Unlock the intelligence passion greatness of girls Leymah Gbowee
many times I go around the world to
speak and people ask me questions about
the challenges my movements some of my
regrets 1998 a single mother for three
months after the birth of my fourth
child I went to do a job as a research
assistant went or not in Liberia and as
part of the work the village will give
you lodgings and they gave me lodging
with a single mother and her daughter
this girl happened to be the only girl
in the entire village who had made it to
the ninth grade she was the
laughingstock of the community her
mother was often told by other women you
and your child will die for after two
weeks of working in that village it was
time to go back the mother came to me
knelt down and said Lima take my
daughter I wish for her to be a nurse
dirt pool living in a home with my
parents
according a photo with tears in my eyes
I said no two months later I go to
another village on the same assignment
and it asked me to live with the village
chief the woman’s chief of the village
has this little girl fair color like me
totally dirty and all day she walked
around only in her own nowhere when I
asked who is that she says that’s we the
meaning of her name is pink
her mother died while giving birth to
her and no one had any idea who her
father was
for two weeks she became my companion
slept with me
I bought her youths clothes and bought
her her first doll the night before I
left she came to the room and said Lima
don’t leave me here I wish to go with
you I wish to go to school
dirt poor no money living with my
parents I again said no two months later
both of those villages fell into another
war till today I have no idea where
those two girls are fast-forward 2004 in
the peak of our activism the minister of
gender Liberia called me and said we
might have a nine-year-old for you I
want you to bring her home because we
don’t have safe homes the story of this
little girl she had been raped by her
paternal grandfather every day for six
months she came to me bloated very pill
every night I come from working lie on a
cold floor she lies beside me and said
auntie I wish to be well I wish to go to
school 2010 our young woman stand before
President Sirleaf and give her a
testimony of how she and her siblings
live together their father and mother
died during the war
she’s 19 her dream is to go to college
to be able to support them she’s highly
athletic one of the things that happens
is that she applied for scholarships for
scholarship she gets it her dream of
going to school who wish of being
educated is finally here she goes to
school on the first day the director of
sports who’s responsible for getting her
into the program asked her to come out
of class and for the next three years of
faith we’ll be having sex with him every
day as favor forgetting her in school
globally we have policies
international instruments world leaders
great people have made commitment we
will protect our children from want and
from fear the UN has the Convention on
the Rights of the Child countries like
America we’ve heard things like No Child
Left Behind other countries come with
different things there is a Millennium
Development Goal tree that focuses on
girls all of these great work by great
people aimed at getting young people to
where we want to get them globally I
think has filmed in Liberia for example
teenage pregnancy rate is 3 so every ten
girls teen prostitution is at its peak
in one community we told you wake up in
the morning and see use condoms like use
chewing gum paper girls as young as 12
being prostituted for less than a dollar
or night is this happening is sad and
then someone asks me just before my
tech-talk few days ago so where is the
hope several years ago few friends of
mine decided we needed to bridge the
disconnect between our generation and a
generation of young women it’s not
enough to say you have to Nobel
laureates
from the Republic of Liberia when your
girl states are totally out there and no
hope or seemingly no hope we created a
space for the young girls transformative
project we go into rural communities and
all we do like has been done in this
room is create this space when these
girls sit you unlock intelligence you
unlock passion you unlock commitment you
unlock focus you unlock great leaders
today we’ve worked with over 300 and
some of those girls who walked in the
room very shy have taken bold steps as
young mothers to go out there and
advocate for the
rights of other young women one young
woman I met teen mother of four never
taught about finishing high school
graduated successfully never thought
about going to college
enroll in college one day she said to me
my wishes to finish college and be able
to support my children she’s at a place
where she can’t find money to go to
school she sells water sell soft drink
and sell recharge card for cell phones
and you would think she would take that
money and put it back into her education
one interest her name she takes that
money and find single mothers in her
community to send back to school says
Lima my wish is to be educated and if I
can’t be educated when I see some of my
sisters being educated my wish has been
fulfilled I wish for a better life I
wish for food for my children I wish
that sexual abuse and exploitation in
schools were stopped this is the dream
of the African girl several years ago
there was one African girl this girl had
a son who wish for a piece of donut
because he was extremely hungry angry
frustrated really upset about the state
of her society and the state of her
children
this young girl started a movement a
movement of ordinary women banding
together to build peace I will fulfill
the wish this is another African girls
wish I fail to fulfill the wish of those
two girls I fail to do this these were
the things that would go into the head
of this other young woman I failed I
failed I failed so I will do this we may
came out protested a brutal d-tector
fearlessly spoke not only did the wish
of a piece of donor come true the wish
of peace came true this young woman we
also to go to school she went to school
this young woman wish for other things
to happen it happened for her today this
young woman is me a Nobel laureate I’m
now on a journey to fulfill the wish in
my tiny capacity of little African girls
a wish I’ve been educated we set up a
foundation we’re giving full four-year
scholarships to girls from villages that
we see with potential I don’t have much
to acts of you I’ve also been to places
in this US and I know that girls in this
country also have wish wish for a better
life somewhere in the Bronx wish for a
better life somewhere in downtown LA
wish for a better life somewhere in
Texas wish for a better life somewhere
in New York wish for a better life
somewhere in New Jersey will you journey
with me to help that girl be at an
African girl or an American girl or a
Japanese girl fulfill her wish fulfilled
her dream achieved that dream because
all of these great innovators and
inventors that we’ve talked to and sing
over the last few days are also sitting
in tiny corners in different parts of
the world and all they’re asking us to
do is create that space to unlock the
intelligence unlock the passion unlock
all of the great things that they hold
within themselves
let’s journey together let’s journey
together thank you
thank you so much right now in Liberia
what do you see as the main issue that
troubles you I’ve been asked to lead the
Liberian reconciliation initiative as
part of my work I’m doing these tours in
different villages and towns 1315 hours
on dirt roads and there is no community
that I’ve gone into that I haven’t seen
intelligent girls but sadly the vision
of a great future or the dream of a
great future is just a dream because we
have all of these vices teen pregnancy
like I said is epidemic so what troubles
me is that I’m hours at that place and
somehow I’m at this place and I just
don’t want to be the only one at this
place I’m looking for ways for other
girls to be with me I want to look back
20 years from now and see that there’s
another Liberian girl Ghanaian girl
Nigerian girl it’s European girl
standing on this stage and maybe just
maybe saying because of that Nobel
laureate I’m here today so I’m troubled
when I see them like there’s no hope but
I’m also not pessimistic because I know
it doesn’t take a lot to get them
charged up and in the last year tell us
one hopeful thing that you’ve seen
happening I can tell you many hopeful
things that I’ve seen happening but in
the last year where President Sirleaf
comes from her village we went there to
work with these girls and we could not
find 25 girls in high school all of
these girls went to the gold mine and
they were predominantly prostitutes
doing other things
we took fifty of those girls and we
works with them and this was at the
beginning of elections this is one place
where women were never even the older
ones barely sat in the circle with the
men
these girls banded together and form a
group and launched a campaign for voters
registration this is a real rural
village and the team they used was even
pretty girls would they were able to
mobilize young women but not only did
they do that they went to those who were
running for seats to ask them what is it
that you gave the girls of this
community when you win and one of the
guys who already had the seat was very
because Liberia has one of the strongest
rape law and he was one of those really
fighting in Parliament to overturn that
law because he called it barbaric rape
is not by Barry but the law he said it
was my barrack and when the girl started
engaging him he was very hostile towards
them these little girls turned to him
and said we will watch you out of office
his out of office today
thank you thank you so much go ahead
thank you
you