[Music]
thank you I believe in the universal
language and power of photography the
art of photography that has the ability
when combined with journalism and the
unvarnished reality of life to bring
people together and to motivate change I
traveled to four continents and ten
countries to put a human face on the
staggering statistics that one in every
six people live on less than a dollar a
day or in extreme poverty that’s more
than 1 billion people can you imagine
living in a place where there is limits
such as not having clean air or water or
an access to an education or healthcare
or all the simple things that we take
for granted as you look through these
image images I’d like you to imagine
that this is your reality and ask
yourself a question could you live in
this reality and if not wouldn’t you
want to help this is the pristine what
used to be the pristine waterway of the
Corie lagoon in Ghana West Africa it’s
now an e-waste dump site that is so
toxic not even worms or fish can survive
this is where impoverished children are
working and suffering and this is what
they’re suffering if this is what
they’re doing they’re trying to find
recyclables and here they are
this is some copper they have found and
maybe they can sell this for like a few
pennies on the dollar there’s really not
a lot of money they can make and there
there have no idea of what they’re
breathing in and what the toxic chemical
costs it is going to be on their
healthcare and the pathway is old
remnants of our keyboards and our
computers and you know when we get our
new computer and we get our cell phones
and we get all of our new TV we never
think about where is it going to go when
it’s you know when it’s time to get a
new one or we’re gonna throw it away
well this place away this is a place
where children are suffering and working
to survive I’m wearing a mask so that I
can breathe I’m wearing boots I’m
wearing protection as I photograph there
[Music]
but philomon his eyelashes are singed
from the fire and his hands are
blackened when I went home that night
from working there my shoes the the
black filaments went through my shoes
went through my socks and it was on my
feet and I would I couldn’t help but
think what is this doing to these
children’s lungs their orphaned most of
them and this little boy had gone to
third grade most of them aren’t even in
school they’ve got no protection and
this is Aisha she’s just lost in a sea
of garbage she’s wearing flip-flops and
then I was stopped in my tracks
this is Fadi and she has tears streaming
down her face from the effects of
malaria from the headache she’s holding
a few little medals in her head so that
she can survive I was barely able to
lift my camera to photograph her I was
thinking I don’t want her to move I
don’t want it if they don’t take my
picture because I wanted to be able to
translate her emotion to you this
photograph has been published everywhere
and since its publication Fadi has been
helped and I travelled back to meet up
with her two years ago and she’s now in
boarding school and and this is me and
Fatih now
and I want all of you thank you I wish
for all of you to experience the joy
that I had that day when Fatih came up
to me and I took that selfie she is now
in boarding school like I said she’s and
that’s a Isha
she was also helped and so three or four
children were helped from the stump site
they were taken away and they’re all
learning French and they’re learning
English and they’re not having to work
for their food anymore and they’ve got
mosquito netting so that they don’t have
to worry about you know the harm of
malaria when I traveled to India and
there were six hundred families that
were living in these tarp like
structures many of them were using their
children to beg with on the streets this
is Rudy and his little sister Suwannee
and they’re five and three years old and
they’re searching for a little bit of
tea to drink but I love this protection
where he’s got his hand around hers and
their little feet are touching and then
the Buddhist monks have come in from the
Thailand charitable trust to try to
break the cycle of poverty in this
encampment and now they’re giving the
children meals every day and and 98% of
children are living in slump cities are
malnourished or suffer from anemia and
are underweight but the real heroes are
these grassroots programs that are out
there in the trenches every day helping
these children and here they are in a
solar-powered shower that’s helping them
with the debilitating heat it was over a
hundred and seven degrees that day but
for very little you know this shower was
set up and these brings so much joy to
these children unfortunately they can’t
wear the same dirty raggedy clothes they
can’t get new clothes they have to wear
the same ones because their parents
would actually sell the clothes on the
streets and that women were working
incredibly hard I had spent a whole day
with this woman and she was doing
construction and
I’m heavy bricks on her head I couldn’t
even lift what she was carrying on her
head and then she would come home and
she would go out and walk miles just to
get water so that she could feed her
family but the most harrowing scene that
it came across was think Rita she was 2
years old
and she only weighed nine pounds and she
was being starved to death on purpose so
that her mother could beg with her on
the street so that she could feed her
other children her depravity was so
severe that this is all she could think
to do can you imagine that can you
imagine being in a situation like that
this is her mother and then this is her
brother who’s being fed and that’s her
immediately after I made this photograph
she was helped and she was brought to a
mobile medical unit clinic and now the
townland Charitable Trust has taken her
away and she’s now by another grassroots
program in the Forgotten international
being helped and now she’s in grade
school precious right amazing yeah I
just got this picture a few days ago and
I was just wow
so you know the power of the photograph
and and just my just literally being
there or has helped these children and
but we have to keep this in perspective
because 18,000 children under the age of
5 die from preventable causes those are
really staggering statistics the United
Nations Millennium Goals were up for
review in 2015 and they their goal was
to eradicate extreme poverty they fell
very short so now we have these new
sustainable goals that are up for review
in 2030 and I say one child is too many
right don’t you agree
thank you this is this is kenapa and
this is an India and I was walking the
streets that’s how I find a lot of my
stories and I stopped and I wanted to
spend some time I wanted to know what
was her story she was blind she was
supporting her mother who has asthma up
in the corner there and her brother who
suffered from fluids in the brain and
she was the only source of income and
she would go out in the morning and she
would beg for a few um enough money to
make breakfast or to have breakfast and
then she would go down out in the
evening and do the same and then they
lived close to a mosque and the mother
after they would eat she was very
meticulous about cleaning the area but
then I went home I wanted to see where
was their home and but before that she
was combing her hair and she this is
actually the point I want to make all
these people are more the same than they
are different here her mom is combing
her hair wanting her look just as
beautiful like we would all of our
children but then when I went back with
them late at night this was their home
they were sleeping on the ground
they had no mat they had no beds they
had no shelter and their mother was
Fanning them in this debilitating heat
so I went back the next morning and I
was completely surprised here they are
now the two children and they’re singing
and they’re clapping a song for me
they’re giving me this extraordinary
gift of the human spirit
despite their depravity and you see this
all over the world where these children
who have nothing they have no toys they
have no bed they have no home they have
no electricity
they have nothing and they’re bringing
me they’re giving back to me now this is
in Peru and this is Miguel Miguel
exemplifies the extraordinary good that
one
person can do he had lost his son at six
months old and suffered this terrible
loss and was roaming the streets and saw
two little Street children and he said
why couldn’t you have taken them why did
you take my boy and then he felt
terrible and he brought them back and
then he brought more children back and
then he brought more children back and
now he has an orphanage with 830
children and they’re all in school and
they’re all taking sports and they’re
all getting a great meal to eat every
day and she gives thanks to them and
they all he knows them all by name he
hugs them all there it was one of the
happiest orphanages I’ve ever visited
and here he is at the end of the day
he’s collapsed in a couch he’s got all
these stuffed animals behind him they’re
all scruffy and dirty but you know that
they’re loved and you know he’s smiling
with such relief because you know he has
a sense of purpose so in the beginning I
asked you could you imagine living in a
place with limited resources lacking you
know the things that we take for granted
let’s start with the left side of the
brain controls the right side of the
body it also controls things that go
with logic science mathematics the right
side of the brain controls the left side
of the body but it also deals with
creativity and the arts so I put this in
here because when I do research and when
I do stories I really study you know as
much statistics and things that I can
and here Bill and Melinda Gates give a
great example of child mortality where
they use the charts and the graphics and
everything and that’s one great way to
educate but I prefer the way of touching
your heart and getting to your emotions
and showing the sorrow and the joy and
the hope
so that we can have a shared humanity
and I want to leave you with just one
quote from the Dalai Lama who wrote the
foreword for my book living on a dollar
a day the lives and faces of the world’s
poor unfairness in the human condition
can only be remedied when people
everywhere care thank you
you
[Applause]
you
thank you I believe in the universal
language and power of photography the
art of photography that has the ability
when combined with journalism and the
unvarnished reality of life to bring
people together and to motivate change I
traveled to four continents and ten
countries to put a human face on the
staggering statistics that one in every
six people live on less than a dollar a
day or in extreme poverty that’s more
than 1 billion people can you imagine
living in a place where there is limits
such as not having clean air or water or
an access to an education or healthcare
or all the simple things that we take
for granted as you look through these
image images I’d like you to imagine
that this is your reality and ask
yourself a question could you live in
this reality and if not wouldn’t you
want to help this is the pristine what
used to be the pristine waterway of the
Corie lagoon in Ghana West Africa it’s
now an e-waste dump site that is so
toxic not even worms or fish can survive
this is where impoverished children are
working and suffering and this is what
they’re suffering if this is what
they’re doing they’re trying to find
recyclables and here they are
this is some copper they have found and
maybe they can sell this for like a few
pennies on the dollar there’s really not
a lot of money they can make and there
there have no idea of what they’re
breathing in and what the toxic chemical
costs it is going to be on their
healthcare and the pathway is old
remnants of our keyboards and our
computers and you know when we get our
new computer and we get our cell phones
and we get all of our new TV we never
think about where is it going to go when
it’s you know when it’s time to get a
new one or we’re gonna throw it away
well this place away this is a place
where children are suffering and working
to survive I’m wearing a mask so that I
can breathe I’m wearing boots I’m
wearing protection as I photograph there
[Music]
but philomon his eyelashes are singed
from the fire and his hands are
blackened when I went home that night
from working there my shoes the the
black filaments went through my shoes
went through my socks and it was on my
feet and I would I couldn’t help but
think what is this doing to these
children’s lungs their orphaned most of
them and this little boy had gone to
third grade most of them aren’t even in
school they’ve got no protection and
this is Aisha she’s just lost in a sea
of garbage she’s wearing flip-flops and
then I was stopped in my tracks
this is Fadi and she has tears streaming
down her face from the effects of
malaria from the headache she’s holding
a few little medals in her head so that
she can survive I was barely able to
lift my camera to photograph her I was
thinking I don’t want her to move I
don’t want it if they don’t take my
picture because I wanted to be able to
translate her emotion to you this
photograph has been published everywhere
and since its publication Fadi has been
helped and I travelled back to meet up
with her two years ago and she’s now in
boarding school and and this is me and
Fatih now
and I want all of you thank you I wish
for all of you to experience the joy
that I had that day when Fatih came up
to me and I took that selfie she is now
in boarding school like I said she’s and
that’s a Isha
she was also helped and so three or four
children were helped from the stump site
they were taken away and they’re all
learning French and they’re learning
English and they’re not having to work
for their food anymore and they’ve got
mosquito netting so that they don’t have
to worry about you know the harm of
malaria when I traveled to India and
there were six hundred families that
were living in these tarp like
structures many of them were using their
children to beg with on the streets this
is Rudy and his little sister Suwannee
and they’re five and three years old and
they’re searching for a little bit of
tea to drink but I love this protection
where he’s got his hand around hers and
their little feet are touching and then
the Buddhist monks have come in from the
Thailand charitable trust to try to
break the cycle of poverty in this
encampment and now they’re giving the
children meals every day and and 98% of
children are living in slump cities are
malnourished or suffer from anemia and
are underweight but the real heroes are
these grassroots programs that are out
there in the trenches every day helping
these children and here they are in a
solar-powered shower that’s helping them
with the debilitating heat it was over a
hundred and seven degrees that day but
for very little you know this shower was
set up and these brings so much joy to
these children unfortunately they can’t
wear the same dirty raggedy clothes they
can’t get new clothes they have to wear
the same ones because their parents
would actually sell the clothes on the
streets and that women were working
incredibly hard I had spent a whole day
with this woman and she was doing
construction and
I’m heavy bricks on her head I couldn’t
even lift what she was carrying on her
head and then she would come home and
she would go out and walk miles just to
get water so that she could feed her
family but the most harrowing scene that
it came across was think Rita she was 2
years old
and she only weighed nine pounds and she
was being starved to death on purpose so
that her mother could beg with her on
the street so that she could feed her
other children her depravity was so
severe that this is all she could think
to do can you imagine that can you
imagine being in a situation like that
this is her mother and then this is her
brother who’s being fed and that’s her
immediately after I made this photograph
she was helped and she was brought to a
mobile medical unit clinic and now the
townland Charitable Trust has taken her
away and she’s now by another grassroots
program in the Forgotten international
being helped and now she’s in grade
school precious right amazing yeah I
just got this picture a few days ago and
I was just wow
so you know the power of the photograph
and and just my just literally being
there or has helped these children and
but we have to keep this in perspective
because 18,000 children under the age of
5 die from preventable causes those are
really staggering statistics the United
Nations Millennium Goals were up for
review in 2015 and they their goal was
to eradicate extreme poverty they fell
very short so now we have these new
sustainable goals that are up for review
in 2030 and I say one child is too many
right don’t you agree
thank you this is this is kenapa and
this is an India and I was walking the
streets that’s how I find a lot of my
stories and I stopped and I wanted to
spend some time I wanted to know what
was her story she was blind she was
supporting her mother who has asthma up
in the corner there and her brother who
suffered from fluids in the brain and
she was the only source of income and
she would go out in the morning and she
would beg for a few um enough money to
make breakfast or to have breakfast and
then she would go down out in the
evening and do the same and then they
lived close to a mosque and the mother
after they would eat she was very
meticulous about cleaning the area but
then I went home I wanted to see where
was their home and but before that she
was combing her hair and she this is
actually the point I want to make all
these people are more the same than they
are different here her mom is combing
her hair wanting her look just as
beautiful like we would all of our
children but then when I went back with
them late at night this was their home
they were sleeping on the ground
they had no mat they had no beds they
had no shelter and their mother was
Fanning them in this debilitating heat
so I went back the next morning and I
was completely surprised here they are
now the two children and they’re singing
and they’re clapping a song for me
they’re giving me this extraordinary
gift of the human spirit
despite their depravity and you see this
all over the world where these children
who have nothing they have no toys they
have no bed they have no home they have
no electricity
they have nothing and they’re bringing
me they’re giving back to me now this is
in Peru and this is Miguel Miguel
exemplifies the extraordinary good that
one
person can do he had lost his son at six
months old and suffered this terrible
loss and was roaming the streets and saw
two little Street children and he said
why couldn’t you have taken them why did
you take my boy and then he felt
terrible and he brought them back and
then he brought more children back and
then he brought more children back and
now he has an orphanage with 830
children and they’re all in school and
they’re all taking sports and they’re
all getting a great meal to eat every
day and she gives thanks to them and
they all he knows them all by name he
hugs them all there it was one of the
happiest orphanages I’ve ever visited
and here he is at the end of the day
he’s collapsed in a couch he’s got all
these stuffed animals behind him they’re
all scruffy and dirty but you know that
they’re loved and you know he’s smiling
with such relief because you know he has
a sense of purpose so in the beginning I
asked you could you imagine living in a
place with limited resources lacking you
know the things that we take for granted
let’s start with the left side of the
brain controls the right side of the
body it also controls things that go
with logic science mathematics the right
side of the brain controls the left side
of the body but it also deals with
creativity and the arts so I put this in
here because when I do research and when
I do stories I really study you know as
much statistics and things that I can
and here Bill and Melinda Gates give a
great example of child mortality where
they use the charts and the graphics and
everything and that’s one great way to
educate but I prefer the way of touching
your heart and getting to your emotions
and showing the sorrow and the joy and
the hope
so that we can have a shared humanity
and I want to leave you with just one
quote from the Dalai Lama who wrote the
foreword for my book living on a dollar
a day the lives and faces of the world’s
poor unfairness in the human condition
can only be remedied when people
everywhere care thank you
you
[Applause]
you
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