Ory Okolloh: The making of an African activist | TED

翻译人员: Yangyang Sun 校对人员: Zhu Jie

So what's image got do with it?

形象的意义在哪里?

And I must say, I think Emeka is trying to send

我必须指出我认为Emeka试着传递

a lot of subliminal messages,

很多潜意识的信息

because I'm going to keep harping on some of the issues

因为我将要反复说一些

that have come up.

已经提出过的话题

But I'm going to try and do something different,

但我想尝试下做些不同的事

and try and just close the loop with some of my personal stories,

试着串联下我的个人故事

and try and put a face to a lot of the issues

能带出这些讨论过的话题

that we've been talking about.

新的一个方向

So, Africa is a complex continent full of contradictions,

好了，非洲是一个充满矛盾的复杂的大洲

as you can see.

正如你所看到的一样

We're not the only ones.

但并不是只有我们是这样的。

(Laughter)

（笑）

(Applause)

（掌声）

And you know, it's amazing.

你知道，这很让人吃惊

I mean, we need a whole conference

我是说，我们需要整个会议的时间

just devoted to telling the good stories about the continent.

去讲有关这个大陆的好的故事

Just think about that, you know?

想象一下

And this is typically what we've been talking about,

这正是我们平常所说的：

the role that the media plays in focusing

媒体的焦点总是集中在

just on the negative stuff.

负面的消息上

Now, why is that a problem?

那么，为什么这是个问题呢

A typical disaster story:

一个典型的灾难性故事

disease, corruption, poverty.

疾病 腐败 贫穷

And some of you might be standing here thinking,

你们中的一些人或许想

saying, "OK, you know, Ory, you're Harvard-educated,

说, Ory, 你是哈佛毕业的

and all you privileged people come here, saying,

然后所有有特权的人来这儿说

'Forget the poor people.

忘掉那些贫穷的人吧

Let's focus on business and the markets, and whatever.' "

让我们聚焦到商业和市场，或者别的一些什么

And they're all, "There's the 80 percent of Africans

这些就是全部了, 有百分之八十的非洲人是这样的

who really need help."

谁真正需要帮助呢

And I want to tell you that this is my story, OK?

接下来我想讲的是我的故事

And it's the story of many of the Africans who are here.

也是许多在场的非洲人的故事

We start with poverty.

我们从贫穷说起吧

I didn't grow up in the slums or anything that dire,

我并不是生长在贫民窟或类似悲惨的地方

but I know what it is to grow up without having money,

但我知道没有钱长大会怎样

or being able to support family.

或者你必须养活全家

Euvin was talking about bellwether signs.

Euvin讲过预兆

The bellwether for whether our family was broke or not was breakfast.

看这个家有没有破产，看他们的早饭就可以了

You know, when things were good, we had eggs and sausages.

日子好的时候我们有鸡蛋有香肠

When things were bad, we had porridge.

日子不好的时候我们只有粥了

And like many African families,

像很多非洲家庭一样

my parents could never save

我的父母也从来没有积蓄

because they supported siblings, cousins, you know, their parents,

因为他们要帮助兄弟姐妹，堂兄弟姐妹，还有他们的父母

and things were always dicey.

一切向来都是这么不确定的

Now, when I was born, they realized they had a pretty smart kid,

当我出生的时候，他们意识到他们有了个漂亮聪明的小孩

and they didn't want me to go to the neighborhood school,

他们不想我去邻近的学校读书

which was free.

那是免费的

And they adopted a very interesting

他们采用了一种非常有趣的

approach to education, which was

教育方法

they were going to take me to a school that they can barely afford.

他们打算让我读一所他们能勉强支付的学校

So they took me to a private, Catholic, elementary school,

所以他们带我到一家私立的天主教会学校

which set the foundation for what ended up being my career.

也正是这样，奠定了我事业的基础

And what happened was,

接下来发生了什么呢

because they could afford it sometimes, sometimes not,

由于他们有时付得起，有时付不起

I got kicked out pretty much every term.

我在每个学期的时候很多次被逐出学校

You know, someone would come in with a list

你知道的，某人会带着张表格进来

of the people who haven't paid school fees,

上面写了那些付不起学费的人

and when they started getting pretty strict,

当父母收入不好的时候

you had to leave, until your school fees could be paid.

你只能辍学直到学费付清了

And I remember thinking, I mean,

我一直在想

why don't these guys just take me to a cheap school?

为什么他们要带我去读一所便宜的学校

Because you know, as a kid

你知道的

you're embarrassed and

小孩子是很尴尬的

you're sensitive, and everyone knows

也很敏感

you guys don't have money.

当每个人直到我们没有钱

But they kept at it,

但是我父母坚持这么做

and I now understand why they did what they did.

直到现在我才明白他们这么做的原因

They talk about corruption.

讲到腐败

In Kenya, we have an entrance exam to go into high school.

在肯尼亚我们上高中有个入学考试

And there's national schools, which are like the best schools,

国立学校是最好的学校

and provincial schools.

省立的也是

My dream school at that time was Kenya High School,

我那时梦想的学校是肯尼亚高中

a national school.

一所国立学校

I missed the cutoff by one point.

我比录取线少了一分

And I was so disappointed, and I was like,

我非常失望

"Oh my God, you know, what am I going to do?"

就像不知道接下来该干什么一样

And my father said, "OK, listen.

我爸爸说，好吧

Let's go and try and talk to the headmistress.

试看看去和女校长谈谈吧

You know, it's just one point. I mean,

只差了一分而已

maybe she'll let you in if that slot's still there."

如果还有空位的话，也许她会让你进的

So we went to the school,

因此我们去了学校

and because we were nobodies, and because we didn't have privilege,

因为我们只是贫民，因为我们没有特权

and because my father didn't have the right last name,

因为我父亲的姓表明了我们的身份的低下

he was treated like dirt.

他被歧视了

And I sat and listened to the headmistress talk to him, saying,

我坐着，听到那个女校长对我父亲说

you know, who do you think you are?

你认为你是谁啊

And, you know, you must be joking if you think

如果你认为你能得到那个空位

you can get a slot.

真是太好笑了

And I had gone to school with other girls, who were kids of politicians,

如果我不得不和那些高官的女孩们

and who had done much, much worse than I did,

成绩非常差

and they had slots there.

却拥有位子

And there's nothing worse than seeing your parent

最糟糕的莫过于看见自己的父亲

being humiliated in front of you, you know?

在面前被别人羞辱

And we left, and I swore to myself,

然后我们离开了，我暗暗发誓说

and I was like, "I'm never, ever going to have

我今生决不

to beg for anything in my life."

为任何事情去乞求别人

They called me two weeks later, they're like,

两周后，学校叫我去读书

oh, yeah, you can come now. And I told them to stuff it.

他们轻描淡写的说，你可以来了。被我一口拒绝了

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑） （掌声）

Final story, and I sort of have to speak quickly.

最后一则故事

Disease.

是关于疾病的

My father, who I've been talking about, died of AIDS in 1999.

我父亲患艾滋病于1999年死亡

He never told anyone that he had AIDS,

他从来没和别人讲过他得了艾滋病

his fear of the stigma was so strong.

他害怕耻辱的感觉是如此强烈

And I'm pretty much the one who figured it out, because I was a nerd.

以至于我是自己努力想出来的

And I was in the States at the time,

那时我还在美国

and they called me. He was very sick, the first time he got sick.

他们打电话告诉我他生病了，这是他第一次生病

And he had Cryptococcal meningitis.

他得了隐球菌脑膜炎

And so I went on to Google, Cryptococcal meningitis, you know.

于是我上谷歌搜索隐球菌脑膜炎

Because of doctor-patient privilege,

由于医患特权

they couldn't really tell us what was going on.

医生不能确切告诉我们发生了什么

But they were like, you know, this is a long-term thing.

他们就像，你知道的，说这是件长期的事情

And when I went online and looked at the infectious --

当我上网

read about the disease,

查到这个疾病的时候

I pretty much realized what was going on.

我差不多意识到有事发生了

The first time he got sick, he recovered.

第一次的病，他恢复了

But what happened was that he had to be on medication

但他需要继续药物治疗

that, at that time -- Diflucan, which in the States

那时在美国，氟康唑

is used for yeast infections -- cost 30 dollars a pill.

是用于治疗真菌感染，每片要卖30美元

He had to be on that pill for the rest of his life.

他不能不依靠那个药片持续余生

You know, so money ran out.

你知道的，钱花完了

He got sick again.

他的病又发作了

And up until that time, he had a friend who used to travel to India,

就在那个时候，他有个在印度旅游的朋友

and he used to import, bring him, could

他能给父亲

get him a generic version of it.

拿到氟康唑的一种纺仿制品

And that kept him going.

这让父亲生存了下来

But the money ran out.

可是钱很快又花完了

He got sick again. He got sick on a Friday.

他的病再次发作了，在某一个星期五

At that time, there was only one bank that had ATMs in Kenya,

那时肯尼亚只有一家银行有ATM机

and we could not get cash. The family couldn't get cash

但我们没有现金，整个家庭在周一前都拿不到现金

for him to start the treatment until Monday.

用来付父亲的初期治疗费用

The hospital put him on a water drip for three days.

医院把我父亲安排在水槽旁三天

And finally, we figured, well, OK,

终于，我们决定，好吧

we'd better just try and take him to a public hospital.

我们还是试着把他送到公立医院吧

At least he'll get treated

那样至少他能得到治疗

while we try to figure out the money situation.

当我们试着想办法筹钱的时候

And he died when the ambulance was coming

他死了，当时救护车正要

to the hospital to take him.

载他去医院

And, you know, now, imagine if -- and I could go on and on --

好吧，想象一下，

imagine if this is all you know about me.

这是你们知道的有关我的所有事情

How would you look at me?

你们会怎么看我？

With pity, you know. Sadness.

同情，怜悯

And this is how you look at Africa.

这就是你们对非洲的看法

This is the damage it causes.

这也带来了伤害

You don't see the other side of me.

你们不了解我的另一面

You don't see the blogger,

你们看不到博客

you don't see the Harvard-educated lawyer,

你们不知道我是哈佛毕业的律师

the vibrant person, you know?

一个精力充沛的人

And I just wanted to personalize that.

我只想把非洲人的形象更私人化

Because we talk about it in big terms,

因为我们经常用非洲人这个大概念加到所有的非洲人身上

and you wonder, you know, so what?

你会想，这又怎么样？

But it's damaging.

但这是很伤人的

And I'm not unique, right?

而且我不是唯一一个

Imagine if all you knew about William

想象一下，如果你们只知道William

was the fact that he grew up in a poor village.

在一个穷乡村长大

And you didn't know about the windmill, you know?

而且你们不知道风车

And I was just moved.

我刚刚却被感动了

I was actually crying during his presentation.

我在他的演讲的时候哭了起来

He was like, I try and I make.

他就像，我做了，我成功了

I was like Nike should hire him, you know, "Just do it!"

我觉得Nike应该雇佣他，‘想做就做！’

(Laughter)

（笑）

And this is, again, the point I'm trying to make.

这也正是我想说的

When you focus just on the disasters --

如果你聚焦在一个人的不幸上

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（掌声）

-- we're ignoring the potential.

我们很有可能忽略了他的潜能

So, what is to be done?

那么，应该怎么做呢？

First of all,

首先

Africans, we need to get better at telling our stories.

非洲人们，我们应该更擅于将自己的故事

We heard about that yesterday.

昨天我们听到了一些事

We had some of them this morning.

今天就可以把它们写出来

And this is an example, you know,

你知道的

blogging is one way of doing that.

写博客就是其中一个方法

Afrigator is an aggregator of African blogs

Afrigator是非洲人博客的总站

that was developed in South Africa.

是在南非开发的

So we need to start getting better.

所以我们需要变得更好

If no one else will tell our stories, let's do it.

如果没人讲我们的故事，那么我们自己讲

And going back to the point I was trying to make,

回到刚才我想要说的

this is the Swahili Wikipedia.

这是斯瓦西里的维基百科

Swahili is spoken by about 50 million people in East Africa.

斯瓦西里是东非一个5千万人的国家

It only has five contributors.

它只有5个投稿人

Four of them are white males -- non-native speakers.

其中4个是白人男性，母语不是斯瓦西里

The other person is -- Ndesanjo, if you're here, stand up --

还有一个是Ndesanjo，如果你在这儿就站起来一下

is a Tanzanian, [the] first Swahili blogger.

他是坦桑尼亚人，第一个斯瓦西里的博主

He's the only African who's contributing to this.

他也是唯一一个非洲投稿人

People, please. We can't whine and complain

人们呐，我们不能抱怨控诉说

the West is doing this.

为什么西方人在做这件事

What are we doing?

我们在干什么呢？

Where are the rest of the Swahili speakers?

其他的斯瓦西里人在干什么？

Why are we not generating our own content?

我们为什么不自己更新内容？

You know, it's not enough to complain. We need to act.

仅仅抱怨是不够的，我们需要行动起来

Reuters now integrates African blogs

路透社现在正把非洲的博客并入到

into their coverage of Africa.

他们对非洲的报道中

So, that's a start,

这是一个好的开始

and we've heard of all their other initiatives.

我们也听到有一些别的行动

The cheetah generation.

他们是猎豹一代

The aid approach, you know, is flawed.

这种帮助手段是有缺陷的

And after all the hoopla of Live 8,

Live 8 台的大力宣传过后

we're still not anywhere in the picture.

我们还是没有得到更多的关注

No, you're not.

是的，你们没有

(Laughter)

（笑）

But the point I'm trying to make, though,

但我还是想说

is that it's not enough for us to criticize.

仅仅批评是不够的

And for those of you in the diaspora

对于那些在国外散居的人们

who are struggling with where should I be,

和我一样挣扎着一些事

should I move back,

我应该搬回来吗?

should I stay?

还是留下来？

You know, just jump.

行动吧

The continent needs you.

非洲需要你

And I can't emphasize that enough, you know.

这点怎么强调都不够

I walked away from a job with one of the top firms in D.C.,

我从DC的一家顶级公司辞职

Covington and Burling, six figures.

科文顿伯林律师事务所

With two paychecks, or three paychecks,

2个月或3个月的工资就有6位数

I could solve a lot of my family's problems.

这样的高收入可以解决我家很多问题

But I walked away from that, because my passion was here,

但我还是辞职了，因为我的热情在这里

and because I wanted to do things that were fulfilling.

因为我想要实现个人抱负

And because I'm needed here, you know?

因为这儿需要我

I probably can win a prize for the most ways

利用哈佛法学院的头衔

to use a Harvard Law School degree

我很有可能因为正在做的这些事

because of all the things I'm doing.

获得各种奖励

One is because I'm pretty aggressive,

其中一个原因是我敢作敢为

and I try and find, you know, opportunities.

我尽一切努力寻找机会

But there is such a need, you know?

但这儿有个需求

I'm a corporate lawyer most of the time

我大部分时间在Enablis组织

for an organization called Enablis

做执业律师

that supports entrepreneurs in South Africa.

支持南非的企业家

We're now moving into East Africa.

我们现在搬到了东非

And we give them business development services,

我们提供商业开发服务

as well as financing loan and equity.

金融贷款和股票权益

I've also set up a project in Kenya,

我在肯尼亚还建立了一个项目

and what we do is we track the performance

我们所做的就是记录

of Kenyan MPs.

肯尼亚国会议员的表现

My partner, M, who's a tech guru, hacked WordPress.

我的合伙人M，高科技专家，创建了WordPress博客平台

It costs us, like, 20 dollars a month just for hosting.

这一个月要花我20美元

Everything else on there is a labor of love.

其他的劳力付出都是出于爱

We've manually entered all the data there.

我们几乎手动输入了所有的数据

And you can get profiles of each MP,

你们可以找到所有议员的履历

questions they've asked in parliament.

他们在国会上问过的问题

We have a comment function,

网站有留言功能

where people can ask their MPs questions.

人们可以问议员问题

There are some MPs who participate,

其中一些议员会参与这个项目

and come back and ask.

他们会回答，提问

And basically, we started this because we were tired

我们建立这个项目是因为我们厌倦了

of complaining about our politicians.

抱怨我们的政治家

You know, I believe that accountability stems from demand.

我相信责任来源于需求

You're not just going to be accountable

你不仅仅出于善良

out of the goodness of your heart.

而负责

And we as Africans need to start challenging our leaders.

我们非洲人需要挑战我们的领导人

What are they doing?

他们在做什么？

You know, they're not going to change

他们是不会无缘无故

just out of nowhere.

改变什么的

So we need new policies, we need --

所以我们需要新的政策，我们需要

where's that coming from, you know?

这些能从哪儿来？

Another thing is that these leaders

另一件事是这些领导人

are a reflection of our society.

是我们社会的反射

We talk about African governments

我们讨论非洲政府

like they've been dropped from Mars, you know?

就像他们从火星上掉下来

They come from us.

其实，他们也来自我们普罗大众

And what is it about our society that is generating leaders that we don't like?

如果产生的领导是我们不喜欢的呢？

And how can we change that?

我们怎样才能改变？

So Mzalendo was one small way we thought we could start

所以Mzalendo是一种我们认为可以试试的方法

inspiring people to start holding their leaders accountable.

这能促进领导人让他们负责

Where do we go from here?

我们还可以做些什么？

I believe in the power of ideas.

我相信思想意识的力量

I believe in the power of sharing knowledge.

我相信分享知识的力量

And I'd ask all of you, when you leave here, please just share,

我想请求你们离开的时候能分享这儿的一切

and keep the ideas that you've gotten out of here going,

并保留这些新的思想

because it can make a difference.

因为这关系重大

The other thing I want to urge you to do

还有一件我想要鼓励你们做的是

is take an interest in the individual.

保留自我的兴趣

I've had lots of conversations about things I think

我讨论过很多

need to be happening in Africa.

非洲必须做的事

People are like, "OK, if you don't do aid,

人们就像，如果你不帮忙

I'm a bleeding heart liberal, what can I do?"

我就是个心肠过软的自由主义者。我还能怎么做？

And when I talk about my ideas, they're like,

当我谈到自己的想法时

"BBut it's not scalable, you know.

他们就退缩

Give me something I can do with Paypal."

给我一些帮助，我可以处理Paypal

It's not that easy, you know?

这并不简单

And sometimes just taking an interest in the individual,

有时

in the fellows you've met, and the businesspeople you've met,

你遇到的同事或商人

it can make a huge difference, especially in Africa,

这有时很重要，特别是在非洲

because usually the individual in Africa

因为通常一些在非洲的人

carries a lot of people behind them.

背后有很多帮助他的人

Practically. I mean, when I was a first-year student in law school,

实际上，当我在法律学校读第一年时

my mom's business had collapsed, so I was supporting her.

我妈妈的生意破产了，所以我资助她

My sister was struggling to get through undergrad.

我的妹妹挣扎着读完本科

I was helping her pay her tuition.

我也帮她付学费

My cousin ran out of school fees, and she's really smart.

我的表妹付不起学费，她真的很聪明

I was paying her school fees.

我帮她付了

A cousin of mine died of AIDS, left an orphan,

我的一个表亲死于艾滋病，他的孩子成了孤儿

so we said, well, what are we going to do with her?

那我们该怎么处理这件事呢

You know, she's now my baby sister.

她现在成了我的小孩

And because of the opportunities that were afforded to me,

因为那些提供给我的机会

I am able to lift all those people.

我能帮助他们所有人

So, don't underestimate that.

所以不要低估了这点

An example. This man changed my life.

举个例子。有个男人改变了我的生活

He's a professor. He's now at Vanderbilt.

他是个教授，在Vanderbilt工作

He's an undergrad professor, Mitchell Seligson.

他教本科生，Mitchell Seligson

And because of him, I got into Harvard Law School,

因为他，我才能考进哈佛法学院

because he took an interest.

因为他关注我

I was taking a class of his, and he was just like,

我上过他的一节课

this is an overeager student,

他发现可我这个过于渴望的学生

which we don't normally get in the United States,

这在美国可不常见

because everyone else is cynical and jaded.

其他人都愤世嫉俗或厌倦了

He called me to his office and said,

他叫我去他的办公室，并问我

"What do you want to do when you grow up?"

你长大了想做什么

I said, "I want to be a lawyer."

我说我想当一个律师

And he was like, "Why? You know,

他问为什么

we don't need another lawyer in the United States."

美国并不缺少律师

And he tried to talk me out of it,

他试着让我放弃想法

but it was like, "OK, I know nothing about applying to law school,

但这就像，好吧，虽然我不知道怎么申请法学院

I'm poli-sci Ph.D.

我是个政治科学的博士

But, you know, let's figure out what I need you to do,

让我们找找我需要你做什么

what I need to do to help you out."

我需要做什么才能帮助你

It was like, "Where do you want to go?"

为什么你要去那儿?

And to me at that time university --

对我来说，那是在大学里

I was at University of Pitts for undergrad,

我在Pitts大学读本科

and that was like heaven, OK,

那儿就像天堂

because compared to what could have been in Kenya.

和肯尼亚的一些大学比较来说

So I'm like, "Yeah, I'm just applying to Pitt for law school."

所以我就申请了Pitt的法学院

He was like, "Why? You know, you're smart,

他就问为什么，他说你很聪明

you have all these things going for you."

你有足够好的条件

And I'm like, "Because I'm here and it's cheap,

我在这儿因为这儿便宜

and you know, I kind of like Pittsburgh."

而且我也喜欢匹兹堡

Like, that's the dumbest reason I've ever heard

这可能是我听过申请法学院

for applying to law school.

最愚蠢的原因

And, you know, so he took me under his wing, and he encouraged me.

他帮助我，鼓励我

And he said, "Look, you can get into Harvard,

他说我可以进哈佛

you're that good, OK?

他说我足够的好

And if they don't admit you, they're the ones who are messed up."

如果哈佛不录取我，他们就错了

And he built me up, you know?

是他帮助我振作了起来

And this is just an illustration.

这是个很好的例子

You can meet other individuals here.

你们也可能在这儿遇到一些重要的人

We just need a push.

我们需要的仅仅是一个动力

That's all I needed was a push to go to the next level.

要进入下一个阶段我需要的就是一个动力

Basically, I want to end with my vision for Africa, you know?

基本上我将以我对非洲的愿景结束演讲了

A gentleman spoke yesterday about the indignity

一位绅士昨天讲了

of us having to leave the continent

我们不得不离开非洲

so that we can fulfill our potential.

才能去追求自己的未来的愤慨。

You know, my vision is that my daughter,

我的愿景是我的女儿

and any other African child being born today,

和其他现在出生的非洲小孩

can be whoever they want to be here,

能成为他们自己想做的人

without having to leave.

而不用离开非洲

And they can have the possibility of transcending

他们有可能

the circumstances under which they were born.

超越他们出生时的环境

That's one thing you Americans take for granted, you know?

这一点是美国人认为理所当然的

That you can grow up, you know, not so good circumstances,

生在不是很好的环境里，

and you can move.

你也可以搬家

Just because you are born in rural Arkansas, whatever,

仅仅由于你生在阿肯色州的乡村

that doesn't define who you are.

无论如何，这都不会影响你能成为什么

For most Africans today, where you live, or where you were born,

对大多数现在的非洲人来说，你住在哪儿，或你出生于哪儿

and the circumstances under which you were born,

或你出生的环境怎么样

determine the rest of your life.

决定了你未来的生活

I would like to see that change,

我想看到这些改变

and the change starts with us.

而且这些改变从我们开始

And as Africans, we need to take responsibility for our continent.

作为非洲人，我们需要为我们的非洲负责

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）