[Music]
what would you do when they rape your
child assault your brother I’ll kill
your mother would you get wild I’ll
still be mild would you forever hate
that man or would you ever love again
good evening all of you I am a prisoner
captured by people but also literally
I’ve been in 195 prisons in half of them
I managed to stay overnight do you mind
if I take you immediately to a prison in
Brazil I want to introduce you to one of
my fellow inmates Diego Diego was doing
his seventh year for the murder of a
taxi driver the last two years he was
visited weekly by guess who the family
of the taxi driver what happened
well Diego learned that the widow was
now about to die she was facing a
life-threatening kidney disease and the
only way out was a transplant but
in the whole of the province of Minas
Gerais they couldn’t find a proper donor
Diego underwent some medical tests and
he was found compatible he was a match
he decided that they could take away one
of his kidneys to give to the widow
whose husband he had killed years before
what would we do if they kill our
partner and can we identify with the
wife of the murderer do we believe that
human beings are makeable is it
terrorists born as a terrorist or can he
change his mind again and then is it his
individual responsibility or is it all
about community I have to keep telling
people that it’s not because of my care
for prisoners that I am blind for the
Greve they’ve caused for the evil
they’ve done justice is very dear to me
I hope that lawyers and judges do their
job but it’s not up to me to judge
people for a second time what is my duty
what is our duty to look for the good in
every single person I can tell you I
have seen thousands of prisoners I still
have to come across the first one who
isn’t but evil there is always
something good it’s all about empathy if
you are a nurse and please wake up day
by day and imagine what it is to be a
patient in your hands put yourself in a
bed allow them to wash you for three
weeks and ask for an endoscopy once in a
while if you are a teacher in a
kindergarten then get down on your knees
and observe the world on the height of
toddlers and if you are a judge ask to
spend a while in a cell of as few square
meters on behalf of the experience of
imprisonment after having worked 15
years with prisoners I spent my first
night behind bars and he changed my life
this was my first prison
the prison in Rwanda was built for two
thousand persons yet we were nearly
7,000 I’ve been in prisons in Thailand
where the prisoners got a chain of eight
kilos between their ankles Japan
forbidden to talk in a Japanese prison
on the outskirts of Kampala there is a
children’s prison right now as we are
sitting here 400 children aged 3 to 17
and most of them only because they
failed to have a birth certificate I’ve
seen hell prisons where there’s no water
no food but I’ve seen heaven as well
through my stay in all these prisons
I’ve seen the strength the resilience of
human nature the prison where I stayed
the longest was in the Congo one month
the first news I caught when I made it
to the prison was that they hadn’t eaten
for 15 days you have to know that a
family has to take the food over to
their beloved ones but the guards hadn’t
been paid for more than 12 years so they
took portions of those meals
a lot of families can’t afford to take
and food for the guards and for their
beloved ones 75% of the Congolese
prisoners never get a visit the longer
said I stayed without food was five days
because then we got a visit the oldest
in our dorm was kambale kita kia 87 his
wife got some bananas from defenders out
of the prison I don’t know how many she
gave to the gods but she managed to make
it to our cell and gave 12 bananas to
her husband come bali kuta kiya shared
his 12 bananas with a 71 other fellow
inmates I learned that we don’t survive
only on bread or bananas on solidarity
and talking about fridge
one night Kampala told me is that young
do you know that before the Belgians
came to colonize us that there were no
prisons in this area I said and Assam
and if I may suppose that before some
Congolese could do something wrong
how did they handle it and then he told
me this story he said well I grew up in
a little village in the middle of the
jungle and I remember as a child someone
had stolen goats and chickens did this
is what they did with the teeth we had
to stand in a big circle under the mango
trees he said adults and children and
that thief was put in the middle and
then all of us had to say something good
something positive
two men it could take the whole day he
said but at the end he made a proposal
to restore the damage but we never would
lock up someone something good came out
of bad things prisoners and victims keep
proving it I want to introduce you to
Hilda she asked me to visit the man who
killed her sister she said I don’t want
to get stuck to anger and hate it and
when I saw interest what I managed to
look into his eyes I was overwhelmed by
peace Abigail same thing she was
consumed eight long years by hated her
daughter was killed and then one night
she dreamt of her daughter and in the
dream Catherine asked her to forgive the
perpetrator she woke up she said never
never he’ll do it I can’t forgive the
man who was killed the most precious one
in my life fifty nights later she dreamt
the same thing and again and again till
she walked over to the prison and as
permission was granted she said I was
shivering I only could stare at my
trembling feet and when they brought him
in on the other side of the glass I said
give me the strength to look into his
eyes I was like someone pulling a string
I looked into his eyes and I managed to
say I forgive you
she was overwhelmed by peace she’s one
of the icons now indeed struggle
to abolish the death penalty in the
United States what about us
what about us where are we I hope that
this is not a collection of exotic
stories I heard that these stories may
inspire us for our daily conflicts as
hang-hang the widow of Herod young
Albert Heijn son who was kidnapped and
murdered wrote to the perpetrator
forgiveness is perhaps the greatest gift
I gave to myself mentally I became more
tolerant and gentle my physical
complaints disappeared don’t keep me
calling a victim ultimately it is not
about what you experienced but how you
handle it I have lived a miracle of
forgiveness reason alone my life has
been worthwhile I think
[Applause]
what would you do when they rape your
child assault your brother I’ll kill
your mother would you get wild I’ll
still be mild would you forever hate
that man or would you ever love again
good evening all of you I am a prisoner
captured by people but also literally
I’ve been in 195 prisons in half of them
I managed to stay overnight do you mind
if I take you immediately to a prison in
Brazil I want to introduce you to one of
my fellow inmates Diego Diego was doing
his seventh year for the murder of a
taxi driver the last two years he was
visited weekly by guess who the family
of the taxi driver what happened
well Diego learned that the widow was
now about to die she was facing a
life-threatening kidney disease and the
only way out was a transplant but
in the whole of the province of Minas
Gerais they couldn’t find a proper donor
Diego underwent some medical tests and
he was found compatible he was a match
he decided that they could take away one
of his kidneys to give to the widow
whose husband he had killed years before
what would we do if they kill our
partner and can we identify with the
wife of the murderer do we believe that
human beings are makeable is it
terrorists born as a terrorist or can he
change his mind again and then is it his
individual responsibility or is it all
about community I have to keep telling
people that it’s not because of my care
for prisoners that I am blind for the
Greve they’ve caused for the evil
they’ve done justice is very dear to me
I hope that lawyers and judges do their
job but it’s not up to me to judge
people for a second time what is my duty
what is our duty to look for the good in
every single person I can tell you I
have seen thousands of prisoners I still
have to come across the first one who
isn’t but evil there is always
something good it’s all about empathy if
you are a nurse and please wake up day
by day and imagine what it is to be a
patient in your hands put yourself in a
bed allow them to wash you for three
weeks and ask for an endoscopy once in a
while if you are a teacher in a
kindergarten then get down on your knees
and observe the world on the height of
toddlers and if you are a judge ask to
spend a while in a cell of as few square
meters on behalf of the experience of
imprisonment after having worked 15
years with prisoners I spent my first
night behind bars and he changed my life
this was my first prison
the prison in Rwanda was built for two
thousand persons yet we were nearly
7,000 I’ve been in prisons in Thailand
where the prisoners got a chain of eight
kilos between their ankles Japan
forbidden to talk in a Japanese prison
on the outskirts of Kampala there is a
children’s prison right now as we are
sitting here 400 children aged 3 to 17
and most of them only because they
failed to have a birth certificate I’ve
seen hell prisons where there’s no water
no food but I’ve seen heaven as well
through my stay in all these prisons
I’ve seen the strength the resilience of
human nature the prison where I stayed
the longest was in the Congo one month
the first news I caught when I made it
to the prison was that they hadn’t eaten
for 15 days you have to know that a
family has to take the food over to
their beloved ones but the guards hadn’t
been paid for more than 12 years so they
took portions of those meals
a lot of families can’t afford to take
and food for the guards and for their
beloved ones 75% of the Congolese
prisoners never get a visit the longer
said I stayed without food was five days
because then we got a visit the oldest
in our dorm was kambale kita kia 87 his
wife got some bananas from defenders out
of the prison I don’t know how many she
gave to the gods but she managed to make
it to our cell and gave 12 bananas to
her husband come bali kuta kiya shared
his 12 bananas with a 71 other fellow
inmates I learned that we don’t survive
only on bread or bananas on solidarity
and talking about fridge
one night Kampala told me is that young
do you know that before the Belgians
came to colonize us that there were no
prisons in this area I said and Assam
and if I may suppose that before some
Congolese could do something wrong
how did they handle it and then he told
me this story he said well I grew up in
a little village in the middle of the
jungle and I remember as a child someone
had stolen goats and chickens did this
is what they did with the teeth we had
to stand in a big circle under the mango
trees he said adults and children and
that thief was put in the middle and
then all of us had to say something good
something positive
two men it could take the whole day he
said but at the end he made a proposal
to restore the damage but we never would
lock up someone something good came out
of bad things prisoners and victims keep
proving it I want to introduce you to
Hilda she asked me to visit the man who
killed her sister she said I don’t want
to get stuck to anger and hate it and
when I saw interest what I managed to
look into his eyes I was overwhelmed by
peace Abigail same thing she was
consumed eight long years by hated her
daughter was killed and then one night
she dreamt of her daughter and in the
dream Catherine asked her to forgive the
perpetrator she woke up she said never
never he’ll do it I can’t forgive the
man who was killed the most precious one
in my life fifty nights later she dreamt
the same thing and again and again till
she walked over to the prison and as
permission was granted she said I was
shivering I only could stare at my
trembling feet and when they brought him
in on the other side of the glass I said
give me the strength to look into his
eyes I was like someone pulling a string
I looked into his eyes and I managed to
say I forgive you
she was overwhelmed by peace she’s one
of the icons now indeed struggle
to abolish the death penalty in the
United States what about us
what about us where are we I hope that
this is not a collection of exotic
stories I heard that these stories may
inspire us for our daily conflicts as
hang-hang the widow of Herod young
Albert Heijn son who was kidnapped and
murdered wrote to the perpetrator
forgiveness is perhaps the greatest gift
I gave to myself mentally I became more
tolerant and gentle my physical
complaints disappeared don’t keep me
calling a victim ultimately it is not
about what you experienced but how you
handle it I have lived a miracle of
forgiveness reason alone my life has
been worthwhile I think
[Applause]
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