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