TED2009
Jacqueline Novogratz: An escape from poverty
Jacqueline Novogratz 谈脱离贫困
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Jacqueline Novogratz讲述了她在内罗毕的贫民区遇到简的一次感人经历。简曾是一名妓女。她的梦想就是逃脱贫穷、成为医生、结婚生子。而这一切竟以一种意想不到的方式得以实现。
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty. Full bio
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I've been working on issues of poverty for more than 20 years,
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我已经研究贫困问题二十多年了，
00:16
and so it's ironic that the problem that and question that I most grapple with
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所以颇具讽刺意味的一件事就是我最多在挣扎的问题
00:21
is how you actually define poverty. What does it mean?
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是你到底上怎么定义贫困。贫困的意思是什么？
00:24
So often, we look at dollar terms --
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我们经常会看钱 －－
00:26
people making less than a dollar or two or three a day.
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有的人每天挣的钱不到一美元或者两美元或者三美元。
00:28
And yet the complexity of poverty really has to look at
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但是对于贫困这个复杂的概念
00:33
income as only one variable.
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收入确实只是其中的一个因素。
00:35
Because really, it's a condition about choice,
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因为事实上，贫困是有关选择的状态，
00:37
and the lack of freedom.
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和缺少自由的状态。
00:39
And I had an experience that really deepened and elucidated for me
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而我的一次经历则使我深刻而清晰地
00:42
the understanding that I have.
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得到对贫困的理解。
00:44
It was in Kenya, and I want to share it with you.
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那是在肯尼亚，我想要和你分享这个经历。
00:46
I was with my friend Susan Meiselas, the photographer,
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那时我和我的摄影师朋友Susan Meiselas
00:48
in the Mathare Valley slums.
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在玛萨瑞山谷的贫民区。
00:50
Now, Mathare Valley is one of the oldest slums in Africa.
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现在，玛萨瑞山谷已经成为其中一个非洲最古老的贫民区了。
00:53
It's about three miles out of Nairobi,
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那是在内罗毕外面三公里地方，
00:55
and it's a mile long and about two-tenths of a mile wide,
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那里有一英里长，差不多五分之一英里宽，
00:58
where over half a million people
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有五十多万人
01:00
live crammed in these little tin shacks,
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拥挤的住在这些小简易房里，
01:02
generation after generation, renting them,
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一代接着一代，租住这些简易房，
01:05
often eight or 10 people to a room.
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经常是每个房间里住8到10个人。
01:07
And it's known for prostitution, violence, drugs:
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而且这里因为卖淫，暴力和毒品而有名。
01:13
a hard place to grow up.
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一个很艰苦的生长环境。
01:15
And when we were walking through the narrow alleys,
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当我们走在一个狭窄的过道，
01:17
it was literally impossible not to step in the
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那完全不可能不踩到
01:20
raw sewage and the garbage alongside the little homes.
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小房子周边的马桶出来的脏水和垃圾。
01:24
But at the same time it was also
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但是同时，那也
01:26
impossible not to see the human vitality,
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不可能看不到人类的活力，
01:29
the aspiration and the ambition of the people who live there:
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住在那里的人的抱负和野心。
01:32
women washing their babies, washing their clothes, hanging them out to dry.
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女人们洗着她们的孩子，洗着她们的衣服，把衣服凉出来。
01:35
I met this woman, Mama Rose,
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我遇见了一个女人，Rose妈妈，
01:37
who has rented that little tin shack for 32 years,
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她已经租在这个小简易房32年了，
01:40
where she lives with her seven children.
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和她的7个孩子一起住。
01:42
Four sleep in one twin bed,
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四个孩子在一个双人床上睡觉，
01:44
and three sleep on the mud and linoleum floor.
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还有三个睡在泥和油毡地上。
01:47
And she keeps them all in school by selling water from that kiosk,
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她靠在亭子里卖水挣钱让所有的孩子都上学，
01:51
and from selling soap and bread from the little store inside.
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她还在小商店里卖肥皂和面包。
01:55
It was also the day after the inauguration,
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那天也是美国总统就职典礼的第二天，
01:57
and I was reminded how Mathare is still connected to the globe.
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然后我意识到现在，玛萨瑞仍然和外面的世界相连。
02:01
And I would see kids on the street corners,
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我看到小孩子们在街角，
02:03
and they'd say "Obama, he's our brother!"
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他们在说：“奥巴马，他是我们的兄弟！”
02:05
And I'd say "Well, Obama's my brother, so that makes you my brother too."
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然后我说：“这样的话，奥巴马是我的兄弟，所以你也是我的兄弟了。”
02:08
And they would look quizzically, and then be like, "High five!"
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他们好奇地看着我，然后就说，“High five！”
02:12
And it was here that I met Jane.
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我就是在这遇见了简。
02:15
I was struck immediately by the kindness and the gentleness in her face,
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我马上就被她脸上的美好、平和打动了。
02:18
and I asked her to tell me her story.
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然后我请她给我讲她的故事。
02:21
She started off by telling me her dream. She said, "I had two.
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她从她的梦想开始讲给我听。她说：“我有两个梦想。
02:24
My first dream was to be a doctor,
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一个的梦想是当一个医生，
02:26
and the second was to marry a good man
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第二个梦想是嫁一个好的男人，
02:28
who would stay with me and my family,
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他可以跟我和我的家在一起。
02:30
because my mother was a single mom,
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因为我的妈妈是单身母亲，
02:32
and couldn't afford to pay for school fees.
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没有能力负担学费。
02:34
So I had to give up the first dream, and I focused on the second."
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所以我不得不放弃了第一个梦想，并且我努力实现我的第二个梦想。“
02:38
She got married when she was 18, had a baby right away.
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她18岁的时候结婚了，然后马上生了孩子。
02:41
And when she turned 20, found herself pregnant with a second child,
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当她到了20岁，发现她怀了第二个孩子，
02:45
her mom died and her husband left her -- married another woman.
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她的妈妈去世了而且她的丈夫离开了她－－和另外一个女人结婚了。
02:49
So she was again in Mathare, with no income, no skill set, no money.
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所以她又到了玛萨瑞，没有收入没有本事，没有钱。
02:53
And so she ultimately turned to prostitution.
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最终变成了一个妓女。
02:56
It wasn't organized in the way we often think of it.
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事情并不是象我们通常想像的那样发生。
02:58
She would go into the city at night with about 20 girls,
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她每天晚上和大约20个女孩去城市里，
03:01
look for work, and sometimes come back with a few shillings,
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寻找工作，有的时候能挣点钱回来，
03:04
or sometimes with nothing.
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有的时候什么都挣不到。
03:06
And she said, "You know, the poverty wasn't so bad. It was the humiliation
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她说，”你知道，穷并不是太坏。那只是耻辱
03:09
and the embarrassment of it all."
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和尴尬。
03:11
In 2001, her life changed.
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在2001年，她的生活改变了。
03:15
She had a girlfriend who had heard about this organization, Jamii Bora,
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她的一个女性朋友听说了这个组织，Jamii Bora，
03:19
that would lend money to people no matter how poor you were,
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这个组织可以借给人钱，不管你是多么穷。
03:22
as long as you provided a commensurate amount in savings.
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只要你能提供一定的存款。
03:26
And so she spent a year to save 50 dollars,
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然后她就用了一年的时间存了50美元，
03:29
and started borrowing, and over time she was able to buy a sewing machine.
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然后就开始借钱，过了一段时间她已经可以买一个缝纫机了。
03:34
She started tailoring.
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她开始制作衣服。
03:35
And that turned into what she does now,
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然后这就使她变成了现在的样子，
03:38
which is to go into the secondhand clothing markets,
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进入了二手衣服市场，
03:40
and for about three dollars and 25 cents she buys an old ball gown.
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她用了3美元25美分买了一个晚礼服。
03:44
Some of them might be ones you gave.
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有一些可能是你们捐的。
03:46
And she repurposes them with frills and ribbons,
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她用花边和布条重新改了这些衣服，
03:50
and makes these frothy confections that she sells to women
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还把衣服弄的蓬松，然后她把衣服买给那些女人，
03:54
for their daughter's Sweet 16 or first Holy Communion --
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她们为女儿的16岁的生日或者第一个圣餐礼－－
03:58
those milestones in a life that people want to celebrate
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那些人们想要去庆祝的生活中的里程碑，
04:01
all along the economic spectrum.
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不论穷还是富有。
04:03
And she does really good business. In fact, I watched her
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她的生意真的很好。事实上，我观察她
04:06
walk through the streets hawking. And before you knew it,
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走到街道卖衣服。在你注意到以前，
04:08
there was a crowd of women around her, buying these dresses.
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那已经有一群女人围着她买这些裙子。
04:12
And I reflected, as I was watching her sell the dresses,
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然后我想到，当我在看她卖这些裙子，
04:15
and also the jewelry that she makes,
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她还卖一些她自己做的首饰。
04:17
that now Jane makes more than four dollars a day.
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现在简每天挣的钱比四美元多。
04:20
And by many definitions she is no longer poor.
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在很多定义中，她不再是贫困了。
04:23
But she still lives in Mathare Valley.
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但是她仍然住在玛萨瑞山谷。
04:25
And so she can't move out.
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她不能搬出去。
04:28
She lives with all of that insecurity,
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她在所有危险中生活，
04:30
and in fact, in January, during the ethnic riots,
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事实上，在一月份，在国内暴动期间，
04:33
she was chased from her home and had to find a new shack
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她被从家里赶出来，不得不找一个新的简易房
04:35
in which she would live.
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来居住。
04:37
Jamii Bora understands that and understands
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Jamii Bora 明白这点。而且明白
04:39
that when we're talking about poverty,
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当我们谈论贫困，
04:41
we've got to look at people all along the economic spectrum.
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我们必须去看所有经济范围内的人。
04:44
And so with patient capital from Acumen and other organizations,
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所以从Acumen或者其他组织来的耐心资本，
04:47
loans and investments that will go the long term with them,
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贷款和投资都是长期的，
04:50
they built a low-cost housing development,
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他们建立了一个低成本住房发展项目，
04:54
about an hour outside Nairobi central.
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离内罗毕中心有一个小时路程的距离。
04:58
And they designed it from the perspective of
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他们是按照像
05:00
customers like Jane herself,
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简这样的顾客设计的，
05:02
insisting on responsibility and accountability.
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坚持负责的原则。
05:04
So she has to give 10 percent of the mortgage --
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所以她必须付百分之十的抵押款－－
05:08
of the total value, or about 400 dollars in savings.
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全款的，或者是四百美元的存款。
05:12
And then they match her mortgage to what she paid in rent for her little shanty.
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然后他们比较她付的抵押款和她付的简易房的房租。
05:17
And in the next couple of weeks, she's going to be
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然后在接下来的几个星期，她将成为
05:19
among the first 200 families to move into this development.
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搬进这个发展计划的两百个家庭之一。
05:22
When I asked her if she feared anything,
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当我问她是否害怕什么事情，
05:26
or whether she would miss anything from Mathare,
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或者会不会想念玛萨瑞的任何东西，
05:28
she said, "What would I fear
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她说，“我会害怕什么
05:30
that I haven't confronted already?
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还有什么是我没见过的？
05:32
I'm HIV positive. I've dealt with it all."
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我是艾滋病人。我已经经历了一切。”
05:36
And she said, "What would I miss?
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而且她说，“我会想念什么？
05:39
You think I will miss the violence or the drugs? The lack of privacy?
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你觉得我会想念暴力和毒品吗？没有私人空间？
05:42
Do you think I'll miss not knowing if my children are going to come home
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你觉得我会想念那种不知道我的孩子今晚会不会回到家的感觉吗？
05:44
at the end of the day?" She said "If you gave me 10 minutes
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她说”如果你给我十分钟
05:46
my bags would be packed."
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我就可以准备好我的行李了。“
05:48
I said, "Well what about your dreams?"
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我说，”那你的梦想呢？“
05:51
And she said, "Well, you know,
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然后她说，”那，你知道，
05:53
my dreams don't look exactly like I thought they would when I was a little girl.
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我的梦想并不像我小时候想的那样。
05:57
But if I think about it, I thought I wanted a husband,
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如果我仔细想想，我本来想要一个丈夫，
06:01
but what I really wanted was a family
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但是我真正想要的是一个有爱的家
06:04
that was loving. And I fiercely love my children, and they love me back."
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我非常的爱我的孩子，她们也爱我。“
06:08
She said, "I thought that I wanted to be a doctor,
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她说，”我本来想当一个医生，
06:11
but what I really wanted to be was somebody
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但是我真正想要的是当一个
06:13
who served and healed and cured.
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可以服务，可以疗伤的人。
06:16
And so I feel so blessed with everything that I have,
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我对我现在所拥有的一切感到非常庆幸，
06:19
that two days a week I go and I counsel HIV patients.
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两个星期前我去安慰一个艾滋病患者，
06:23
And I say, 'Look at me. You are not dead.
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我说，“看看我。你没有死。
06:26
You are still alive. And if you are still alive you have to serve.'"
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你还活着。如果你还活着你必须去服务。”
06:29
And she said, "I'm not a doctor who gives out pills.
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她还说，”我不是一个可以开药的医生。
06:33
But maybe me, I give out something better
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但是也许我能够提供一些更好的东西
06:35
because I give them hope."
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因为我给她们的是希望。“
06:37
And in the middle of this economic crisis,
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在当下经济危机的中，
06:41
where so many of us are inclined to pull in
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我们中的很多人倾向于
06:44
with fear, I think we're well suited to
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恐惧，但我觉得我们理应
06:48
take a cue from Jane and reach out,
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从简的身上得到启示，
06:51
recognizing that being poor doesn't mean being ordinary.
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认识到当贫穷不等于平庸。
06:55
Because when systems are broken,
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因为当一个系统被破坏了，
06:57
like the ones that we're seeing around the world,
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就像我们现在看到的世界，
06:59
it's an opportunity for invention and for innovation.
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那正是一个发明创造的机会，
07:02
It's an opportunity to truly build a world
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去真正地建立一个新的世界，
07:05
where we can extend services and products
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我们可以扩展我们的服务和产品
07:08
to all human beings, so that they can
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到所有人类的世界，这样他们
07:11
make decisions and choices for themselves.
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可以为他们自己做出决定和选择。
07:13
I truly believe it's where dignity starts.
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我真的相信那就是尊严的开始。
07:15
We owe it to the Janes of the world.
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我们欠世界上的像简一样的人。
07:18
And just as important, we owe it to ourselves.
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同样重要，我们欠我们自己。
07:21
Thank you.
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谢谢。
07:23
(Applause)
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（掌声响起）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadershipJacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.
Why you should listen
Jacqueline Novogratz writes: "I want to build a movement in which we define success based on the amount of human energy we release in the world.
"I started my career on Wall Street and soon discovered that markets are efficient, but by themselves they too often overlook or exploit the poor. So I moved to Rwanda in 1986 to help found the country’s first micro-finance bank. There I saw the humanitarian ethos of philanthropy, and also how often top-down solutions too often create dependency, the opposite of dignity. Through 30 years of working on solutions to poverty, I have come to redefine it for myself, seeing it not as how much income a person earns, but how free they are to make their own choices and decisions, how much agency they have over their own lives.
Acumen was founded to change the way the world tackles poverty in 2001. Our mission was simple – to raise philanthropy and invest it as patient capital – long-term investment in intrepid entrepreneurs willing to go where markets and government had failed the poor. We enable companies to experiment and fail, never wavering from a commitment to stand with the poor, yet understanding that profitability is necessary for sustainable solutions. We’ve invested more than $110M across South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, and have seen entire sectors disrupted and hundreds of millions served.
The work also taught that it was critical to invest in talent. To date, we’ve supported nearly 400 Acumen Fellows across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion and ideology. They are a beautiful group, full of vision and grit, and a determination to do what is right, not easy. The group itself enables individual leaders to endure the loneliness that is part of the work.
And then we measure what matters rather than just what we can count. Take this all together and you see our mission to do what it takes to build a world in which all of us have the chance to dream and to flourish, not from a place of easy sentimentality but through a commitment to using the tools of capitalism and the attributes of moral leadership to focus on doing what it takes, and no less.
Jacqueline Novogratz | Speaker | TED.com