ciao bond namaste
Marhaba to the sky-high cheese and
sticky breathes to the rhythmic rhythmic
rice fields that filled every acre of
land to the smiling men women and
children with sweat stains patch onto
the worn-out t-shirts
each grin drew an intricate image on our
minds from the broken pipes the
repulsive smell of sewage the endless
piles of garbage and the pollution that
shaded the skies to the unforgettable
smiles and the hard-working men women
boys and girls to our own beautiful
country rich with cultural heritage and
the hard work of our very own ancestors
each stamp on our passport every step we
took uncommon or foreign ground led us
on the journey of self-discovery vietnam
2014 my child village a family of ten
welcomed our large without walls group
with green mangoes bananas and ice-cold
water
following our four-hour journey from
hanoi the main city to this humble small
village of my Chow each
wrinkle told a tale in each tobacco
stains smile filled our hearts with love
and comfort before reaching Vietnam we
had already made perceptions and
assumptions about how this trip was
going to end frankly we thought it’d be
no different than all the previous trips
we’ve taken around the world when we
left however all of our past perceptions
and beliefs were changed we had we
witness the power of a united community
we had made a family with people we had
only known for three days we sweat seven
hours a day in hopes of building an
empire for people who treated us like
kings and queens we returned back to our
longhouse exhausted and sucked under a
roof made solely of woven chilies and a
floor composed of broken bamboo with our
own two eyes we witnessed poverty at its
worst we saw an amputated man work day
in and day out in hopes of supporting
his families we saw little kids use
fruits as toys because they had nothing
else to play with
we also witness however happiness at its
peak we saw the vibrant smiles
continuous generosity and the purest
forms of hope not once did we hear the
sound of complaining 2017 Mumbai
Kohinoor village the pollution shaded
the skies garbage was piled on every
sidewalk every road was cracked and
sewage water was streaming down the
middle tuk tuks and motorcycles filled
what seemed to be every
of the roads when we stared outside the
shuttle window we saw seem completely
different to what we had imagined it
seemed completely different to all the
misconceptions and stereotypes that were
engraved in our mind before we had gone
on our first day we took about a 45
minute drive to the Hobby one of the
world’s largest slums home to roughly 1
million people we saw old men and women
hauling heavy bags on their box and
balancing trades on their heads we saw
young children running the streets
barefoot homes are made merely of
corrugated metal stocked on top of each
other leaving no room for comfort little
kids were sitting on the filthy floors
of the slums their feet were buried in
the dirt yet their smiles were never
erased as we walk through the
residential streets we felt a sense of
community and a sense of belong to
happiness little kids were just in their
uniforms ready to go to school as they
waved and said hello we watched every
step we took trying to avoid the garbage
and the sewage yet people were happy
they proved to us that despite the
poverty they lived through day in and
day out they were happy they could be
happy Jordan Mazza come 1968 55
kilometres of north of Amman our beloved
country hosts up to 2 million registered
Palestinian refugees who forcefully fled
their homes after being forcefully room
from their homes in hopes of building a
safer environment for their families one
would imagine that because the camp has
been around for almost D generations
major progress that have been made but
despite because the unfortunate
circumstances people of the community
are still unable to get working permits
and are unable to pay for their college
tuitions two weeks ago I was fortunate
enough to visit the camp and speak to
the residents about the daily struggles
they faced some problems seemed
unsolvable and frustrated both the
residents and myself I began imagining
how much pain they injured and how much
heartache they’d been through failure
was at every pit stop they would make
yet the people were still saying in
hamdulillah they thanked God for placing
him in a safe environment when their
homes were forcefully taken away they
thanked God for the raging rain that
ripped through their weak ceilings
because a nourished land of Jordan they
even thanked God for the scorching heat
because
that fed their agriculture fed their
crops and helped their agriculture
despite all the brutal days they face
their hope was never erased
they turned what was once just an empty
land filled with UN tents into a
prosperous community filled with loving
families and small enterprises their
small enterprises today have made a
footprint around the world leading them
to better futures they’ve turned silent
families and shattered hearts into
guiding forces that have paved the way
for their coming generations our
journeys longer shorts have brought us
closer to our people closer to our home
and closer on our journeys of
self-discovery from Vietnam to Mumbai
and finally the huzza camp is the
reeking smells and the tiring days that
have helped us in building great
communities of passion and hope it is
everything they told us the fear that we
finally found beauty in thank you
[Applause]
Marhaba to the sky-high cheese and
sticky breathes to the rhythmic rhythmic
rice fields that filled every acre of
land to the smiling men women and
children with sweat stains patch onto
the worn-out t-shirts
each grin drew an intricate image on our
minds from the broken pipes the
repulsive smell of sewage the endless
piles of garbage and the pollution that
shaded the skies to the unforgettable
smiles and the hard-working men women
boys and girls to our own beautiful
country rich with cultural heritage and
the hard work of our very own ancestors
each stamp on our passport every step we
took uncommon or foreign ground led us
on the journey of self-discovery vietnam
2014 my child village a family of ten
welcomed our large without walls group
with green mangoes bananas and ice-cold
water
following our four-hour journey from
hanoi the main city to this humble small
village of my Chow each
wrinkle told a tale in each tobacco
stains smile filled our hearts with love
and comfort before reaching Vietnam we
had already made perceptions and
assumptions about how this trip was
going to end frankly we thought it’d be
no different than all the previous trips
we’ve taken around the world when we
left however all of our past perceptions
and beliefs were changed we had we
witness the power of a united community
we had made a family with people we had
only known for three days we sweat seven
hours a day in hopes of building an
empire for people who treated us like
kings and queens we returned back to our
longhouse exhausted and sucked under a
roof made solely of woven chilies and a
floor composed of broken bamboo with our
own two eyes we witnessed poverty at its
worst we saw an amputated man work day
in and day out in hopes of supporting
his families we saw little kids use
fruits as toys because they had nothing
else to play with
we also witness however happiness at its
peak we saw the vibrant smiles
continuous generosity and the purest
forms of hope not once did we hear the
sound of complaining 2017 Mumbai
Kohinoor village the pollution shaded
the skies garbage was piled on every
sidewalk every road was cracked and
sewage water was streaming down the
middle tuk tuks and motorcycles filled
what seemed to be every
of the roads when we stared outside the
shuttle window we saw seem completely
different to what we had imagined it
seemed completely different to all the
misconceptions and stereotypes that were
engraved in our mind before we had gone
on our first day we took about a 45
minute drive to the Hobby one of the
world’s largest slums home to roughly 1
million people we saw old men and women
hauling heavy bags on their box and
balancing trades on their heads we saw
young children running the streets
barefoot homes are made merely of
corrugated metal stocked on top of each
other leaving no room for comfort little
kids were sitting on the filthy floors
of the slums their feet were buried in
the dirt yet their smiles were never
erased as we walk through the
residential streets we felt a sense of
community and a sense of belong to
happiness little kids were just in their
uniforms ready to go to school as they
waved and said hello we watched every
step we took trying to avoid the garbage
and the sewage yet people were happy
they proved to us that despite the
poverty they lived through day in and
day out they were happy they could be
happy Jordan Mazza come 1968 55
kilometres of north of Amman our beloved
country hosts up to 2 million registered
Palestinian refugees who forcefully fled
their homes after being forcefully room
from their homes in hopes of building a
safer environment for their families one
would imagine that because the camp has
been around for almost D generations
major progress that have been made but
despite because the unfortunate
circumstances people of the community
are still unable to get working permits
and are unable to pay for their college
tuitions two weeks ago I was fortunate
enough to visit the camp and speak to
the residents about the daily struggles
they faced some problems seemed
unsolvable and frustrated both the
residents and myself I began imagining
how much pain they injured and how much
heartache they’d been through failure
was at every pit stop they would make
yet the people were still saying in
hamdulillah they thanked God for placing
him in a safe environment when their
homes were forcefully taken away they
thanked God for the raging rain that
ripped through their weak ceilings
because a nourished land of Jordan they
even thanked God for the scorching heat
because
that fed their agriculture fed their
crops and helped their agriculture
despite all the brutal days they face
their hope was never erased
they turned what was once just an empty
land filled with UN tents into a
prosperous community filled with loving
families and small enterprises their
small enterprises today have made a
footprint around the world leading them
to better futures they’ve turned silent
families and shattered hearts into
guiding forces that have paved the way
for their coming generations our
journeys longer shorts have brought us
closer to our people closer to our home
and closer on our journeys of
self-discovery from Vietnam to Mumbai
and finally the huzza camp is the
reeking smells and the tiring days that
have helped us in building great
communities of passion and hope it is
everything they told us the fear that we
finally found beauty in thank you
[Applause]
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