ENGLISH SPEECH ELIZABETH OLSEN The Latitude Project English Subtitles
[Ellen Pompeo] To present the Emma
Future Award to Elizabeth Olsen,
please welcome two sisters who will make
us all feel better about the future,
the founders of the latitude
project, Jennifer and Alanna Tynan.
[Jennifer Tynan] We are thrilled to stand together
tonight to help honor our beloved spokesperson,
board member and friend Elizabeth Olsen
received the EMA futures award tonight.
[Alanna Tynan] Lizzie has already made the world
of difference in our lives and in our work to
help others. Standing here today fills us with
an immense gratitude for our own good fortune
and the opportunity that we have to make the world
a better place by facing the future together. So,
we could not be more happier, grateful to present
this Emma Futures Award to Elizabeth Olsen.
[Elizabeth Olsen] Hi, I’m really
scared of public speaking.
So, I brought this as a comfort blanket, but
I’m going to try and use this. I want to thank
Alanna and Jen for being here. They live
in Canada, and there’s, I’m feel really
fortunate because there’s no reason for me to
be here without them. It wouldn’t make sense.
I wanna thank EMA and Debbie for thinking to honor
me at all, and for the vote of confidence. It’s
really meaningful to, to be here tonight in such
spectacular company, including Ms. Jane Fonda,
who played my grandmother in my first
film, like nine or ten years ago.
You are such an inspiration to women of all
generations. So, thank you for your life work.
So, I wanted to take the time up here just to
celebrate Jen and Alanna and the work they do.
Like they said, we met in Nicaragua
and I was supposed to be on a vacation
and they were working very hard. And I
did, I joined them on a day trip where we
distributed school supplies and recreational
materials and played soccer with the kids.
And it was a school that they’d
built. But it was on our drive back
from visiting the school that we stopped at
one of the, one of the poorest homes within the
incredibly impoverished community.
This man Arielle, his home was
maybe 200 square feet, walls built of various
materials, a tarp for a roof and the dirt as
his floor. And he was the happiest man when he saw
Alanna and Jen, and they were there to bring him
his children’s school uniforms beause you
have to wear a uniform in school in Nicaragua.
And he wanted to share with us his animals and
his home. And he would call the Tynan sisters,
his angels. And it was then that I could
recognise the impact that they have had
on so many individuals within Nicaragua and
the communities that they’ve been helping.
So, I’m sharing this story because it represents
to me what The Latitude Project is, whether it is
building roofs, latrines, well,
pumps that are safe for children,
schools, water filters. They also have
provided the first health care program
for hundreds of families that had
never had access to it in their life.
Jen and Alanna have inspired and empowered
every individual they work with. They don’t
enter these communities as saviors,
but as partners and friends.
And they always ask, like
they said, the communities,
what they need, and then they together with
the people build that. There is no imperialism.
And just to witness the gratitude
these communities have for the sisters
has been the greatest gift and encouragement.
The Latitude Project builds not just physical
structures, but hope and pride. And at our event
tonight surrounded by all these storytellers,
I believe that there is a story worth telling
and what EMA does so well and uniquely is
strongly encourage and educate our most
powerful storytellers to use their voice
and power, to spread the word of unknown
known stories like the latitude.
I’m going to read what I wrote actually. So, the
real-life superheroes, like the Tynan’s who fight
the daily fight to help contribute to this planet
we all share and all the people with whom we share
it. And so, in the name of that spirit of making
our planet a better and more sustainable place,
I’m very proud to accept this and I’ll try to
justify it, and your faith in me. So, thank you
for having me here tonight and allowing me to take
this clumsy time to honor these incredible women.