The magic washing machine | Hans Rosling

Translator: Caren Smit Reviewer: Christo Crafford

I was only four years old

Ek was net 4 jaar oud

when I saw my mother load a washing machine

toe ek my ma ’n wasmasjien sien laai

for the very first time in her life.

vir die eerste keer in haar lewe.

That was a great day for my mother.

Dit was ’n wonderlike dag vir haar.

My mother and father had been saving money for years

My ouers het jare lank gespaar

to be able to buy that machine,

om die masjien te kon koop.

and the first day it was going to be used,

Op die eerste dag wat ons dit sou gebruik,

even Grandma was invited to see the machine.

is selfs Ouma genooi

om die masjien te sien.

(Laughter)

And Grandma was even more excited.

En Ouma was nog meer opgewonde.

Throughout her life, she had been heating water with firewood,

Regdeur haar lewe

het sy water oor die vuur warm gemaak

and she had hand-washed laundry for seven children.

en wasgoed met die hand gewas

vir sewe kinders.

And now, she was going to watch electricity do that work.

En nou gaan sy sien hoe

elektrisiteit die werk doen.

My mother carefully opened the door,

My ma maak die deur versigtig oop

and she loaded the laundry into the machine,

en sy laai die wasgoed

in die masjien,

like this.

só...

And then, when she closed the door,

En toe sy die deur toemaak,

Grandma said, "No, no, no, no!

sê Ouma, "Nee, nee, nee.

Let me! Let me push the button!"

Laat ek die knoppie druk."

(Laughter)

And Grandma pushed the button,

En Ouma druk die knoppie

and she said, "Oh, fantastic!

en sy sê, "O, fantasties!

I want to see this! Give me a chair! Give me a chair! I want to see it,"

Ek wil sien! Gee vir my ’n stoel!

Ek wil sien!"

and she sat down in front of the machine,

En sy sit voor die masjien,

and she watched the entire washing program.

en sy kyk die hele wasprogram.

(Laughter)

Sy was betower.

She was mesmerized.

To my grandmother, the washing machine was a miracle.

Vir my ouma,

was die wasmasjien ’n wonderwerk.

Today, in Sweden and other rich countries,

Vandag, in Swede en ander welaf lande,

people are using so many different machines.

gebruik mense

baie verskillende masjiene.

Look -- the homes are full of machines.

Kyk, die huise is vol masjiene.

I can't even name them all.

Ek kan nie eens almal opnoem nie.

And they also, when they want to travel,

En ook, wanneer hulle wil reis,

they use flying machines

gebruik hulle vlieënde masjiene

that can take them to remote destinations.

wat hulle na afgeleë bestemmings neem.

And yet, in the world,

En tog is daar so baie mense

there are so many people who still heat the water on fire,

wat steeds hulle water op ’n vuur verhit,

and they cook their food on fire.

en hul kos oor vuur kook.

Sometimes they don't even have enough food.

Soms het hulle nie eens genoeg kos nie.

And they live below the poverty line.

En hulle lewe onder die broodlyn.

There are two billion fellow human beings

Daar is twee miljard medemense

who live on less than two dollars a day.

wat op minder as $2 ’n dag leef.

And the richest people over there -- there's one billion people,

En die rykste mense daar --

daar's een miljard mense --

and they live above what I call the "air line" --

hulle leef bo, wat ek die "luglyn" noem,

(Laughter)

because they spend more than 80 dollars a day

omdat hulle meer as $80 ’n dag spandeer

on their consumption.

op hulle verbruik.

But this is just one, two, three billion people,

Maar dis slegs drie miljard mense,

and obviously, there are seven billion people in the world,

terwyl daar sewe miljard mense in die wêreld is,

so there must be one, two, three, four billion people more

so daar moet vier miljard mense wees,

who live in between the poverty and the air line.

wat tussen armoede en die luglyn leef.

They have electricity,

Hulle het elektrisiteit, maar die vraag is:

but the question is: How many have washing machines?

Hoeveel het wasmasjiene?

I've done the scrutiny of market data, and I've found that, indeed,

Ek't die data ondersoek,

en gevind, inderdaad,

the washing machine has penetrated below the air line,

dat die wasmasjien tot onder die luglyn deurgedring het,

and today, there's an additional one billion people out there

en vandag is daar ’n addisionele een miljard mense

wat bo die "wasgoedlyn" leef.

who live above the "wash line."

(Laughter)

(Gelag)

And they consume for more than 40 dollars per day.

Hulle verbruik meer as $40 per dag.

So two billion have access to washing machines.

So twee miljard het toegang tot wasmasjiene.

And the remaining five billion --

En die oorblywende vyf miljard,

how do they wash?

hoe was hulle?

Or, to be more precise,

Of, meer presies,

how do most of the women in the world wash?

hoe was die meeste vroue in die wêreld?

Because it remains the hard work for women to wash.

Want dit bly harde werk vir vroue om te was.

They wash like this: by hand.

Hulle was só: met die hand.

It's hard, time-consuming labor,

Dis ’n harde, tydrowende arbeid,

which they have to do for hours every week.

wat hulle vir ure elke week moet doen.

And sometimes they also have to bring water from far away

En soms moet hulle ook water van vêr af bring

to do the laundry at home,

om tuis te was,

or they have to bring the laundry away to a stream far off.

of hulle moet die wasgoed na ’n stroompie vêr weg vat.

And they want the washing machine.

En hulle wil ’n wasmasjien hê.

They don't want to spend such a large part of their life

Hulle wil nie so baie van hulle lewe spandeer

doing this hard work

om harde werk te doen

with so relatively low productivity.

wat relatiewe lae produktiwiteit het nie.

And there's nothing different in their wish

En daar's niks anders aan hulle wens

than it was for my grandma.

as die van my ouma nie.

Look here, two generations ago in Sweden --

Kyk, twee generasies terug in Swede --

picking water from the stream,

skep water by die stroom,

heating with firewood and washing like that.

op die vuur verhit en was soos dit.

They want the washing machine in exactly the same way.

Hulle wil die wasmasjien hê op presies dieselfde manier.

But when I lecture to environmentally concerned students,

Maar wanneer ek ’n lesing aanbied vir omgewingbewuste studente

they tell me, "No, everybody in the world cannot have cars and washing machines."

sê hulle: "Nie almal in die wêreld kan karre en wasmasjiene hê nie."

How can we tell this woman

Hoe kan ons dié vrou vertel

that she isn't going to have a washing machine?

dat sy nie ’n wasmasjien gaan hê nie?

And then I ask my students -- over the last two years, I've asked --

En dan vra ek my studente,

oor die laaste twee jaar:

"How many of you don't use a car?"

"Hoeveel van julle gebruik nie ’n kar nie?"

And some of them proudly raise their hand and say, "I don't use a car."

En somige steek hulle hande trots op

en sê, "Ek gebruik nie ’n kar nie."

And then I put the really tough question:

En dan vra ek die regtig moeilike vraag:

"How many of you hand-wash your jeans and your bedsheets?"

"Hoeveel van julle

was julle jeans en beddegoed per hand?"

And no one raised their hand.

En niemand steek hulle hand op nie.

Even the hardcore in the green movement use washing machines.

Selfs die gehardes in die groenbeweging

gebruik wasmasjiene.

(Laughter)

(Gelag)

So how come [this is] something that everyone uses

So hoekom gebruik almal dit en hulle dink ander sal dit nie stop nie?

and they think others will not stop it?

What is special with this?

Wat is so spesiaal?

I had to do an analysis about the energy use in the world.

Ek moes ’n analise doen oor energieverbruik in die wêreld.

Here we are.

Look here. You see the seven billion people up there?

Hier.

Julle sien die sewe miljard mense bo:

The air people, the wash people,

die lugmense, die wasmense,

the bulb people and the fire people.

die gloeilampmense en die vuurmense.

One unit like this

Een eenheid soos dié

is an energy unit of fossil fuel -- oil, coal or gas.

is ’n fossielbrandstof-eenheid:

olie, steenkool of gas.

That's what most of the electricity and the energy in the world is.

Dis meeste van die elektrisiteit en energie in die wêreld.

And it's 12 units used in the entire world,

Dis 12 eenhede verbruik in die hele wêreld,

and the richest one billion, they use six of them.

en die rykste een miljard gebruik ses daarvan.

Half of the energy is used by one seventh of the world population.

Helfte van die energie word verbruik deur ’n sewende van die bevolking.

And these ones, who have washing machines

En dié wat wasmasjiene het,

but not a house full of other machines,

maar nie ’n huis vol ander masjiene nie,

they use two.

hulle gebruik twee.

This group uses three, one each.

Hierdie groep gebruik drie, een elk.

And they also have electricity.

Hulle't ook elektrisiteit.

And over there, they don't even use one each.

Daar gebruik hulle nie eens een elk nie.

That makes 12 of them.

Dit maak 12 van hulle.

But the main concern

Maar die hoof bekommernis

for the environmentally interested students -- and they are right --

vir die omgewing-belangstellende studente -- en hulle is reg --

is about the future.

is oor die toekoms.

What are the trends?

Wat is die tendense? As hulle net verleng,

If we just prolong the trends, without any real advanced analysis,

sonder enige gevorderde analise, tot 2050,

to 2050,

there are two things that can increase the energy use:

is daar twee dinge wat energieverbruik kan verhoog.

first, population growth; second, economic growth.

Eerste, bevolkingsgroei.

Tweede, ekonomiese groei.

Population growth will mainly occur among the poorest people here,

Bevolkingsgroei sal hoofsaaklik onder die armste mense plaasvind,

because they have high child mortality

want hulle ervaar hoë kindersterftes

and they have many children per woman.

en hulle het baie kinders per vrou.

And that will get you two extra,

Met dit kom twee ekstra,

maar energieverbruik sal nie baie verander nie.

but that won't change the energy use very much.

Wat sal gebeur is ekonomiese groei.

What will happen is economic growth.

The best of here in the emerging economies --

Die mees welaf hier in die opkomende ekonomieë --

I call them "the New East" --

ek noem hulle die Nuwe Ooste --

they will jump the air line.

hulle sal oor die luglyn spring.

"Wopp!" they will say.

"Whap!" sê hulle.

En hulle sal begin om so baie te gebruik soos die Ou Weste reeds gebruik.

And they will start to use as much as the Old West are doing already.

(Laughter)

And these people, they want the washing machine.

En dié mense, hulle wil ’n wasmasjien hê.

Soos ek gesê het: daar gaan hulle.

I told you. They'll go there.

And they will double their energy use.

Hulle energieverbruik sal verdubbel.

And we hope that the poor people will get into the electric light.

En ons hoop dat die arm mense elektriese lig sal kry.

And they'll get a two-child family without a stop in population growth.

Hulle kry twee-kind-families sonder ’n stop in bevolkingsgroei.

But the total energy consumption will increase to 22 units.

Maar die totale energieverbruik

sal verhoog tot 22 eenhede.

And these 22 units --

En dié 22 eenhede --

still, the richest people use most of them.

steeds gebruik die rykstes die meeste.

So what needs to be done?

So wat moet gedoen word?

Because the risk,

Omdat die risiko,

the high probability of climate change is real.

die hoë waarskynlikheid van klimaatsverandering,

It's real.

’n werklikheid is.

Of course, they must be more energy efficient.

Natuurlik moet hulle meer energiedoeltreffend wees.

They must change their behavior in some way.

Hulle moet gedrag verander op ’n manier.

They must also start to produce green energy,

Hulle moet ook begin groen energie produseer,

much more green energy.

baie meer groen energie.

But until they have the same energy consumption per person,

Maar tot hulle dieselfde energieverbruik per persoon het,

they shouldn't give advice to others --

moet hulle nie raad gee aan ander --

what to do and what not to do.

wat om te doen of nie te doen nie.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

(Applous)

Here, we can get more green energy all over.

Hier kan ons meer groen energie kry van orals.

This is what we hope might happen.

Dis wat ons hoop mag gebeur.

It's a real challenge in the future.

Dis ’n werklike toekomsuitdaging.

But I can assure you that this woman in the favela in Rio,

Maar ek verseker julle dat hierdie vrou in die favela in Rio:

she wants a washing machine.

sy wil ’n wasmasjien hê.

She's very happy about her minister of energy

Sy's baie gelukkig met haar minister van energie

that provided electricity to everyone --

wat elektrisiteit vir almal verskaf het --

so happy that she even voted for her.

so gelukkig dat sy vir haar gestem het.

And she became Dilma Rousseff,

En sy word Dilma Rousseff,

the president-elect of one of the biggest democracies in the world,

die pas gekose president

van een van die grootste demokrasieë in die wêreld --

moving from minister of energy to president.

van minister van energie tot president.

If you have democracy, people will vote for washing machines.

As jy ’n demokrasie het,

sal mense stem vir wasmasjiene.

They love them!

Hulle's mal oor hulle.

(Laughter)

And what's the magic with them?

En wat is die wonder hiervan?

My mother explained the magic with this machine

My ma't die wonder van die masjien verduidelik

the very, very first day.

die heel, heel eerste dag.

She said, "Now, Hans.

Sy't gesê, "Nou Hans,

We have loaded the laundry.

ons het die wasgoed gelaai.

The machine will make the work.

Die masjien sal die werk doen.

And now we can go to the library."

En nou kan ons biblioteek toe gaan."

Because this is the magic: you load the laundry,

Want dis die wonder:

jy doen die wasgoed,

and what do you get out of the machine?

en wat kry jy uit die masjien?

You get books out of the machines,

Jy kry boeke uit die masjien,

children's books.

kinderboeke.

And mother got time to read for me.

My ma't tyd gehad om vir my te lees.

She loved this.

Sy was mal daaroor. Ek kry die "ABC's."

I got the "ABC's" -- this is why I started my career as a professor,

Dis waar my beroep as professor begin het,

when my mother had time to read for me.

toe my ma tyd gehad het om vir my te lees.

And she also got books for herself.

Sy't ook boeke vir haarself gekry.

She managed to study English and learn that as a foreign language.

Sy't dit reggekry om Engels te studeer

en dit te leer as ’n vreemde taal.

And she read so many novels,

En sy lees soveel romans,

so many different novels here.

so baie verskillendes.

And we really, we really loved this machine.

En ons hou baie, baie van die masjien.

(Laughter)

And what we said, my mother and me,

En wat my ma en ek gesê het, is:

"Thank you, industrialization.

"Dankie, industrialisasie.

Thank you, steel mill.

Dankie, staalplettery.

Thank you, power station.

Dankie, kragstasie.

And thank you, chemical processing industry

En dankie, chemiese industrie

that gave us time to read books."

wat ons tyd gegee het om boeke te lees."

Thank you very much.

Baie dankie.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

(Applous)