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How to break barriers when all hope is lost | Richard Botchwey | TEDxAfariwaa


in the canyon society where I grew up

traveling abroad was believed to be the

surest meetin efficacious like the sound

of an airplane was an emblem of whole

the altima’s dream of every spirited use

was a live in foreign country where up

Muslim brought and of course human

beings don’t die everyone was sort of

looking for harmless encouraged to keep

their vessel I mean everybody wanted a

better life tell them to go to school

Golan a trade or Google a job and

they’ll run you as an enemy of progress

but there were thousands of dollars to

pay for visa fees patches plane ticket

and book a five-star with abroad than to

use that money to pay for the attacks

box paying school bills or maybe our

uniforms they terrorists pilots more

than teachers flying more than sitting

in a classroom determining the atomic

number of a scientific element

discovered by some dead and gone

scientist we were all taught well fed up

hearing about snow falling in some

countries whilst were weren’t it a gas

be hot and I karwar had to cover our

ball in hits my dream as young boy was

also to travel abroad but I realized

that in other to be able to go

international in order to be able to go

global you must not look on and that is

ladies and gentlemen my name is Richard

Parker V Boucher I am a writer a poet

and author the CEO of open trust

movement today I’m here to share a

little bit of my story with you to help

you overcome the challenges if you’re

going through so that one day you can

also achieve your dreams in line so

there are approximately 163 million

orphans in the world 18.2 millions of

these orphans have no parental care at

all the emotional pains that offers goes

through leave ten to fifteen percent

committed suicide before they are 18

those who are fortunate go beyond this

age research shows that sixty percent of

the girls 10 prostitute and seventy

percent of the boys become hardened

criminals I didn’t want to become a

hardened criminal I was tired of always

you know seen Reggie case on stage

mounting the stage no using the Italians

in order to you know change apartment

change the society displaying their

talent and all that and I was always

certain but see I see if I didn’t matter

so an other for me to be able to do

something I mean also change my

community I decided to use my torment

story in which of a capacity and that

was to put my book put my story together

and that’s a telephone open a lesson to

Lane now let me quickly tell you it

wasn’t easy when I said that right in

this book I had no idea of how to edit a

book it was really tough but I didn’t

give up myself I remember that night

when I was right in the introduction it

was village of ours really crying

because in our society when you happen

to be an orphan and I was speaking from

experience people think that you are

useless me losing my parent I lost my

father when I was five and at the age of

seven I lost my mother so eventually I

became an orphan I at the age of seven

but that didn’t stop me so I said I’d

put in my story together and after

putting the storage together

the next thing was to get a publishing

company to publish my book and you know

those of you who are until writing you

know how difficult it is to get a

publishing company by then I was a cafe

attendant before then our I used to go

to an internet cafe had no money to pay

for I mean to buy any time to browse so

I came up with like da and my idea was

that I was going to sleep the Internet’s

coffee I make sure I get there early in

the morning see the place so that the

owner can give me some time and it

worked I was getting 30 minutes and i

was using dr. terminated to type my

stories in order to go on facebook to

search and all that so one morning i was

browsing and i came across a name amanda

young sent him a message I went through

his profile sent my message told him I

hey brother I am an author have a book

entitled blah blah blah blah blah I

didn’t get a reply from him few days

later he accepted my friend request and

then I told him that hey this is a book

that I’ve been telling you about

fortunately he had also releases book so

I told him that why don’t you look at my

book and here is somebody who had no

idea he doesn’t know me from anyway long

story short this guy picked up my book

and said Richard because of your book I

am going to start a company imagine

publishing company and today I am the

first ganiyan both published by emergent

option company in the US and i’ve also

sign on thank you i was a sign on to you

merge a publishing company a very long

term contract with them now i want to

draw your attention to something but if

you realize that you know we all go

through crisis in life but you need to

understand one thing acknowledge that

you are in crisis but

do not accept your crisis I knew that I

knew that I’m an orphan it was so clay

but I didn’t accept the fact that I’m

useless I’m not useless very important

society now this is one of the codes

that really changed my life I was tired

of like i said before our style of

sitting in the audience not the audience

may say but we are all performance on

this earth right we are all performance

on on this day you are going to perform

you are not going to sit in the audience

to watch others in a chair or their own

I must say you don’t share me on or

don’t share at this moment but you are

not just born to you know said how they

always aid that guy is doing it Jill

where point before so as I’m standing

here and performing as you see Ted now

you’re performing because you are living

your purpose so I realized that in order

to be able to you know defense eoz you

need to acknowledge that acknowledge

your crisis but don’t accept it and

those sit at the back I mean in there

hope you are getting there so this

picture is too after publishing my book

the tale of an orphan I was there

somewhere 2013 I was really broke

because you know I throw that after

publishing my book I should get some

money but it wasn’t like that the

journey of a writer so some ways have

too much Supt in material in november i

got a this revelation that I should tell

my publisher to a no-contact EVN and he

sent an email to eat TBN and they said

and weeks later we got a call that TBN

want to interview me in London in the UK

apply for my visa and God being so good

I was approved and this was my first

international interview on TV and arrow

now here was a boy that would have

nobody ever told was ever going to do

something great but now i’m rocking sure

this internationally and you go to the

network the ladder now i want you to

understand something that there’s a

ladder in every human being there’s a

letter in husted here but sometimes

because you are so focused on the ladder

somebody has and by letter I mean the

encouragement to push the money the

position your uncle’s your antes your

friends your father has you’re waiting

for them to use that to help you they

are not helping you and you’ve you are

what that is boiling a bad blood in you

you’re so upset that that your uncle is

so rich and it’s not what using that to

help you tell you what I this hours in

the same situation but I came to a

realization that nobody owes me anything

do you know that nobody owes you

anything the investors that you went you

went your your your elections don’t owe

you any ace don’t owe you anything your

parent brought you into the world for a

reason but they don’t owe you anything

you owe yourself everything and that was

when I discovered that I I don’t have to

sit down and this is another lesson

which I’ve learned you know I lived in

the village for a very long time and I

stayed the chickens can call them files

or whatever now when you study chickens

domestic files we don’t feed them we

allow them to me search for their own

food so I was one time I was just stayed

in one and it it was just such a surface

of the air so strong and I realized that

no matter how tough it was for it it was

still what pressing on it was scratching

the surface of the year and that was

when I learned a lesson that a chicken

does not stop scratching just because

worms are scarce you don’t give up just

because somebody says you can do it you

don’t give up because people are

rejecting you

you don’t have to give up I remember

before I even got my publisher had sent

out two hundred punish crypt I mean poop

was asked to publishers in the u.s. in

the UK and all that I had 91 rejection

letters yes I could have given up but I

know one thing that you don’t have to

give up and we go to the next now this

is one of the quotes that I hold I mean

host my life even in ashes there is hope

see when all seems lost all is not lost

do you believe that do you believe that

when the people that you are waiting on

when your father feels to support you

when you lose your parent it doesn’t

mean that is the end of them or the

world the fact that I lost my parent it

doesn’t mean up that’s the end of me it

doesn’t mean I’ve lost my world today I

wouldn’t if I hadn’t taken that risk to

tell my story I wouldn’t be here Dr Who

at me do you agree with me yeah so my

encouragement is that do not just look

at your situation look to the future

what are you doing right now by where

you are going everyone in this room is

going some way but the question is what

are you doing to get where you are going

now this is something that I really want

to hammer on and I want everyone in this

room together do not go around preaching

your disadvantage something I never knew

now what i realize one of the things i

realized is that when you go around

preaching your disadvantage telling

everyone that you don’t have a degree

tell everyone that you are often telling

everyone that’s your parents are poor

that you you don’t I mean you’re

homeless you know what happens people

buy you keep it was use you anyhow and

that is what happened to me

is it though that he has Richard isn’t

open so I went somewhere to work I on

four buckets for baskets of washing

clothes and then I was just paid 40

gonna say this I did that several times

Noli that there are several instances

people invite me okay we should come and

share your story I go there he told me

we’ll pay you even at the point whereby

I fly out of the country travel abroad

go there and it are you Oh we’ll pay you

go there nothing and then I lose so I

read I’ll and one thing that in other to

protect yourself don’t go around

preaching your disadvantages don’t tell

everyone maybe one of your eyes under

working you don’t go around telling

everyone because the moment is that

people always use your disadvantages

against you like they did to me so

that’s what me and my publisher Amanda

young and I was also in last year I was

selected as one of the Andean writers to

be in Italy for the hundred thousand

poet for change and this is to prove to

you that it doesn’t matter where you are

it doesn’t matter who you are you can

make it that even in ashes there is all

let’s go to the next one so the question

is how do you contribute as a writer as

a creative person how do you defer the

odds in achieving your dream happy

strategies and that is what I’m going to

share with you the first one is that the

icon on the 3ds the first one is

discover discover your talent and when

you discover your talent discover a

problem in where you are now the second

is to decide decide on solution decide

on how best you can use your talents

to solve that problem now let me let me

just quickly explain that when I realize

that as i discovered i’ll have the

giftie right i decided that i was going

to write a book so you get it right and

attack then is deliver after writing the

book I didn’t just sit there I made sure

that I release the book deliver the book

so these three things are going to help

you in other two also you know defer the

O’s whatever challenges that you’re

going through I believe in one thing as

I always say that people like you win

when all seems lost all is not lost

don’t give up on yourself it doesn’t

matter how many times you have told you

that you can do it use the ladder in you

stop focusing on people right stop

focusing on religious construct me no

matter how many times we send messages

on facebook or social media whatsoever

talk about the fact that our leaders are

not doing what they ought to do it is up

to us to make a decision that I’m going

to affect change white where I am and

that is why I decided to write tell my

stories i want to encourage y’all that

don’t give up on your dreams and know

that even in ashes there is hope thank

you

[Applause] [Music]

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