-mål nummer Tre fokuserer på piger. Alt dette vidunderlige arbejde af vidunderlige mennesker med det mål at få unge mennesker til der, hvor vi globalt set ønsker, de er. Tror jeg, har fejlet.
Globally, we have policies, international instruments, work leaders. Great people have made commitments -- we will protect our children from want and from fear. The U.N. has the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Countries like America, we've heard things like No Child Left Behind. Other countries come with different things. There is a Millennium Development called Three that focuses on girls. All of these great works by great people aimed at getting young people to where we want to get them globally, I think, has failed.
I Liberia, f.eks, er hyppigheden af teenagegraviditeter tre ud af ti piger. Teenageprostitution er på sit højeste. I et lokalsamfund fik vi af vide, at du vågner op om morgenen og ser brugte kondomer, ligesom brugt tyggegummipapir. Piger ned til 12 år bliver prostitueret for mindre end en dollar per nat. Det er nedslående, det er trist. Og så var der en, som spurgte mig, lige før min TEDTalk for et par dage siden, "Så hvor er håbet?"
In Liberia, for example, the teenage pregnancy rate is three to every 10 girls. Teen prostitution is at its peak. In one community, we're told, you wake up in the morning and see used condoms like used chewing gum paper. Girls as young as 12 being prostituted for less than a dollar a night. It's disheartening, it's sad. And then someone asked me, just before my TEDTalk, a few days ago, "So where is the hope?"
For adskillige år siden, besluttede nogle af mine venner, at vi blev nødt til at slå bro over den manglende forbindelse imellem vores generation og generationen af unge kvinder. Det er ikke nok at sige, I har to Nobel prismodtagere fra Republikken Liberia, når jeres pigers' børn er helt derude og intet håb, eller tilsyneladende intet håb. Vi har skabt et sted, som hedder Young Girls Transformative Project. Vi tager ud til lokale landsamfund og det eneste vi gør, ligesom i dette rum, er at skabe et sted. Når disse piger sidder ned, låser du op for intelligens, du låser op for passion, du låser op for engagement, du låser op for fokus, du låser op for store ledere. I dag har vi arbejdet med mere end 300. Og nogle af disse piger, som gik generte ind i rummet, har taget modige skridt som unge mødre, til at gå ud og kæmpe for andre unge kvinders rettigheder.
Several years ago, a few friends of mine decided we needed to bridge the disconnect between our generation and the generation of young women. It's not enough to say you have two Nobel laureates from the Republic of Liberia when your girls' kids are totally out there and no hope, or seemingly no hope. We created a space called the Young Girls Transformative Project. We go into rural communities and all we do, like has been done in this room, is create the space. When these girls sit, you unlock intelligence, you unlock passion, you unlock commitment, you unlock focus, you unlock great leaders. Today, we've worked with over 300. And some of those girls who walked in the room very shy have taken bold steps, as young mothers, to go out there and advocate for the rights of other young women.
En ung kvinde, som jeg mødte, teenagemor til fire, havde aldrig tænkt på at gøre gymnasiet færdig, færdiggjorde sin uddannelse, havde aldrig tænkt på at gå på universitetet, tilmeldte sig universitetet. En dag sagde hun til mig, "Mit ønske er at blive færdig på universitetet og være i stand til at forsøge mine børn." Hun er et sted, hvor hun ikke kan finde penge til at gå i skole. Hun sælger vand, sodavand og taletidskort til mobiltelefoner. Og man ville tro, at hun ville tage de penge og bruge dem på sin uddannelse. Hun hedder Juanita. Hun tager de penge og finder enlige mødre i sit lokalsamfund, som hun sender tilbage i skole. Hun siger, "Leymah, mit ønske er at blive uddannet. Og hvis jeg ikke kan blive uddannet, når jeg ser nogle af mine søstre blive uddannet, så bliver mit ønske opfyldt. Jeg ønsker et bedre liv. Jeg ønsker at have mad til mine børn. Jeg ønsker, at det seksuelle misbrug og udnyttelse i skolerne ville stoppe." Dette er den afrikanske piges drøm.
One young woman I met, teen mother of four, never thought about finishing high school, graduated successfully; never thought about going to college, enrolled in college. One day she said to me, "My wish is to finish college and be able to support my children." She's at a place where she can't find money to go to school. She sells water, sells soft drinks and sells recharge cards for cellphones. And you would think she would take that money and put it back into her education. Juanita is her name. She takes that money and finds single mothers in her community to send back to school. Says, "Leymah, my wish is to be educated. And if I can't be educated, when I see some of my sisters being educated, my wish has been fulfilled. I wish for a better life. I wish for food for my children. I wish that sexual abuse and exploitation in schools would stop." This is the dream of the African girl.
For adskillige år siden var der en afrikansk pige. Denne pige havde en søn, som ønskede sig et stykke doughnut, for han var ekstremt sulten. Vred, frustreret, rigtig ked af sit samfunds tilstand og sine børns tilstand, startede denne unge kvinde en bevægelse, en bevægelse af almindelige kvinder som slog sig sammen om at skabe fred. Jeg vil opfylde det ønske. Dette er en anden afrikansk piges ønske. Jeg kunne ikke opfylde de to pigers ønske. Jeg var ikke i stand til det. Dette var de ting, som kørte igennem denne anden unge kvindes hoved -- jeg fejlede, jeg fejlede, jeg fejlede. Så jeg vil gøre dette. Kvinder kom ud, protesterede mod en brutal diktator, talte uden frygt. Ikke nok med at ønsket om et stykke doughnut blev opfyldt, men ønsket om fred blev opfyldt. Denne unge kvinde ønskede også at gå i skole. Hun gik i skole. Denne unge kvinde ønskede at andre ting skete, det skete for hende.
Several years ago, there was one African girl. This girl had a son who wished for a piece of doughnut because he was extremely hungry. Angry, frustrated, really upset about the state of her society and the state of her children, this young girl started a movement, a movement of ordinary women banding together to build peace. I will fulfill the wish. This is another African girl's wish. I failed to fulfill the wish of those two girls. I failed to do this. These were the things that were going through the head of this other young woman -- I failed, I failed, I failed. So I will do this. Women came out, protested a brutal dictator, fearlessly spoke. Not only did the wish of a piece of doughnut come true, the wish of peace came true. This young woman wished also to go to school. She went to school. This young woman wished for other things to happen, it happened for her.
I dag er denne unge kvinde mig, en Nobel prisvinder. Jeg er nu på en rejse for at opfylde ønsket, i min lille kapacitet, for små afrikanske piger -- ønsket om at blive uddannet. Vi har grundlagt en fond. Vi giver fulde, fire-årige studielegater til piger fra landsbyer, som vi ser har potentiale.
Today, this young woman is me, a Nobel laureate. I'm now on a journey to fulfill the wish, in my tiny capacity, of little African girls -- the wish of being educated. We set up a foundation. We're giving full four-year scholarships to girls from villages that we see with potential.
Jeg har ikke meget at bede jer om. Jeg har også været steder i dette U.S.A., og jeg ved at piger i dette land også har ønsker, et ønske om et bedre liv et sted i Bronx, et ønske om et bedre liv et sted i downtown L.A., et ønske om et bedre liv et sted i Texas, et ønske om et bedre liv et sted i New York, et ønske om et bedre liv et sted i New Jersey.
I don't have much to ask of you. I've also been to places in this U.S., and I know that girls in this country also have wishes, a wish for a better life somewhere in the Bronx, a wish for a better life somewhere in downtown L.A., a wish for a better life somewhere in Texas, a wish for a better life somewhere in New York, a wish for a better life somewhere in New Jersey.
Vil du rejse med mig for at hjælpe den pige, om det er en afrikansk pige eller en amerikansk pige eller en japansk pige, opfyld hendes ønske, opfyld hendes drøm, opnå den drøm? Fordi alle disse store innovatører og opfindere, som vi har talt med og set de sidste par dage, sidder også i bittesmå hjørner forskellige steder i verdenen, og det eneste, de beder os om, er at skabe det sted, at låse op for intelligensen, låse op for passionen, låse op for alle de store ting, som de har inden i dem selv. Lad os rejse sammen. Lad os rejse sammen.
Will you journey with me to help that girl, be it an African girl or an American girl or a Japanese girl, fulfill her wish, fulfill her dream, achieve that dream? Because all of these great innovators and inventors that we've talked to and seen over the last few days are also sitting in tiny corners in different parts of the world, and all they're asking us to do is create that space to unlock the intelligence, unlock the passion, unlock all of the great things that they hold within themselves. Let's journey together. Let's journey together.
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Chris Anderson: Tusind tak. Lige nu i Liberia, hvad ser du, som hovedproblemerne?
Chris Anderson: Thank you so much. Right now in Liberia, what do you see as the main issue that troubles you?
LG: Jeg er blevet bedt om at lede Liberian Reconciliation Initiative (det Liberianske Forsonings Initiativ). Som en del af mit arbejde, tager jeg på disse ture til forskellige landsbyer og byer -- 13, 15 timer på grusveje -- og der er intet lokalsamfund, som jeg har besøgt, hvor jeg ikke har set intelligente piger. Men desværre, er visionen om en storslået fremtid, eller drømmen om en storslået fremtid, kun en drøm, fordi du har al den moralske fordærv. Som jeg sagde er teenagegraviditet epidemisk.
LG: I've been asked to lead the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative. As part of my work, I'm doing these tours in different villages and towns -- 13, 15 hours on dirt roads -- and there is no community that I've gone into that I haven't seen intelligent girls. But sadly, the vision of a great future, or the dream of a great future, is just a dream, because you have all of these vices. Teen pregnancy, like I said, is epidemic.
Så det, der bekymrer mig, er, at jeg var det sted og nu er jeg på en eller anden måde her, og jeg vil bare ikke være den eneste, som er her. Jeg leder efter måder, så andre piger kan være her med mig. Jeg vil gerne se tilbage 20 år fra nu og se, at der er en anden liberiansk pige, ghanesisk pige, nigeriansk pige, ethiopisk pige som står på denne TED scene. Og måske, kun måske, siger, "På grund af den Nobel prisvinder står jeg her i dag." Så jeg er bekymret, når jeg ser dem, som om der intet håb er. Men jeg er heller ikke pessimistisk, fordi jeg ved, det ikke kræver særlig meget at få dem ladet op.
So what troubles me is that I was at that place and somehow I'm at this place, and I just don't want to be the only one at this place. I'm looking for ways for other girls to be with me. I want to look back 20 years from now and see that there's another Liberian girl, Ghanaian girl, Nigerian girl, Ethiopian girl standing on this TED stage. And maybe, just maybe, saying, "Because of that Nobel laureate I'm here today." So I'm troubled when I see them like there's no hope. But I'm also not pessimistic, because I know it doesn't take a lot to get them charged up.
CA: Og i det sidste år, fortæl os om en håbefuld ting, som du har set ske.
CA: And in the last year, tell us one hopeful thing that you've seen happening.
LG: Jeg kan fortæller jer om mange håbefulde ting, som jeg har set ske. Men i det sidste år, hvor Præsident Sirleaf kommer fra, hendes landsby, vi tog derhen for at arbejde med disse piger. Og vi kunne ikke finde 25 piger, som gik i gymnasiet. Alle disse piger tog til guldminen, og de var hovedsageligt prostituerede og lavede andre ting. Vi tog 50 af disse piger og vi arbejdede med dem. Og dette var i begyndelsen af valgene. Dette er et sted, hvor kvinder aldrig -- selv de ældre sad knap nok i cirkel med mændene. Disse piger slog sig sammen og formede en gruppe og satte en kampagne igang for stemmeregistrering. Dette er virkelig en landlig landsby. Og det tema de brugte var: "Selv smukke piger stemmer." De var i stand til at mobilisere unge kvinder.
LG: I can tell you many hopeful things that I've seen happening. But in the last year, where President Sirleaf comes from, her village, we went there to work with these girls. And we could not find 25 girls in high school. All of these girls went to the gold mine, and they were predominantly prostitutes doing other things. We took 50 of those girls and we worked with them. And this was at the beginning of elections. This is one place where women were never -- even the older ones barely sat in the circle with the men. These girls banded together and formed a group and launched a campaign for voter registration. This is a real rural village. And the theme they used was: "Even pretty girls vote." They were able to mobilize young women.
Men ikke nok med det, de tog også hen til dem som stillede op til valg for at spørge dem, "Hvad er det, du vil give til pigerne i dette lokalsamfund, når du vinder?" Og en af fyrene, som allerede havde et mandat, var meget -- fordi Liberia har en af de stærkeste voldtægtslove, og han var en af dem som virkelig kæmpede i parlamentet for at få den lov afskaffet, fordi han kaldte den barbarisk. Voldtægt er ikke barbarisk, men loven, sagde han, var barbarisk. Og da pigerne begyndte at snakke med ham, var han meget fjendtlig imod dem. Disse små piger vendte sig mod ham og sagde, "Vi vil stemme dig ud af parlamentet." I dag er han ude af parlamentet.
But not only did they do that, they went to those who were running for seats to ask them, "What is it that you will give the girls of this community when you win?" And one of the guys who already had a seat was very -- because Liberia has one of the strongest rape laws, and he was one of those really fighting in parliament to overturn that law because he called it barbaric. Rape is not barbaric, but the law, he said, was barbaric. And when the girls started engaging him, he was very hostile towards them. These little girls turned to him and said, "We will vote you out of office." He's out of office today.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
CA: Leymah, tak. Tusind tak fordi du ville komme til TED.
CA: Leymah, thank you. Thank you so much for coming to TED.
LG: Det var så lidt. (CA: Tak.)
LG: You're welcome. (CA: Thank you.)
(Bifald)
(Applause)