you
so I tell people that I have a former
life and a new life in my former life I
was the charity queen kinda I
volunteered for everything that I could
possibly do thought it would help me in
my business but I also had a need to
help other people so I did meals on
wheels all kinds of things locally in my
hometown and then also global
initiatives and we raised a lot of money
and I also travel I have a love for
developing countries and so when I would
go to these countries you see the people
and they live on a dollar a week some of
these nations so we’re raising these
hundreds of thousands of dollars and I
started questioning where is the money
going right so I came back I started
asking the questions and then I wasn’t
very favorable in to the the staff and
everyone and so when I started my new
life in California a lot of those
organizations were here and I told them
not to tell them that I was coming that
if I could find a place that I could
really make a difference that I would
get involved again so for seven years I
looked at projects locally in California
and then when I traveled I used to talk
to organizations that were there I’d
have a driver take me to a sad story to
an orphanage to a clinic I’ve been to a
leper colony you name it I’ve been there
and it wasn’t that the need wasn’t there
there was tremendous need around the
world the problem was is that I was
going to trust you with the money and I
never got the warm fuzzies that I could
really trust somebody because I’m not
going to live there I’m coming back to
San Diego right and my thought was is
that when I would go and visit the
perhaps the person would spread the
wealth a little bit I don’t speak the
language and they would all love me and
I would have this false sense security
that I was really doing good in this
community but I wouldn’t really know so
seven years went by
and I was told about a small clinic in
Uganda a local charity here was raising
money for a generator and I was to be a
major donor for that project well I’d
never been to Uganda I’ve been to the
Congo I’ve been to Wanda I figured if it
was a bust I’d go see the gorillas that
was my thought because I didn’t have
high hopes in that so I met the woman
two weeks later I’m on a flight on my
way to Uganda I’m a frustrated doctor by
heart I always wanted to be a
pediatrician my life didn’t go that way
so when students come to talk to me I
tell them don’t worry about it
it may take years to figure out why your
path goes a different way so when I go
to the clinics I diagnose in my head
it’s a little weird I don’t tell anybody
my diagnosis or anything like that
but I do I look at it you know and so
I’m in Africa and I see the children and
malaria aids you can kind of tell well
there was this little boy he look like
he wasn’t feeling well but not gravely
ill and I had brought toys right when we
go to these countries we bring pencils
and crayons and coloring books and
things like that so the next morning had
only bid there one day I asked sister
Ernestine who runs the clinic is that
family still here
I brought some toys I would like to give
it to them and she said no he died and I
said really and I thought wow I really
missed that you know I didn’t I thought
he wasn’t that ill and I said really
what did he die from and she said asthma
and I said how can a child die of asthma
when we have all these other diseases
here that is unbelievable to me well
prior to me going the woman that I
traveled with had been to this location
multiple times
now she’s raising money for a generator
right so obviously they must have things
because a generator is a luxury item
correct so I she so sister de’cine was
telling me she’s like you know
Westerners like you come here and you
tell us what we need you don’t ask us
I have rehab equipment Who am I going to
rehab
they go back to their village to die
this is my scalpel and she pulled out a
rusty razor blade so I looked at the
woman who had been there multiple times
that had brought me to be a major donor
for a generator $35,000 generator I
looked at her and I said you told me it
was a clinic and she said well it is a
clinic
I said you told me that they have things
and she said well I thought because it’s
a clinic right our misconception you
know we hear the term and we think they
have everything so I had a piece of
paper and I made three columns and I
wrote on their scalpel nebulizer oxygen
and then I wrote in the third column an
incubator something that if they don’t
have something simple an incubator is
far out of the realm of anything they
think they would ever have so I gave it
a sister understand and I’m having
breakfast and I said can you please fill
out what you want now and and then fill
out the rest later
so I was having breakfast she fills out
this list the woman that I’m with with
the traditional charity she’s bumping me
and she said what are you doing and I
said don’t talk to me right now because
I’m not very happy with her right so
they give me the list and I didn’t even
have a vehicle now this one want to give
him a generator because she wanted
lights in her room they didn’t have a
vehicle so I said can we borrow the
vehicle from the church to go and buy
this stuff lady keeps hitting me
you’re my donor you have to give me the
money and I said nope I brought money
I’m going to raid my ATM and I’m going
to buy as much of this equipment as I
can for these people so I did we
borrowed a car we went in and we bought
medical supplies and I’ve been hooked
ever since
on the small community now I say small
this Health Center is run by seven nuns
it’s when I went there it was 20 beds
it’s now 60 beds and we helped three
districts 49 villages a population of
over 660,000 people those are very big
numbers
but a sister Ernestine says one person
at a time so the numbers become smaller
so from there I’m big on sustainability
because charities come in right and we
set up we give them things we get them
all set with whether it’s a school or a
clinic or something then we leave them
well how do they replace the books how
do they get more supplies so
sustainability but the sisters wanted to
have goats someone had been there
another organization had told them goats
you want goats raise money for goats
so I told sister I said I don’t I’m not
doing goats because I found this hybrid
Pig that could give 18 piglets one or
two goats 18 piglets I mean that doesn’t
it make sense so I said no I’ll do pigs
but I’m not doing goats
so they said nope because they’ve been
so brainwashed that goats were the way
to go so I came back four months later
we want goats I said I’m doing pigs
that’s it now I could have forced my
opinion on them right and just gone out
and built the piggery and said you’re
going to have pigs that’s it
but if you don’t have buy-in by the
people then it’s not going to work right
for students I can drill it into your
head or your children or when you have
children later on I can talk to you and
talk to you but if you don’t buy into it
it’s not going to happen you’re going to
fight it or you’re going to change your
mind later on when I turn my back you’re
going to go do something else the same
thing so finally by the end of that trip
they said okay we’ll do pigs so we
bought five piglets and now we have the
number one piggery and all of Uganda
remember I told you seven nuns it’s
called the holy hams piggery right so
from there the sustainable businesses
have grown we have a bigger e we have a
grocery store we have a clothing store
we have organic Gardens I tell people if
you stay there too long they’ll sell you
now this is a population that was
beaten down by civil wars felt that life
was over
edie I mean and everything and so it’s a
really good test case to see how these
people have really become entrepreneurs
right they believe in themselves now I
gave them the tools I didn’t do it I’m
not making them do it but they see
something in themselves just like we all
should see something in ourselves
correct so the project is done very well
we’ve become a model we’ve had people
come from all over the country and and
out of other countries come and be a
model for them which is perfect so the
need for medical supplies continues so
they’re able to what these other
businesses have clinic day twice a week
five hundred people come to be tested
for HIV we have three thousand adults
and eight hundred children actively on
antiretrovirals so there’s a lot of
people that come to this we have a staff
of 51 people now we have three full-time
doctors all because of these sustainable
businesses but there’s equipment that we
need that would help a lot x-ray
machines Gurney’s so I found out that
they that we here in the United States
we’re quite wasteful we’re not wasteful
we have to outdo each other so when a
hospital or a clinic gets a new piece of
equipment somebody else has got to get a
new piece of equipment and nobody wants
that old piece of equipment but there’s
plenty pieces all over the world that
could really use that equipment and what
has been historically is it gets sent to
the metal recycler or to the landfill
because why because if we’re afraid to
be sued the hospitals the clinic’s
nobody we’ve become the society that
we’re we have to go after something all
the time so I realized and there’s other
I’m not reinventing the wheel that’s not
what I do I just make it better I take
someone’s idea and I improve it a little
bit so what we started doing is oh there
it is you guys wonder what that is
that’s my home
pretty much I love I lived there
part-time that’s my warehouse here in
San Diego now everything that you see
there is trash I am a dumpster diver I
have been for three years I would have
been for four years but it took me a
year to have anybody to listen to me I’d
call all the hospitals clinics I started
calling my doctors hi I’m Laura
Luxembourg who I would like I know that
you’re throwing things out can I have
them can I have your expired can I have
your old IV poles we’ll get back with
you
no there’s a liability and so for a year
everyone said no to me and I was going
to give up and I cry and I would put the
covers over my head and I have two
children and I said mom just just forget
it
and I said no people are good if they
really know what we’re gonna do with
this they’re gonna want to help us I
know it now my kids refer to me as a
very very special snowflake they’re not
here today because they know how special
snowflake I am so they didn’t come but
so I’m the very very special snowflake
so they go along with it it’s really
good my son helps me in the warehouse
he’s 25 years old and I don’t know if
they do it just humor me or what but
they hang out with me and so we take
this stuff and there’s an there’s a need
and I finally got the hospital so we
were going along and the hospitals would
say no no no no and then I was at UCSD
at a Christmas event and selling bags
and beads by HIV patients that have been
turned down for jobs by organizations
here in the United States because of
their HIV status if anybody wants to try
something I’ll give a much you know if
they want to work they want to try I’ll
give them an opportunity I don’t care
about statistics I don’t you know I
don’t usually except for the number of
people that we help I never refer to
statistics statistics is a number how do
I know how you are you’re you and I are
different right I can I can’t tell you
how you’re going to react
something or you or you are you and lump
us all together everybody is different
and that’s how I see it so we continue
to you know beg people right so I met
UCSD and I am selling bags and beads
from these patients and this woman comes
by and her name tags turned over and she
says what are these made out of I said
I’ll recycle paper and I had a box and
it’s box that represents one cubic foot
of medical supplies that goes to our
landfills
so she goes oh that’s perfect for me I’m
going to buy him from all my friends for
Christmas he comes in she goes what’s
that box I said oh it’s a project that
I’ve been trying to get off the ground
for a year and all of a sudden I picked
up like what are you doing Laura maybe
this is the one person that can help me
and so I said oh do you know anybody at
UCSD Medical Center and she goes no no
tell me what this is about so I told her
I said I’ve been trying to collect
medical supplies and equipment and help
my you know clinic in Uganda and then if
I get a surplus then maybe I could
spread it around and help other people
around the world and she says you want
to know me I said really
she said I handle all the waste
materials for the VA San Diego I said
you’re right I want to know you so we
became very dear friends that was on a
Tuesday Friday I was at the VA just
drooling over everything that they had
so March 7th 2014 we did our first
pickup from the VA and from there they
introduced us to other Hospital partners
I got much more that I could ever use in
Uganda and so we have been spreading the
wealth here locally and around the world
we’ve sent loads to Ethiopia Nicaragua
Cuba Egypt Jordan for the Sudanese
refugees I’m right now trying to raise
money for my own project in Uganda I’ve
been collecting and collecting and then
we do a lot of projects locally we
there’s there’s populations that you
know when you go to the insurance
company you hurt your foot and they give
you crutches well what if you can’t use
crutches for
some reason you’re not strong enough or
something they don’t give you a
wheelchair well you come find me and I
give you a wheelchair and so we’re doing
a lot of things here in San Diego we
support 16 of the unified high schools
we’re saving the unified each school
$12,000 a year by providing them with
trash don’t tell anybody it’s trash
because when it comes to me it becomes
beautiful it’s gauze and tape and all
these things that we can use in the
crutches and everything and so we’re
passing that out and it’s been an
amazing project so when when the
invitation came my son answered the
email and he said mom you got a TEDx
talk I could really how did that happen
he said but don’t be upset and I said
why would I be upset
and he goes the title and I okay I won’t
be upset
he says it’s madness and miracles I said
really that is the easiest thing that I
could ever talk about because we are so
blessed through this whole project and
so we’ve taken this nothing and made
something beautiful grow and so the
madness to me so I interviewed some
students and I said what does madness me
and I came on the campus and I said what
does madness mean to you and everything
was so negative it was like you’re crazy
there’s something wrong with you you
can’t be in society anybody else think
madness means those things see for me
madness is not doing something the rest
of the world is madness if you have the
opportunity and you don’t do something
that’s the madness that’s in this world
and from that madness you can make some
miracles happen so thank you
[Applause]
so I tell people that I have a former
life and a new life in my former life I
was the charity queen kinda I
volunteered for everything that I could
possibly do thought it would help me in
my business but I also had a need to
help other people so I did meals on
wheels all kinds of things locally in my
hometown and then also global
initiatives and we raised a lot of money
and I also travel I have a love for
developing countries and so when I would
go to these countries you see the people
and they live on a dollar a week some of
these nations so we’re raising these
hundreds of thousands of dollars and I
started questioning where is the money
going right so I came back I started
asking the questions and then I wasn’t
very favorable in to the the staff and
everyone and so when I started my new
life in California a lot of those
organizations were here and I told them
not to tell them that I was coming that
if I could find a place that I could
really make a difference that I would
get involved again so for seven years I
looked at projects locally in California
and then when I traveled I used to talk
to organizations that were there I’d
have a driver take me to a sad story to
an orphanage to a clinic I’ve been to a
leper colony you name it I’ve been there
and it wasn’t that the need wasn’t there
there was tremendous need around the
world the problem was is that I was
going to trust you with the money and I
never got the warm fuzzies that I could
really trust somebody because I’m not
going to live there I’m coming back to
San Diego right and my thought was is
that when I would go and visit the
perhaps the person would spread the
wealth a little bit I don’t speak the
language and they would all love me and
I would have this false sense security
that I was really doing good in this
community but I wouldn’t really know so
seven years went by
and I was told about a small clinic in
Uganda a local charity here was raising
money for a generator and I was to be a
major donor for that project well I’d
never been to Uganda I’ve been to the
Congo I’ve been to Wanda I figured if it
was a bust I’d go see the gorillas that
was my thought because I didn’t have
high hopes in that so I met the woman
two weeks later I’m on a flight on my
way to Uganda I’m a frustrated doctor by
heart I always wanted to be a
pediatrician my life didn’t go that way
so when students come to talk to me I
tell them don’t worry about it
it may take years to figure out why your
path goes a different way so when I go
to the clinics I diagnose in my head
it’s a little weird I don’t tell anybody
my diagnosis or anything like that
but I do I look at it you know and so
I’m in Africa and I see the children and
malaria aids you can kind of tell well
there was this little boy he look like
he wasn’t feeling well but not gravely
ill and I had brought toys right when we
go to these countries we bring pencils
and crayons and coloring books and
things like that so the next morning had
only bid there one day I asked sister
Ernestine who runs the clinic is that
family still here
I brought some toys I would like to give
it to them and she said no he died and I
said really and I thought wow I really
missed that you know I didn’t I thought
he wasn’t that ill and I said really
what did he die from and she said asthma
and I said how can a child die of asthma
when we have all these other diseases
here that is unbelievable to me well
prior to me going the woman that I
traveled with had been to this location
multiple times
now she’s raising money for a generator
right so obviously they must have things
because a generator is a luxury item
correct so I she so sister de’cine was
telling me she’s like you know
Westerners like you come here and you
tell us what we need you don’t ask us
I have rehab equipment Who am I going to
rehab
they go back to their village to die
this is my scalpel and she pulled out a
rusty razor blade so I looked at the
woman who had been there multiple times
that had brought me to be a major donor
for a generator $35,000 generator I
looked at her and I said you told me it
was a clinic and she said well it is a
clinic
I said you told me that they have things
and she said well I thought because it’s
a clinic right our misconception you
know we hear the term and we think they
have everything so I had a piece of
paper and I made three columns and I
wrote on their scalpel nebulizer oxygen
and then I wrote in the third column an
incubator something that if they don’t
have something simple an incubator is
far out of the realm of anything they
think they would ever have so I gave it
a sister understand and I’m having
breakfast and I said can you please fill
out what you want now and and then fill
out the rest later
so I was having breakfast she fills out
this list the woman that I’m with with
the traditional charity she’s bumping me
and she said what are you doing and I
said don’t talk to me right now because
I’m not very happy with her right so
they give me the list and I didn’t even
have a vehicle now this one want to give
him a generator because she wanted
lights in her room they didn’t have a
vehicle so I said can we borrow the
vehicle from the church to go and buy
this stuff lady keeps hitting me
you’re my donor you have to give me the
money and I said nope I brought money
I’m going to raid my ATM and I’m going
to buy as much of this equipment as I
can for these people so I did we
borrowed a car we went in and we bought
medical supplies and I’ve been hooked
ever since
on the small community now I say small
this Health Center is run by seven nuns
it’s when I went there it was 20 beds
it’s now 60 beds and we helped three
districts 49 villages a population of
over 660,000 people those are very big
numbers
but a sister Ernestine says one person
at a time so the numbers become smaller
so from there I’m big on sustainability
because charities come in right and we
set up we give them things we get them
all set with whether it’s a school or a
clinic or something then we leave them
well how do they replace the books how
do they get more supplies so
sustainability but the sisters wanted to
have goats someone had been there
another organization had told them goats
you want goats raise money for goats
so I told sister I said I don’t I’m not
doing goats because I found this hybrid
Pig that could give 18 piglets one or
two goats 18 piglets I mean that doesn’t
it make sense so I said no I’ll do pigs
but I’m not doing goats
so they said nope because they’ve been
so brainwashed that goats were the way
to go so I came back four months later
we want goats I said I’m doing pigs
that’s it now I could have forced my
opinion on them right and just gone out
and built the piggery and said you’re
going to have pigs that’s it
but if you don’t have buy-in by the
people then it’s not going to work right
for students I can drill it into your
head or your children or when you have
children later on I can talk to you and
talk to you but if you don’t buy into it
it’s not going to happen you’re going to
fight it or you’re going to change your
mind later on when I turn my back you’re
going to go do something else the same
thing so finally by the end of that trip
they said okay we’ll do pigs so we
bought five piglets and now we have the
number one piggery and all of Uganda
remember I told you seven nuns it’s
called the holy hams piggery right so
from there the sustainable businesses
have grown we have a bigger e we have a
grocery store we have a clothing store
we have organic Gardens I tell people if
you stay there too long they’ll sell you
now this is a population that was
beaten down by civil wars felt that life
was over
edie I mean and everything and so it’s a
really good test case to see how these
people have really become entrepreneurs
right they believe in themselves now I
gave them the tools I didn’t do it I’m
not making them do it but they see
something in themselves just like we all
should see something in ourselves
correct so the project is done very well
we’ve become a model we’ve had people
come from all over the country and and
out of other countries come and be a
model for them which is perfect so the
need for medical supplies continues so
they’re able to what these other
businesses have clinic day twice a week
five hundred people come to be tested
for HIV we have three thousand adults
and eight hundred children actively on
antiretrovirals so there’s a lot of
people that come to this we have a staff
of 51 people now we have three full-time
doctors all because of these sustainable
businesses but there’s equipment that we
need that would help a lot x-ray
machines Gurney’s so I found out that
they that we here in the United States
we’re quite wasteful we’re not wasteful
we have to outdo each other so when a
hospital or a clinic gets a new piece of
equipment somebody else has got to get a
new piece of equipment and nobody wants
that old piece of equipment but there’s
plenty pieces all over the world that
could really use that equipment and what
has been historically is it gets sent to
the metal recycler or to the landfill
because why because if we’re afraid to
be sued the hospitals the clinic’s
nobody we’ve become the society that
we’re we have to go after something all
the time so I realized and there’s other
I’m not reinventing the wheel that’s not
what I do I just make it better I take
someone’s idea and I improve it a little
bit so what we started doing is oh there
it is you guys wonder what that is
that’s my home
pretty much I love I lived there
part-time that’s my warehouse here in
San Diego now everything that you see
there is trash I am a dumpster diver I
have been for three years I would have
been for four years but it took me a
year to have anybody to listen to me I’d
call all the hospitals clinics I started
calling my doctors hi I’m Laura
Luxembourg who I would like I know that
you’re throwing things out can I have
them can I have your expired can I have
your old IV poles we’ll get back with
you
no there’s a liability and so for a year
everyone said no to me and I was going
to give up and I cry and I would put the
covers over my head and I have two
children and I said mom just just forget
it
and I said no people are good if they
really know what we’re gonna do with
this they’re gonna want to help us I
know it now my kids refer to me as a
very very special snowflake they’re not
here today because they know how special
snowflake I am so they didn’t come but
so I’m the very very special snowflake
so they go along with it it’s really
good my son helps me in the warehouse
he’s 25 years old and I don’t know if
they do it just humor me or what but
they hang out with me and so we take
this stuff and there’s an there’s a need
and I finally got the hospital so we
were going along and the hospitals would
say no no no no and then I was at UCSD
at a Christmas event and selling bags
and beads by HIV patients that have been
turned down for jobs by organizations
here in the United States because of
their HIV status if anybody wants to try
something I’ll give a much you know if
they want to work they want to try I’ll
give them an opportunity I don’t care
about statistics I don’t you know I
don’t usually except for the number of
people that we help I never refer to
statistics statistics is a number how do
I know how you are you’re you and I are
different right I can I can’t tell you
how you’re going to react
something or you or you are you and lump
us all together everybody is different
and that’s how I see it so we continue
to you know beg people right so I met
UCSD and I am selling bags and beads
from these patients and this woman comes
by and her name tags turned over and she
says what are these made out of I said
I’ll recycle paper and I had a box and
it’s box that represents one cubic foot
of medical supplies that goes to our
landfills
so she goes oh that’s perfect for me I’m
going to buy him from all my friends for
Christmas he comes in she goes what’s
that box I said oh it’s a project that
I’ve been trying to get off the ground
for a year and all of a sudden I picked
up like what are you doing Laura maybe
this is the one person that can help me
and so I said oh do you know anybody at
UCSD Medical Center and she goes no no
tell me what this is about so I told her
I said I’ve been trying to collect
medical supplies and equipment and help
my you know clinic in Uganda and then if
I get a surplus then maybe I could
spread it around and help other people
around the world and she says you want
to know me I said really
she said I handle all the waste
materials for the VA San Diego I said
you’re right I want to know you so we
became very dear friends that was on a
Tuesday Friday I was at the VA just
drooling over everything that they had
so March 7th 2014 we did our first
pickup from the VA and from there they
introduced us to other Hospital partners
I got much more that I could ever use in
Uganda and so we have been spreading the
wealth here locally and around the world
we’ve sent loads to Ethiopia Nicaragua
Cuba Egypt Jordan for the Sudanese
refugees I’m right now trying to raise
money for my own project in Uganda I’ve
been collecting and collecting and then
we do a lot of projects locally we
there’s there’s populations that you
know when you go to the insurance
company you hurt your foot and they give
you crutches well what if you can’t use
crutches for
some reason you’re not strong enough or
something they don’t give you a
wheelchair well you come find me and I
give you a wheelchair and so we’re doing
a lot of things here in San Diego we
support 16 of the unified high schools
we’re saving the unified each school
$12,000 a year by providing them with
trash don’t tell anybody it’s trash
because when it comes to me it becomes
beautiful it’s gauze and tape and all
these things that we can use in the
crutches and everything and so we’re
passing that out and it’s been an
amazing project so when when the
invitation came my son answered the
email and he said mom you got a TEDx
talk I could really how did that happen
he said but don’t be upset and I said
why would I be upset
and he goes the title and I okay I won’t
be upset
he says it’s madness and miracles I said
really that is the easiest thing that I
could ever talk about because we are so
blessed through this whole project and
so we’ve taken this nothing and made
something beautiful grow and so the
madness to me so I interviewed some
students and I said what does madness me
and I came on the campus and I said what
does madness mean to you and everything
was so negative it was like you’re crazy
there’s something wrong with you you
can’t be in society anybody else think
madness means those things see for me
madness is not doing something the rest
of the world is madness if you have the
opportunity and you don’t do something
that’s the madness that’s in this world
and from that madness you can make some
miracles happen so thank you
[Applause]
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