Joseph Lekuton: A parable for Kenya

Prevoditelj: Tilen Pigac - EFZG Recezent: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG

My name is Joseph, a Member of Parliament in Kenya.

Moje ime je Joseph, član sam Kenijskog parlamenta.

Picture a Maasai village,

I slika Masai sela.

and one evening,

Jedne večeri, vladini vojnici su došli, opkolili selo,

government soldiers come, surround the village

and ask each elder to bring one boy to school.

i zamolili svakog starješinu da dovede jednog dječaka u školu.

That's how I went to school --

Tako sam ja išao u školu --

pretty much a government guy pointing a gun

više-manje vladin čovjek s uperenim pištoljem,

and told my father, "You have to make a choice."

koji je rekao mom ocu, "Morate odabrati."

I walked very comfortably to this missionary school,

Stoga sam vrlo ugodno išao u tu misionarsku školu,

that was run by an American missionary.

koju su vodili američki misionari,

The first thing the American missionary gave me was a candy.

i prva stvar koju su mi američki misionari dali je bio slatkiš.

I had never in my life ever tasted candy.

Nikad u životu nisam probao slatkiš.

So I said to myself, with all these hundred other boys,

Stoga sam sebi rekao, sa stotinama drugih dječaka,

this is where I belong.

ovdje pripadam. Ostao sam --

(Laughter) I stayed.

(Smijeh)

When everybody else was dropping out.

-- kada su svi drugi odlazili.

My family moved; we're nomads.

Moja obitelj se preselila. Mi smo nomadi.

It was a boarding school, I was seven --

Svaki put kad bi se škola zatvorila -- bio je to internat, a meni je bilo sedam godina --

Every time it closed you had to travel to find them.

morali biste putovati kako biste ih pronašli.

40-50 miles, it doesn't matter.

50 milja, 40 milja, nije bitno.

You slept in the bush, but you kept going.

Spavali biste u grmlju, ali biste nastavili.

And I stayed. I don't know why, but I did.

I ostao sam. Ne znam zašto sam ostao, ali sam ostao.

All of a sudden I passed the national examination,

I odjednom, prošao sam nacionalna testiranja,

found myself in a very beautiful high school in Kenya.

našao se u jako lijepoj srednjoj školi u Keniji.

And I finished high school.

I završio sam srednju školu. I samo hodajući, pronašao sam čovjeka

And just walking, I found a man

who gave me a full scholarship to the United States.

koji mi je dao punu stipendiju za SAD.

My mother still lived in a cow-dung hut,

Moja majka još uvijek živi u kolibi od kravljeg izmeta,

none of my brothers were going to school,

nijedno od moje braće ne ide u školu,

and this man told me, "Here, go."

a taj čovijek mi je rekao, "Evo, idi."

I got a scholarship

Dakle, dobio sam stipendiju za Sveučilište St. Lawrence, na sjeveru države New York.

to St. Lawrence University, Upstate New York;

finished that.

Završio sam to, i zatim sam, nakon toga, otišao na Harvard Graduate School.

And after that I went to Harvard Graduate School;

finished that.

Završio sam to, i zatim sam malo radio u Washingtonu.

Then I worked in DC a little bit:

I wrote a book for National Geographic and taught U.S. history.

Napisao sam knjigu za National Geographic, i podučavao sam povijest, povijest SAD-a.

And every time, I kept going back home,

I svaki put kad bih se vraćao kući,

listening to their problems --

slušao sam probleme svih tih ljudi,

sick people, people with no water, all this stuff --

bolesnih ljudi, ljudi bez vode, sve te stvari.

every time I go back to America,

I svaki put kad se vratim u Ameriku, razmišljam o njima.

I kept thinking about them.

Then one day, an elder gave me a story that went like this:

Zatim, jednog dana, jedan starješina mi je ispričao priču, koja je išla nekako ovako.

long time ago, there was a big war between tribes.

Prije dugo vremena, vodio se rat između plemena.

This specific tribe was really afraid of this other Luhya tribe.

I postojalo je specifično pleme koje se uistinu bojalo ovog drugog Luhya plemena.

Every time, they sent scouts to make sure no one attacked them.

I svaki put bi poslali izviđače u izvidnicu kako bi se uvjerili da ih nitko ne napada.

So one day, the scouts came running and told the villagers,

Tako su jednog dana, izviđači dotrčali i rekli seljanima,

"The enemies are coming. Only half an hour away, they'll be here."

"Neprijatelji dolaze, samo su na pola sata udaljenosti -- biti će ovdje."

So people scrambled, took their things and ready to go, move out.

Stoga su se ljudi uznemirili, uzeli svoje stvari i bili spremni za odlazak, da se isele.

But there were two men:

Ali bila su dvojica muškaraca,

one man was blind, one man had no legs

jedan od njih je bio slijep, drugi nije imao noge -- takav se rodio.

-- he was born like that.

The leader of the chiefs said, "No, sorry. We can't take you. You'll slow us down.

Vođa poglavica je rekao, "Ne, žao nam je, ne možemo vas povesti, vi biste nas usporili.

We have to flee our women and children, we have to run."

Naše žene i djeca moraju pobjeći, mi moramo bježati."

And they were left behind, waiting to die.

I ostavljeni su iza, čekajući na smrt.

But these two people worked something out.

Ali ta dvojica su nešto dokučila.

The blind man said, "Look, I'm a very strong man but I can't see."

Slijepac je rekao, "Gledaj, ja sam veoma snažan čovjek, ali ne mogu vidjeti."

The man with no legs says, "I can see as far as the end of the world,

Muškarac bez nogu je rekao, "Ja mogu vidjeti do kraja svijeta,

but I can't save myself from a cat, or whatever animals."

ali ne mogu spasiti sebe od mačke ili bilo kojih životinja."

The blind man went down on his knees like this,

Stoga se slijepac spustio na koljena, ovako dolje,

and told the man with no legs to go over his back, and stood up.

i rekao je muškarcu bez nogu da mu se popne na leđa, i ustao je.

The man on top can see, the blind man can walk.

Muškarac na vrhu može vidjeti, slijepac može hodati.

I njih dvojica su otišla, slijedeći stope seljana,

These guys took off, followed the footsteps of the villagers

sve dok ih nisu pronašli i pretekli.

until they found and passed them.

So, this was told to me in a setup of elders.

To mi je ispričano na skupu starješina.

And it's a really poor area.

I doista je to siromašno područje, ja zastupam Sjevernu Keniju --

I represent Northern Kenya:

the most nomadic, remote areas you can even find.

najnomadičnija, udaljena područja koja možete pronaći.

And that man told me, "So, here you are.

I taj mi je čovjek rekao, "Ovdje si,

You've got a good education from America, you have a good life in America;

imaš dobro obrazovanje iz Amerike,

imaš dobar život u Americi, što ćeš napraviti za nas?

what are you going to do for us?

We want you to be our eyes, we'll give you the legs.

Želimo da budeš naše oči, mi ćemo ti dati noge.

We'll walk you, you lead us."

Mi ćemo hodati, ti nas vodi."

The opportunity came. I was always thinking about that:

Dakle, prilika se pružila, i uvijek sam razmišljao o tome,

"What can I do to help my people?

što mogu učiniti da pomognem svojim ljudima?

Every time you go to an area where for 43 years of independence,

Svaki put odete u područje gdje, u 43 godine nezavisnosti,

we still don't have basic health facilities.

još uvijek nemamo osnovne zdravstvene ustanove.

A man has to be transported in a wheelbarrow 30 km for a hospital.

Čovjek mora biti transportiran u tačkama

u bolnicu udaljenu 20, 30 kilometara. Bez pitke vode.

No clean drinking water.

Stoga sam rekao, Posvetit ću se,

So I said, "I'm going to dedicate myself.

I'm leaving America.

napuštam Ameriku. Kandidirat ću se za ured."

I'm going to run for office."

Last June, I moved from America,

Stoga sam prošlog srpnja -- doselio sam se iz Ameriku u lipnju, kandidirao se na izborima u srpnju i pobijedio.

ran in July election and won.

And I came for them,

I došao sam zbog njih, i to je moj cilj.

and that's my goal.

Right now I have in place, for the last nine months,

I upravo sada, već posljednjih devet mjeseci imam

plan kako će u pet godina, svaki nomad imati čistu, pitku vodu.

a plan that in five years,

every nomad will have clean drinking water.

We're building dispensaries across that constituency.

Gradimo ambulante diljem te izborne jedinice.

I'm asking my friends from America to help

Molim svoje prijatelje iz Amerike za pomoć

u dovođenju sestara ili doktora da nam pomognu.

with bringing nurses or doctors to help us out.

I'm trying to improve infrastructure.

Pokušavam poboljšati infrastrukturu.

I'm using the knowledge I received from the United States

Koristim znanje koje sam dobio u Sjedinjenim Državama

i u svojoj zajednici kako bih ih pomicao naprijed.

and from my community

to move them forward.

Pokušavam razviti domaća riješenja za naše probleme.

I'm trying to develop homegrown solutions to our issues

because people from outside can come and help us,

Jer znamo, shvaćamo kako ljudi izvana mogu doći i pomoći nam,

but if we don't help ourselves, there's nothing to do.

ali ako ne pomognemo sami sebi, ne možemo ništa učiniti.

My plan right now

Dakle, moj plana sada je da, kako nastavljam s uvođenjem studenata u razna polja --

as I continue with introducing students to different fields --

some become doctors, some lawyers --

neki postanu doktori, neki odvjetnici --

we want to produce a comprehensive group of people,

želimo proizvesti veliku grupu ljudi, studenata,

students who can come back and help us see a community grow

koji se mogu vratiti i pomoći nam u izgradnji zajednice

that is in the middle of a huge economic recession.

koja se nalazi usred ogromne ekonomske recesije.

As I continue to be a Member of Parliament

Kao član Parlamenta,

and as I continue listening to all of you talking about botany,

i nastavljajući slušati sve vas kako pričate o botanici,

health, democracy, new inventions,

kako pričate o zdravlju, kako pričate o demokraciji, kako pričate o novim izumima,

I'm hoping that one day in my own little community --

nadam se kako ćemo jednog dana, u mojoj maloj zajednici -

which is 26,000 square km,

koja ima površinu od 26.000 četvornih kilometara,

maybe five times Rhode Island --

možda pet puta veličine Rhode Islanda, bez cesta --

with no roads,

we'll be able to become a model to help others develop.

postati model koji će pomoći drugima da se razviju.

Thank you very much.

Puno vam hvala.

(Applause)