[Music]
in case it’s a little bit hard for you
to tell I’m an African and I’m from
specifically I’m from swaddling being an
African we are known to be great
storytellers I would like to set you all
with the story that my dad taught us
when I was young he told us a story that
was allegedly from the Bible about a man
named Noah according to my death story
Noah had to son where cosine and the
best time won a whore got drunk he was
so drunk in fact he said he was just
laying there naked and the best time
realizing what had happened caught up
his friend made fun of his dead mocked
him but the cosine being a cool sign we
know all cool signs out there you grew
up with them he saw his father’s
nakedness and out of respect he decided
to cover his dad no I learned about what
happened when he woke up in the morning
he wasn’t happy about it and as a result
he cast his son according to my death
story he cast the best time to be black
and to be a slave to his brother now let
me take you back imagine me a kid
hearing a story I’m impressionable I’m
black so does that mean that I’m also a
result of a cat
now I can imagine some of you here
thinking is that how really the story is
told in the Bible spoiler alert
that’s not how he’s told but you can
imagine a story like that to a kid what
it does is certainly contributed to my
feeling of inadequacy growing up it
wasn’t until I was doing my senior year
in college in the United States that I
got hold of a documentary from a friend
from Zimbabwe she was why the
documentary talked about how the white
South Africans used this story to
justify racism her birthday as we know
today
now I’m not here to tell you how
traumatized I have been in my life how
hard life has been for me but I’m here
to tell you that I have learned that
it’s actually possible for for for the
most part for people to to outgrow the
labels that have been given to them by
by their environment and be something
great let me bring a bit of some content
and tell you about myself like I said I
grew up in Scotland I’m from a family of
14 now I’m not going to call you with
the story of like how that happened
because
African stories or sometimes have those
stories half brother their houses that
they’re my parents were both primary
school teachers and I grew up in the
undertone in the underdeveloped areas of
solve them it’s a rural area my father
was a farmer on the side
so let me just give you an idea of what
that meant for me it meant that we just
got our our electricity about two years
ago so growing up it means our source of
you know hate to to cook we got it from
firewood that we fetched from the forest
on a daily basis getting a whole bottle
full of firewood
it meant that we had to fetch water from
a mile away which is about two
kilometers on a daily basis 50 bits of
pocket for for cooking and passing
another thing in the house it meant that
in the summer I would have to wake up
say at 4:00 a.m. with my family studying
the field before going to school now I
can imagine some of you thinking that
some of you might be thinking oh that’s
a hard life and some of you might be
thinking ah I had a story from my cousin
it was actually worse than this one and
I’m aware that there are actually people
out there who have had really rough
stories and who have amazing stories to
tell today and that’s the whole point
some other people are able to make it
despite what what like the stories that
we hear about them but for me I wasn’t I
was not one of those I was just an
average student in fact I was so average
that I repeated my last grade in primary
school that was very humbling in just to
give you an idea of how average I was
you know how in school you have those
students who are always hiding their
exam papers – lecturing advanced because
they don’t want you to be cheating of
them I was not one of those
my script is always open I continued
being average until I went to into high
school high school was an escape from
the family farm life during the school
period it allowed me to focus on my
school I was staying in a boarding
school my dad would pick us up from home
and take us to boarding school and then
after that semester take us from from
school and back home one day during one
of those trips I found a tape in his car
it was an old Toyota 1990 Hilux van this
tape I don’t know what made me listen to
put it in it was like I have found the
thing I have been looking for it was a
motivational tape it talked about how
within each and every individual there’s
a sleeping giant
when awakened the sleeping giant is able
to abundantly more than you can ever
imagine he talked about how both trusted
us to with with our brain capacity that
he didn’t create furniture but instead
he created the forest because he knew
we’ll be able to figure out how to make
furniture he talked about how he himself
when he needed money he locked himself
in a room started thinking about ideas
on how to make money he needed money in
the order of millions after a
considerable amount of time he said he
was able to figure something out an idea
that gave him money to start his
business and even more now I’m hearing
this I was about the age of 12 or 30 I
was very father speak no more
and from there I was I wonder how is it
will be life for me to aim to be in the
top ten of the country imagine from
repeating a class to imagining being in
the top ten of the country in my living
class in form five in fact I think I
started wanting to be in the top ten in
in grade nine study study come from five
my dad’s grade in high school I got it
now I just made that seem easy it wasn’t
easy
I remember a friend of mine that
reminded me at some point how I had to
work hard more than a lot of people yes
there was a friend of ours that was
always beating me
I beat that friend in my dad’s exam and
then finishing my phone five I went to
college in the United State where you
know like I was I was lucky enough that
I was good at math and at some point I
picked up physics but I was like you
know what let me just try something
different my friends have been telling
me about computer science I’ve never
done computer science I only had about
two years experience just using a
computer on and off and I was like I
want to try this thing it felt like the
biggest mistake of my life my school
system was called a block plan where we
take only one class for three and a half
weeks and you never see that laughs
again I always felt like I was a day
behind like in my first two classes of
computer science it was pretty tough
fortunately I did hang on
I mean in being in the United States I
was dealing with you know like a
majority of the students I was with with
wife students so my my feeling of
inadequacy feeling maybe I am the best
line but we’re creeping in now and then
I cried
away from college and I start applying
for jobs I applied to a lot of different
jobs and one of those jobs was Google
I found an advertisement online other I
let me just try it out
someone got back to me I was telling my
friends that I’m just only doing this
for the experience to just go through
the interview six months later after
working through my interview I got the
job now one thing I have you know like
saying that had helped me to be where I
am now is to be able to step outside my
comfort zone I have realized that being
able to to live to dream beyond with the
label that I had at the moment has
allowed me to achieve what I have
achieved right now I remember when I
went when I was I just graduated from
from when I just finished my phone five
my brother my older brother told me that
it was actually possible to end the
amount of money that I’m earning now at
the time it felt like a long a lot of
money so I said to him what would I do
with so much money and he said yeah well
you can help our siblings and that’s
exactly what I did when I first started
working at Google in 2013 three of my
siblings are doing university idea at
universities in South Africa including
the
it has been through this experience of
being able to live a life that is beyond
the devil I’ve been given that I have
that have been able to to impact my
family we started an organization in
2005 where we motivate students in
Swaziland the name of the organization
is Korean climber so when we first
started were just going around
it’s actually possible for you to do the
same thing that we have just done
students write to us at some point
telling us hey I heard your story and it
really motivated me a student wrote to
me about a year ago she was going off to
to Norway to study the International
piccata it just in my home area I’m
aware of for students who have been able
to to get the story and be able to apply
apply to themselves and be able to say
hey there’s a change within me to one of
the student is actually studying
aerospace engineering in the United
States in one of the top schools and
Beryl University another one is studying
medicine in Turkey two of the stews the
last two students in my home area I just
a stone throw away from my house and
they were both in the National top ten
it’s it’s this kind of stories that I
now that is a now motivating me to
believe that you know people just need
to hear that they actually do have what
it takes to make it
imagine if this kind of story were to
spread through arts was then throughout
Africa and around the world where people
can start realizing that all they have
is within them to make things happen in
swells and more than sixty percent of
the population are living below the
poverty line twelve thousand of the
students that sit down for their
national exam from five only 5% of them
are able to get qualify for the national
scholarship and then what happens to the
90 percent what if those students were
to realize that they don’t have to look
out to someone else for their answer but
just look inside them to make things
happen
this takes me to where I am right now
because I can imagine some of you
thinking I would like to wake up this
giant within me too I’m still waking up
mine let me tell you where I am in my
Jenny I don’t think being at Google I
have arrived
that is someone else’s business I need
to think about my own business there are
some practical advice that I have
learned that I would like to share to
myself and you too
one of the things that I’m trying to
apply is and and I’ve learned this from
work it’s the idea that if you’re trying
to do something a big project don’t
think about how you’re going to solve
the big project but think about how you
going to start small and they call this
the agile methodology in programming so
you start with the smaller piece that
will allow you to learn very quickly and
and an iterate and then you keep on
improving on that until you are able to
solve the bigger problem trying to solve
the bigger problem as a whole will not
allow for that you spend too much time
too many resources and by the time you
are done you actually realize that you
have spent so much effort solving for
the wrong problem I have also learned
that to be able to – to do all of these
things I have to be able to learn
quickly and figure out if something
works or it doesn’t work there’s a
federal courts that III heard that self
don’t cling to a mistake just because
you spent too much time making it and
it’s what lastly I have actually learned
that I have to uh go out there make
things happen for myself having someone
else go the extra mile for me is a nice
to have that thing used to happen back
at home when my mom was around she’s
still alive but you know now I don’t
stay with her and so just to wrap up I
want to say that I am motivating myself
and I’m motivating you to think about
that your dreams are actually possible
you have what it takes to solve your own
problems and to solve the problems of
the people around you for me that look
the way that looked like to me is
starting with my sibling and starting
with my home area so now let’s go out
there and raise the child within
everyone and how people divorce their
own labels and I’ll grow all of that
thank you
[Applause]
in case it’s a little bit hard for you
to tell I’m an African and I’m from
specifically I’m from swaddling being an
African we are known to be great
storytellers I would like to set you all
with the story that my dad taught us
when I was young he told us a story that
was allegedly from the Bible about a man
named Noah according to my death story
Noah had to son where cosine and the
best time won a whore got drunk he was
so drunk in fact he said he was just
laying there naked and the best time
realizing what had happened caught up
his friend made fun of his dead mocked
him but the cosine being a cool sign we
know all cool signs out there you grew
up with them he saw his father’s
nakedness and out of respect he decided
to cover his dad no I learned about what
happened when he woke up in the morning
he wasn’t happy about it and as a result
he cast his son according to my death
story he cast the best time to be black
and to be a slave to his brother now let
me take you back imagine me a kid
hearing a story I’m impressionable I’m
black so does that mean that I’m also a
result of a cat
now I can imagine some of you here
thinking is that how really the story is
told in the Bible spoiler alert
that’s not how he’s told but you can
imagine a story like that to a kid what
it does is certainly contributed to my
feeling of inadequacy growing up it
wasn’t until I was doing my senior year
in college in the United States that I
got hold of a documentary from a friend
from Zimbabwe she was why the
documentary talked about how the white
South Africans used this story to
justify racism her birthday as we know
today
now I’m not here to tell you how
traumatized I have been in my life how
hard life has been for me but I’m here
to tell you that I have learned that
it’s actually possible for for for the
most part for people to to outgrow the
labels that have been given to them by
by their environment and be something
great let me bring a bit of some content
and tell you about myself like I said I
grew up in Scotland I’m from a family of
14 now I’m not going to call you with
the story of like how that happened
because
African stories or sometimes have those
stories half brother their houses that
they’re my parents were both primary
school teachers and I grew up in the
undertone in the underdeveloped areas of
solve them it’s a rural area my father
was a farmer on the side
so let me just give you an idea of what
that meant for me it meant that we just
got our our electricity about two years
ago so growing up it means our source of
you know hate to to cook we got it from
firewood that we fetched from the forest
on a daily basis getting a whole bottle
full of firewood
it meant that we had to fetch water from
a mile away which is about two
kilometers on a daily basis 50 bits of
pocket for for cooking and passing
another thing in the house it meant that
in the summer I would have to wake up
say at 4:00 a.m. with my family studying
the field before going to school now I
can imagine some of you thinking that
some of you might be thinking oh that’s
a hard life and some of you might be
thinking ah I had a story from my cousin
it was actually worse than this one and
I’m aware that there are actually people
out there who have had really rough
stories and who have amazing stories to
tell today and that’s the whole point
some other people are able to make it
despite what what like the stories that
we hear about them but for me I wasn’t I
was not one of those I was just an
average student in fact I was so average
that I repeated my last grade in primary
school that was very humbling in just to
give you an idea of how average I was
you know how in school you have those
students who are always hiding their
exam papers – lecturing advanced because
they don’t want you to be cheating of
them I was not one of those
my script is always open I continued
being average until I went to into high
school high school was an escape from
the family farm life during the school
period it allowed me to focus on my
school I was staying in a boarding
school my dad would pick us up from home
and take us to boarding school and then
after that semester take us from from
school and back home one day during one
of those trips I found a tape in his car
it was an old Toyota 1990 Hilux van this
tape I don’t know what made me listen to
put it in it was like I have found the
thing I have been looking for it was a
motivational tape it talked about how
within each and every individual there’s
a sleeping giant
when awakened the sleeping giant is able
to abundantly more than you can ever
imagine he talked about how both trusted
us to with with our brain capacity that
he didn’t create furniture but instead
he created the forest because he knew
we’ll be able to figure out how to make
furniture he talked about how he himself
when he needed money he locked himself
in a room started thinking about ideas
on how to make money he needed money in
the order of millions after a
considerable amount of time he said he
was able to figure something out an idea
that gave him money to start his
business and even more now I’m hearing
this I was about the age of 12 or 30 I
was very father speak no more
and from there I was I wonder how is it
will be life for me to aim to be in the
top ten of the country imagine from
repeating a class to imagining being in
the top ten of the country in my living
class in form five in fact I think I
started wanting to be in the top ten in
in grade nine study study come from five
my dad’s grade in high school I got it
now I just made that seem easy it wasn’t
easy
I remember a friend of mine that
reminded me at some point how I had to
work hard more than a lot of people yes
there was a friend of ours that was
always beating me
I beat that friend in my dad’s exam and
then finishing my phone five I went to
college in the United State where you
know like I was I was lucky enough that
I was good at math and at some point I
picked up physics but I was like you
know what let me just try something
different my friends have been telling
me about computer science I’ve never
done computer science I only had about
two years experience just using a
computer on and off and I was like I
want to try this thing it felt like the
biggest mistake of my life my school
system was called a block plan where we
take only one class for three and a half
weeks and you never see that laughs
again I always felt like I was a day
behind like in my first two classes of
computer science it was pretty tough
fortunately I did hang on
I mean in being in the United States I
was dealing with you know like a
majority of the students I was with with
wife students so my my feeling of
inadequacy feeling maybe I am the best
line but we’re creeping in now and then
I cried
away from college and I start applying
for jobs I applied to a lot of different
jobs and one of those jobs was Google
I found an advertisement online other I
let me just try it out
someone got back to me I was telling my
friends that I’m just only doing this
for the experience to just go through
the interview six months later after
working through my interview I got the
job now one thing I have you know like
saying that had helped me to be where I
am now is to be able to step outside my
comfort zone I have realized that being
able to to live to dream beyond with the
label that I had at the moment has
allowed me to achieve what I have
achieved right now I remember when I
went when I was I just graduated from
from when I just finished my phone five
my brother my older brother told me that
it was actually possible to end the
amount of money that I’m earning now at
the time it felt like a long a lot of
money so I said to him what would I do
with so much money and he said yeah well
you can help our siblings and that’s
exactly what I did when I first started
working at Google in 2013 three of my
siblings are doing university idea at
universities in South Africa including
the
it has been through this experience of
being able to live a life that is beyond
the devil I’ve been given that I have
that have been able to to impact my
family we started an organization in
2005 where we motivate students in
Swaziland the name of the organization
is Korean climber so when we first
started were just going around
it’s actually possible for you to do the
same thing that we have just done
students write to us at some point
telling us hey I heard your story and it
really motivated me a student wrote to
me about a year ago she was going off to
to Norway to study the International
piccata it just in my home area I’m
aware of for students who have been able
to to get the story and be able to apply
apply to themselves and be able to say
hey there’s a change within me to one of
the student is actually studying
aerospace engineering in the United
States in one of the top schools and
Beryl University another one is studying
medicine in Turkey two of the stews the
last two students in my home area I just
a stone throw away from my house and
they were both in the National top ten
it’s it’s this kind of stories that I
now that is a now motivating me to
believe that you know people just need
to hear that they actually do have what
it takes to make it
imagine if this kind of story were to
spread through arts was then throughout
Africa and around the world where people
can start realizing that all they have
is within them to make things happen in
swells and more than sixty percent of
the population are living below the
poverty line twelve thousand of the
students that sit down for their
national exam from five only 5% of them
are able to get qualify for the national
scholarship and then what happens to the
90 percent what if those students were
to realize that they don’t have to look
out to someone else for their answer but
just look inside them to make things
happen
this takes me to where I am right now
because I can imagine some of you
thinking I would like to wake up this
giant within me too I’m still waking up
mine let me tell you where I am in my
Jenny I don’t think being at Google I
have arrived
that is someone else’s business I need
to think about my own business there are
some practical advice that I have
learned that I would like to share to
myself and you too
one of the things that I’m trying to
apply is and and I’ve learned this from
work it’s the idea that if you’re trying
to do something a big project don’t
think about how you’re going to solve
the big project but think about how you
going to start small and they call this
the agile methodology in programming so
you start with the smaller piece that
will allow you to learn very quickly and
and an iterate and then you keep on
improving on that until you are able to
solve the bigger problem trying to solve
the bigger problem as a whole will not
allow for that you spend too much time
too many resources and by the time you
are done you actually realize that you
have spent so much effort solving for
the wrong problem I have also learned
that to be able to – to do all of these
things I have to be able to learn
quickly and figure out if something
works or it doesn’t work there’s a
federal courts that III heard that self
don’t cling to a mistake just because
you spent too much time making it and
it’s what lastly I have actually learned
that I have to uh go out there make
things happen for myself having someone
else go the extra mile for me is a nice
to have that thing used to happen back
at home when my mom was around she’s
still alive but you know now I don’t
stay with her and so just to wrap up I
want to say that I am motivating myself
and I’m motivating you to think about
that your dreams are actually possible
you have what it takes to solve your own
problems and to solve the problems of
the people around you for me that look
the way that looked like to me is
starting with my sibling and starting
with my home area so now let’s go out
there and raise the child within
everyone and how people divorce their
own labels and I’ll grow all of that
thank you
[Applause]
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