Thank you. Two years ago, I stood on the TED stage in Arusha, Tanzania. I spoke very briefly about one of my proudest creations. It was a simple machine that changed my life.
Hvala. Pre dve godine sam stajao na TED-ovoj pozornici u Aruši, u Tanzaniji. Govorio sam kratko o jednoj od svojih kreacija na koju sam posebno ponosan. Bila je to jednostavna mašina koje je promenila moj život.
Before that time, I had never been away from my home in Malawi. I had never used a computer. I had never seen an Internet. On the stage that day, I was so nervous. My English lost, I wanted to vomit. (Laughter) I had never been surrounded by so many azungu, white people. (Laughter)
Pre toga nikada nisam bio daleko od svoje kuće u Malaviju. Nikada nisam koristio kompjuter. Nikada nisam video Internet. Tog dana na sceni, bio sam mnogo nervozan. Moj engleski se izgubio. Hteo sam da povraćam. (Smeh) Nikada nisam bio okružen sa toliko "azungu", belaca. (Smeh)
There was a story I wouldn't tell you then. But well, I'm feeling good right now. I would like to share that story today. We have seven children in my family. All sisters, excepting me. This is me with my dad when I was a little boy. Before I discovered the wonders of science, I was just a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers. Like everyone else, we grew maize.
Postojala je priča koju vam tada ne bih ispričao. Ali, sada se osećam dobro. Danas bih želeo da tu priču podelim sa vama. U mojoj porodici ima sedmoro dece. Izuzimajući mene, sve sestre. Ovo sam ja sa svojim ocem kada sam bio mali. Pre nego što sam otkrio čuda nauke, bio sam samo običan farmer u zemlji siromašnih farmera. Kao i svi ostali, uzgajali smo kukuruz.
One year our fortune turned very bad. In 2001 we experienced an awful famine. Within five months all Malawians began to starve to death. My family ate one meal per day, at night. Only three swallows of nsima for each one of us. The food passes through our bodies. We drop down to nothing.
Jedne godine bili smo jako loše sreće. 2001. smo se suočili sa strašnom oskudicom i glađu. Tokom pet meseci svi Malavljani su gladovali do smrti. Moja porodica je jela jedan obrok dnevno, noću. Samo tri zalogaja "nsima" za svakog od nas. Hrana je prolazila kroz naša tela. Topili smo se.
In Malawi, the secondary school, you have to pay school fees. Because of the hunger, I was forced to drop out of school. I looked at my father and looked at those dry fields. It was the future I couldn't accept.
U Malaviju se srednja škola plaća. Zbog gladi, bio sam primoran da napustim školu. Gledao sam u svog oca, i u suva polja. To je bila budućnost koju nisam mogao da prihvatim
I felt very happy to be at the secondary school, so I was determined to do anything possible to receive education. So I went to a library. I read books, science books, especially physics. I couldn't read English that well. I used diagrams and pictures to learn the words around them.
Bio sam srećan u srednjoj školi. Zato sam bio odlučan da uradim šta god je moguće da bih se obrazovao. Tako sam otisao u biblioteku. Čitao sam knjige, naučne knjige, posebno fiziku. Nisam mogao da čitam na engleskom toliko dobro. Pa sam koristio dijagrame i slike da bih naučio reči oko njih.
Another book put that knowledge in my hands. It said a windmill could pump water and generate electricity. Pump water meant irrigation, a defense against hunger, which we were experiencing by that time. So I decided I would build one windmill for myself. But I didn't have materials to use, so I went to a scrap yard where I found my materials. Many people, including my mother, said I was crazy. (Laughter)
U jednoj knjizi sam pronašao znanje. Tu sam našao da bi vetrenjača mogla da pumpa vodu i prikuplja elektrićnu energiju. Pumpanje vode je značilo navodnjavanje. Odbranu od gladi, sa kojom smo se u to vreme suočavali. Zato sam odlučio da izgradim sebi jednu vetrenjaču. Ali nisam imao potrebni materijal. Otišao sam na otpad i pronašao sam materijale. Mnogo ljudi, uključujući i moju majku, reklo je da sam lud. (Smeh)
I found a tractor fan, shock absorber, PVC pipes. Using a bicycle frame and an old bicycle dynamo, I built my machine. It was one light at first. And then four lights, with switches, and even a circuit breaker, modeled after an electric bell. Another machine pumps water for irrigation.
Našao sam traktorski ventilator, amortizer, plastične cevi. Korisitio sam ram bicikla, i stari dinamo I napravio sam svoju mašinu. Na početku je bilo jedno svetlo. Kasnije četiri, sa prekidačima i čak i sa automatskim prekidačem napravljenim prema računu za struju. Druga mašina pumpa vodu za navodnjavanje.
Queues of people start lining up at my house (Laughter) to charge their mobile phone. (Applause) I could not get rid of them. (Laughter) And the reporters came too, which lead to bloggers and which lead to a call from something called TED. I had never seen an airplane before. I had never slept in a hotel. So, on stage that day in Arusha, my English lost, I said something like, "I tried. And I made it."
Redovi ljudi su počeli da vijugaju ispred moje kuće. (Smeh) da napune mobilne telefone. (Aplauz) Nisam mogao da ih se otarasim. (Smeh) Novinari su došli, takođe, što je vodilo ka blogerima, što je opet vodilo ka nečemu što se zove TED. Nikada ranije nisam video avion. Nikad nisam spavao u hotelu. Tako se na sceni tog dana u Aruši moj engleski izgubio. Rekao sam nešto kao, "Pokušao sam. I uspeo sam."
So I would like to say something to all the people out there like me to the Africans, and the poor who are struggling with your dreams. God bless. Maybe one day you will watch this on the Internet. I say to you, trust yourself and believe. Whatever happens, don't give up. Thank you. (Applause)
Zato bih želeo da kažem nešto svim ljudima tamo negde koji su kao ja, Afrikancima, siromašnima koji se bore za svoje snove, Bog blagosilja. Možda ćete jednog dana gledati ovo na internetu. Kažem vam, verujte u sebe i verujte. Šta god da se dogodi, ne odustajte. Hvala. (Aplauz)