0:22 so in my early 20s I had a dream I
0:25 wanted to be a foreign correspondent and
0:29 so on a whim I applied for a grant and
0:31 you have to imagine I had very little
0:34 experience so when that letter came back
0:37 and said that I got it it was with both
0:40 excitement and a little bit of fear that
0:44 I began to pack my bags and I brought my
0:48 nikon FM 200 rolls of film an English
0:51 Pooler dictionary anti malaria medicine
0:54 because I was going to Guinea Bissau
0:57 which is a small country in West Africa
1:01 and with some trepidation I boarded that
1:07 plane and when I landed oh this is what
1:10 I found I went to I bought two huge
1:13 sacks of rice and two chickens and I
1:15 headed off to the center of this country
1:18 I wanted to document the impacts that
1:22 this civil war had on the people living
1:25 here and I thought I was going to stay
1:27 for two weeks and I ended up there's
1:30 those weeks turned into months those
1:34 months turned into half a year and what
1:38 I discovered was nothing that I imagined
1:41 because everything I had read about
1:44 really the continent of Africa was
1:46 usually defined in one of two ways you
1:49 had one extreme war famine plagues like
1:53 Ebola or the other extreme the exotic
1:56 animals and you can go on a safari but
2:01 what I found was so different and I
2:06 ended up sharing mud hut with two women
2:08 and their children and my days were
2:10 spent really learning the language of
2:13 pulaar gathering firewood learning how
2:15 to get water out of the well and there
2:18 was no electricity or running water or
2:20 even healthcare
2:23 um but what I learned was just really
2:25 how the majority of people on the planet
2:28 live and I stayed till the end of the
2:31 dry season when the food ran out so we
2:35 shared that rice and this was one bowl
2:37 of rice we would have in the evenings
2:39 with all the children and the women who
2:43 I was staying with um that's where I
2:45 really learned what hunger feels like
2:49 and this is Halima and her baby and to
2:51 the women I was a complete mystery
2:54 they were like how can you be in your
2:56 20s and not have a husband and no
2:58 children and no prospects in the near
3:03 future you know they couldn't believe
3:05 they'd always they were shocked like how
3:07 can you not know how to get the water
3:08 out of the well and carry it on your
3:11 head and they make it they're so
3:13 graceful they you know they carry these
3:15 big buckets of water but let me tell you
3:18 it's actually really challenging I would
3:20 start to carry it and the velocity would
3:22 build and I would end up back at this
3:25 hut with about this much water and just
3:29 completely drenched but I learned so
3:31 much there and it wasn't actually the
3:33 questions I asked them it was always the
3:35 questions they asked me there is poetry
3:39 to to life and even the morning ritual
3:42 when you wake up and they'd ask you know
3:44 how did you sleep how is your body how
3:46 are the children they would always end
3:50 that ritual with did you all did you
3:53 wake up all together or one by one and I
3:55 couldn't figure out what that meant it
3:58 took me a little while and finally I
4:00 realized you know because I shared this
4:02 room with the women and the children and
4:05 they were all nestled up against me and
4:07 it meant that if something terrible
4:10 happened in the nut in the night you
4:14 woke up all together but if if it was a
4:16 good night you woke up to the gentle
4:20 rhythms of life so and I think very
4:23 often when we go off to any new place we
4:25 have this story already written in our
4:27 head what it's going to be like and
4:30 guinea-bissau taught me that it takes
4:33 time to really understand one another
4:35 and the stories we share with each other
4:39 and you may look at these pictures and
4:41 think it looks so different from the
4:44 lives we lead here but that's not what
4:47 surprised me that was expected the thing
4:50 that really surprised me was how much we
4:54 had in common and on my last night in
4:57 this village the children were asking me
4:59 a million questions about my return home
5:02 to America Amy do you have cashews in
5:06 America Amy do you have mangoes and then
5:07 we're sitting underneath this beautiful
5:10 sea of stars and there's big full moon
5:13 and a Leo who got a hold of my soap
5:17 right there asked me Amy do you have a
5:22 moon in America and I think of him today
5:25 every time I see a full moon you know
5:28 when you think about it from its
5:32 perspective this planet looks like
5:34 there's a oneness we are all connected
5:39 there are no borders and whether we
5:42 understand it or not we are in this
5:45 intricate web together so I left Guinea
5:48 Bissau knowing what my mission was to
5:52 find those stories that connect us and I
5:54 wasn't ready to go home just yet in fact
5:56 I didn't have a home all my things were
5:58 in boxes and my brother's garage in
6:00 Charlotte North Carolina but I was
6:03 heading off to India the subcontinent of
6:06 300 million gods and twice as many
6:09 stories I was in search of Gandhi and
6:12 yoga and I had all these romantic
6:17 notions India is full of surprises and I
6:19 had a lot to learn I mean I didn't
6:23 realize that every single state is like
6:26 its own separate country different
6:30 religion culture language even foods
6:32 this is up in Ladakh high in the
6:36 Himalayas and it was this really magical
6:39 journey that kept me there for almost
6:43 five years and I got to explore and
6:46 discover so many things like mr. jahal Ron
6:46 Ron
6:49 and his prized camel at the world's
6:54 largest camel fair and every year it's
6:56 been going on for over a hundred years
7:01 tens of thousands of camel traders and
7:05 probably tourists now to come to this
7:08 event and I also got to find all these
7:11 you know ancient cultures and religions
7:13 and even sports this is Christie
7:17 wrestling and despite these guys looking
7:21 rather tough they actually live this
7:24 live like monks really they're they
7:27 they're totally you know very very
7:31 minimalistic life and they they don't
7:33 drink they don't smoke
7:36 sex is off-limits and even if they have
7:38 a filthy thought they have to stand on
7:40 their head to eradicate those filthy
7:43 thoughts but the place that really
7:47 captured my heart was Kashmir it's a
7:49 tiny piece of land between India and
7:53 Pakistan and since the 15th century
7:56 they've been calling it paradise on
7:58 earth it's set in the Himalayas and it
8:03 really is sublime it's also described
8:06 today is the most militarized and
8:08 longest pending conflict in the Guinness
8:10 Book of World Records
8:14 you know this picture illustrates the
8:16 absurdity of war to me
8:18 these are boats made for lovers and
8:21 honeymooners and they've been taken over
8:24 by soldiers see the hearts I spent
8:27 almost four years covering this conflict
8:29 and while I was there there were
8:32 terrifying moments when militants were
8:34 putting up these posters all over the
8:36 summer capital of Srinagar which said
8:39 any woman who doesn't wear a face
8:42 covering a burqa will have acid thrown
8:46 on her face and I thought how do I rate
8:49 that so I went to a tailor shop where I
8:52 found a woman buying a burka and she
8:56 leans over and whispers to me in English
8:59 and says you know I think the tailor's
9:02 made this up it's a way of drumming up
9:06 more business right I couldn't believe
9:08 she had a sense of humor in the most
9:12 terrifying moment but that's the truth
9:14 it doesn't matter what we're wearing or
9:17 what we look like laughter is universal
9:20 and as a journalist I believe it's
9:22 essential to shine a light on these
9:25 conflicts and more importantly humanize
9:26 the people caught in the middle of these
9:30 conflicts but I also think we have to
9:33 lift that veil and give a broader vision
9:35 of what the world really looks like
9:38 beyond these conflicts you know four
9:40 days ago I happen to be in New York just
9:42 a block away from that terrorist attack
9:45 and while it's important to recognize
9:48 the tragedy I think it's equally as
9:52 important to remember the beauty of the
9:55 diversity of that bustling hive of New
9:59 York City I mean on any given day more
10:01 than 700 languages are spoken in that
10:07 tiny Peninsula and if we allow an attack
10:11 to cover up the beauty of the humanity
10:14 and the diversity there that also feels
10:20 like a loss to me I think that if we
10:23 don't lift the veil and just sit in our
10:25 homes and watch the world from the
10:28 television set it does look like a dark
10:32 and terrifying place but I know just two
10:34 simple truths if we want to find the
10:36 things that divide us there absolutely
10:40 they're easy to find but also if we want
10:41 to find the things that connect us and
10:45 remind us how connected we are those two
10:47 are easy to find and I just want to give
10:50 one example of that I get to do these
10:52 amazing things like hike up to a glacier
10:56 at 14,000 feet in Kashmir where every
10:59 year tens of thousands of pilgrims go to
11:01 and so I'm from Montana
11:03 I'm kidded out with all my warm clothes
11:06 and my down sleeping bag and brought all
11:09 the food and I hired a porter named sue
11:11 beer to help me carry all those things
11:13 and so I set off
11:16 and I was at the bottom of the mountain
11:17 just wearing a t-shirt carrying my
11:20 camera's about halfway up the mountain
11:22 I'm looking for subir
11:27 he's gone fine I'm I'm thinking to
11:29 myself you know it gets cold on top of a
11:35 glacier do I turn around and I looked at
11:37 the pilgrims and I thought if they can
11:41 do it I will too so I went up and guess
11:43 what the fact that subir took off with
11:45 all my things was the best thing that
11:48 ever happened to me why because that
11:50 little bit of suffering created empathy
11:53 and all of a sudden I really felt what
11:56 it meant to sleep on top of this glacier
11:59 with the pilgrims and I got to the top
12:02 and they shared everything with me they
12:04 shared their clothes what little food
12:08 they had their stinky blankets and you
12:11 know that's what I've learned empathy
12:15 connects us all and I'm also gonna
12:17 flash-forward to today
12:21 just very recently I came back from one
12:23 of the most hopeful places on the planet
12:25 but my parents were worried sick about
12:27 me because all they could find in the
12:30 media was just horror stories about how
12:33 dangerous it was I came back from
12:36 northern Kenya which is the home of the
12:38 Samburu people and it is also the
12:42 birthplace of humanity you go there and
12:45 you feel it those ancient footsteps are
12:48 all around you it's incredible and just
12:52 20 years ago there was no wildlife in
12:55 this place it had been decimated by
12:58 poaching and we're witnessing and on our
13:01 watch right now you know the extinction
13:05 of species but there's a really you know
13:09 it's impacting not just the wildlife but
13:12 the people too and armed gangs of
13:15 poachers are really impacting the
13:17 security for the people living there and
13:21 these sentient magnificent creatures who
13:23 are the engineers of this landscape we
13:25 need them
13:27 and they you know they tear down the
13:30 bush to bring grass and we need that the
13:32 wildlife needs that the people too but
13:34 now I have the most remarkable story
13:36 there's been this incredible transformation
13:38 transformation
13:41 the Samburu have become the elephant's
13:44 greatest protectors it's a miracle I
13:46 mean against all odds they've created
13:50 the first ever in all of Africa
13:52 indigenous owned and run elephant
13:55 sanctuary they're taking ownership and
13:59 pride and what's what's theirs and
14:02 they're out there protecting these these
14:04 creatures and eventually sending them
14:07 back to the wild it's just this
14:10 incredible story and now as we're seeing
14:12 the elephants their populations are
14:14 increasing and the health of the
14:17 landscape is improving too it's all
14:20 connected and this is Mary she is one of
14:23 the first indigenous women elephant
14:27 keepers again in all of Africa yeah so
14:31 Mary and actually all the keepers are
14:33 changing the destiny of this landscape
14:38 but this oasis of hope is so fragile and
14:42 time is precious you know will we will
14:44 we get it in time will human beings
14:47 understand that that connection but I
14:50 have so much hope in people like Rimland
14:53 here who said to me Amy
14:55 we need the elephants just as much as
14:58 they need us he gets it and it makes me
15:01 realize like the power of one individual
15:04 of one community it's everywhere around
15:07 us it's the little things that have big
15:11 impact and so if you think this story is
15:14 about wildlife it's not just about
15:17 wildlife it's about all of us it's about
15:20 our home and our future it's about how
15:24 connected we all really are you know the
15:26 light of the Moon doesn't just shine on
15:29 one race or one nation or even one
15:34 species and without any fanfare at all
15:36 we are witnessing right now this
15:38 transformation and
15:42 how we view creatures and also people
15:47 who look different than us you know we
15:53 all feel joy and fear and love and we
15:56 all have those moments of beauty and
16:01 loss and fury and laughter and if a Leo
16:06 is watching Ali oh yes we all share the
16:09 same moon thank you so much [Applause]
