Joseph Lekuton: A parable for Kenya

Traducător: Arnold Platon Corector: Mihai Olteanu

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

Numele meu este Joseph, sunt membru al Parlamentului din Kenya.

Picture a Maasai village,

Imaginaţi-vǎ un sat, Masai.

and one evening,

Într-o searǎ, soldaţi guvernamentali vin şi înconjoarǎ satul,

government soldiers come, surround the village

and ask each elder to bring one boy to school.

şi cer fiecǎrui bǎtrân sǎ trimitǎ un bǎiat la şcoalǎ.

That's how I went to school --

Aşa am ajuns eu sǎ merg la şcoalǎ --

pretty much a government guy pointing a gun

un om al guvernului cu arma îndreptatǎ

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

spre tatǎl meu, spunând, "Trebuie sǎ iei o hotǎrâre."

I walked very comfortably to this missionary school,

Aşa cǎ am mers liniştit pe jos pânǎ la o şcoalǎ misionarǎ,

that was run by an American missionary.

condusǎ de misionari americani.

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

Primul lucru primit de la misionarul american a fost o bomboanǎ.

I had never in my life ever tasted candy.

Nu gustasem niciodatǎ dulciuri.

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

Aşa cǎ mi-am zis, la fel ca celălalte sute de bǎieţi,

this is where I belong.

cǎ aici este locul meul. Am rǎmas --

(Laughter) I stayed.

(Râsete)

When everybody else was dropping out.

-- atunci când toţi ceilalţi renunţau.

My family moved; we're nomads.

Familia mea se mutase. Eram nomazi.

It was a boarding school, I was seven --

Mereu când se termina şcoala -- era şcoalǎ cu internat, şi aveam şapte ani--

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

trebuia sǎ cǎlatoresc ca sǎ-i gǎsesc.

40-50 miles, it doesn't matter.

50 de mile, 40 de mile, nu conta.

You slept in the bush, but you kept going.

Dormeam în sǎlbǎticie, dar continuam sǎ merg.

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

Am rǎmas la şcoalǎ. Nu ştiu de ce am rǎmas, dar am rǎmas.

All of a sudden I passed the national examination,

Şi dintr-o datǎ, am trecut examenele naţionale,

found myself in a very beautiful high school in Kenya.

şi m-am trezit într-un liceu foarte bun din Kenya.

And I finished high school.

Am terminat şi liceul. Am continuat, şi am gǎsit pe cineva

And just walking, I found a man

who gave me a full scholarship to the United States.

care mi-a dat o bursǎ integralǎ în Statele Unite.

My mother still lived in a cow-dung hut,

Mama mea încǎ locuia într-o colibǎ din bǎlegar

none of my brothers were going to school,

niciunul din fraţii mei nu mergea la şcoalǎ

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

Iar acest om îmi spune, "Poftim, du-te."

I got a scholarship

Am primit o bursǎ la Universitatea St. Lawrence, statul New York.

to St. Lawrence University, Upstate New York;

finished that.

Am terminat acolo, şi dupǎ asta am mers la Harvard Graduate School.

And after that I went to Harvard Graduate School;

finished that.

Am terminat, iar apoi am lucrat un pic în DC.

Then I worked in DC a little bit:

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

Am scris o carte pentru National Geographic, şi am predat istorie, istoria SUA.

And every time, I kept going back home,

De fiecare datǎ când mǎ duceam acasǎ,

listening to their problems --

ascultam problemele acestor oameni,

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

oameni bolnavi, oameni fǎrǎ apǎ curentǎ, toate aceste lucruri.

every time I go back to America,

De fiecare datǎ când mǎ întorceam în America, mǎ tot gândeam la ei.

I kept thinking about them.

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

Apoi, într-o zi, un bǎtrân mi-a spus o poveste, care era în felul urmǎtor:

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

Demult, a fost un rǎzboi mare între triburi.

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

Şi era un anume trib cǎruia îi era foarte fricǎ de un alt trib, Luhya.

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

Şi de fiecare datǎ, trimiteau iscoade sǎ se asigure cǎ nu vor fi atacaţi.

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

Într-o zi, iscoadele se întorc în fugǎ, spunând:

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

"Vin duşmanii, sunt la numai jumate de orǎ depǎrtare şi vin repede."

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

Aşa cǎ oamenii s-au panicat, au luat ce au putut, şi au fugit.

But there were two men:

Erau însǎ doi oameni,

one man was blind, one man had no legs

unul orb, şi unul fǎrǎ picioare -- aşa se nǎscuseră.

-- he was born like that.

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

Însǎ şeful cel mare le-a zis, "Ne pare rǎu, nu vǎ putem lua, ne veţi încetini.

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

Trebuie sǎ ne gândim la femeile şi copiii noştrii, trebuie sǎ fugim."

And they were left behind, waiting to die.

Au fost abandonaţi, lǎsaţi sǎ moarǎ.

But these two people worked something out.

Însǎ cei doi au gǎsit o soluţie.

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

Cel orb spuse, "Iatǎ, sunt un om puternic, însǎ nu vǎd."

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

Omul fǎrǎ picioare zise, "Eu pot sǎ vǎd pânǎ la capǎtul lumii,

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

însǎ nu mǎ pot apǎra nici mǎcar de o pisicǎ, sau orice alt animal."

The blind man went down on his knees like this,

Aşǎ cǎ cel orb s-a lǎsat jos în genunchi,

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

şi i-a zis celui fǎrǎ picioare sǎ se agaţe de spatele lui, şi s-a ridicat.

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

Cel de sus putea sǎ vadǎ, iar cel orb, sǎ umble.

Au pornit dupǎ urmele celorlalţi din sat,

These guys took off, followed the footsteps of the villagers

pânǎ i-au ajuns şi i-au întrecut.

until they found and passed them.

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

Asta mi-a fost povestit de cǎtre un grup de bǎtrâni.

And it's a really poor area.

Fiind vorba de o zonǎ foarte sǎracǎ; eu reprezint nordul ţǎrii,

I represent Northern Kenya:

the most nomadic, remote areas you can even find.

zonele cele mai inacesibile posibil, locuite de nomazi.

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

Acel om mi-a zis, "Eşti aici,

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

ai primit o educaţie bunǎ în America,

ai o viaţǎ bunǎ în America, ce vei face pentru noi?

what are you going to do for us?

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

vrem ca tu sǎ fii ochii noştri, iar noi îţi vom da picioarele.

We'll walk you, you lead us."

Noi te vom duce, iar tu sǎ ne spui încotro."

The opportunity came. I was always thinking about that:

Aşa cǎ s-a ivit oportunitatea, la care mǎ gândisem de mult,

"What can I do to help my people?

ce pot sǎ fac sǎ-mi ajut poporul?

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

Mereu când mergi într-o zonǎ, unde de 43 de ani, de când suntem independenţi,

we still don't have basic health facilities.

încǎ nu existǎ facilitǎţi sanitare de bazǎ.

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

Omul trebuie transportat cu roaba

20, 30 de kilometrii pânǎ la spital. Nu existǎ apǎ potabilǎ.

No clean drinking water.

Aşa cǎ m-am hotǎrât, "Asta voi face,

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

I'm leaving America.

Voi pǎrǎsi America. Voi candida la alegeri."

I'm going to run for office."

Last June, I moved from America,

În iulie -- M-am mutat înapoi în iunie -- am candidat la alegerile din iulie şi am câştigat.

ran in July election and won.

And I came for them,

Am venit înapoi pentru ei, acesta este scopul meu.

and that's my goal.

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

Iar acum, de nouǎ luni, am implementat

un plan ca în cinci ani, fiecare nomad sǎ aibǎ acces la apǎ potabilǎ.

a plan that in five years,

every nomad will have clean drinking water.

We're building dispensaries across that constituency.

Construim dispensare prin toatǎ circumscripţia.

I'm asking my friends from America to help

Le cer prietenilor mei din America sǎ mǎ ajute

sǎ aduc asistente şi doctori care sǎ ne ajute.

with bringing nurses or doctors to help us out.

I'm trying to improve infrastructure.

Încerc sǎ îmbunǎtǎţesc infrastructura.

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

Îmi folosesc cunoştinţele dobândite în Statele Unite

şi de la propria comunitate ca sǎ îi ajut sǎ progreseze.

and from my community

to move them forward.

Încerc sǎ dezvolt soluţii locale pentru problemele noastre.

I'm trying to develop homegrown solutions to our issues

because people from outside can come and help us,

Pentru cǎ ştim, ne dǎm seamǎ, cǎ alţii pot sǎ vinǎ şi sǎ ne ajute,

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

însǎ dacǎ nu ne ajutǎm noi înşine, nu rezolvǎm nimic.

My plan right now

Aşa cǎ planul meu acum, pe mǎsurǎ ce sprijin studenţi în diverse specializǎri--

as I continue with introducing students to different fields --

some become doctors, some lawyers --

unii vor devenii medici, alţii avocaţi --

we want to produce a comprehensive group of people,

este sǎ creǎm un grup de oameni, studenţi

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

care se vor întoarce şi vor ajuta aceastǎ comunitate,

that is in the middle of a huge economic recession.

aflatǎ intr-o recesiune economicǎ majorǎ, sǎ creascǎ.

As I continue to be a Member of Parliament

Aşa cǎ voi fi în continuare un parlamentar,

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

şi vǎ voi asculta în continuare, în timp ce vorbiţi despre botanicǎ,

health, democracy, new inventions,

despre sǎnǎtate, despre democraţie, despre noi invenţii,

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

cu speranţa ca într-o bună zi, în cadrul acestei mici comunitǎţi --

which is 26,000 square km,

de 26,000 kilometrii pǎtraţi,

maybe five times Rhode Island --

cam de cinci ori cât statul Rhode Island, fǎrǎ drumuri--

with no roads,

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

vom reuşi sǎ devenim un model de urmat şi pentru dezvoltarea altora.

Thank you very much.

Vǎ mulţumesc foarte mult.

(Applause)