WEBVTT

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Good afternoon.

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I am Mallence, and I come
from the richest country in the world.

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It is located in the richest
continent in the world,

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in the West of the richest continent.

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My country is called Sierra Leone.

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On the surface we are blessed
with infinite beauty

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and abundance of flora and fauna,

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producing the most exquisite
harvests of coffee, cocoa,

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fruits, vegetables and caoutchouc.

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You name it, we’ve got it.

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We also have diverse wildlife
and vast marine resources,

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and waterfalls, and rivers that run
into the most beautiful beaches.

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The land is golden;
literally, a true paradise,

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which of course is inhabited
by the most beautiful souls.

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We have a very strong cultural heritage.

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In fact, Sierra Leone had the first
sub-Saharan university.

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Prior to that there was one
in the kingdom of Timbuktu,

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which was the first
university in the world,

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succeeding the great Gnostic
schools of Egypt and Osiris.

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On a deeper level,

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we are blessed with the real treasures
the kings and queens of this world desire.

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This was the largest
alluvial diamond ever found.

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It weighs almost a thousand carats,
969 to be precise.

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This beauty was found by an old lady
in her backyard about 2 years ago.

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125 carats.

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Some people mine gold in their backyards.
That’s quite common.

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Besides gold and diamonds,

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we have about 20 precious minerals
that have been discovered as of today.

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We recently started extracting
huge petroleum reserves

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that have been discovered.

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We have platinum,

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ilmenite to make titanium,
rutile to coat jets, iron ore,

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the largest iron ore deposits in Africa,
the third largest in the world.

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Tantalite, also known as coltan, used
in your mobile phones and computers.

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Bauxite for aluminum production,

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zinc, chrome ore, copper, coal,
phosphates, potassium, salt, lead,

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granite, asbestos, nickel, zircon.

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Furthermore, we have exquisite timber,
like mahogany and teak.

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And we have the most beautiful
stamps in the world.

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(Laughter)

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Of course the West needs
Africa’s resources, most desperately,

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to power airplanes, cell phones,
computers and engines.

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And the gold and diamonds of course:

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a status symbol, to determine
their powers by decor,

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and to give value to their currencies.

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One thing that keeps me puzzled, despite
having studied finance and economics

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at the world’s best universities,

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the following question remains unanswered:

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Why is it that 5,000 units of our currency
is worth one unit of your currency,

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when we are the ones
with the actual gold reserves?

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It’s quite evident that the aid is in fact
not coming from the West to Africa,

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but from Africa to the Western world.

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The Western world depends on Africa
in every possible way,

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since alternative resources
are scarce out here.

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So how does the West ensure
that the free aid keeps coming?

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By systematically destabilizing
the wealthiest African nations

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and their systems,

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and all that backed by huge PR campaigns,

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leaving the entire world
under the impression

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that Africa is poor and dying,

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and merely surviving
on the mercy of the West.

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Well done, Oxfam, UNICEF,
Red Cross, Life Aid,

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and all the other organizations

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that continuously run multimillion-dollar
advertisement campaigns

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depicting charity porn, to sustain
that image of Africa, globally.

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Ad campaigns paid for by innocent people

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under the impression to help
with their donations.

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While one hand gives under
the flashing lights of cameras,

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the other takes, in the shadows.

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We all know the dollar is worthless,

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while the euro is merely charged
with German intellect and technology,

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and maybe some Italian pasta.

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How can one expect donations
from nations that have so little?

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It’s super sweet of you
to come with your colored paper

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in exchange for our gold and diamonds.

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But instead, you should come empty-handed,

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filled with integrity and honor.

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We want to share with you our wealth
and invite you to share with us.

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The perception is
that a healthy and striving Africa

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would not disperse its resources
as freely and cheaply,

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which is logical. Of course.

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It would instead sell its resources
at world market prices,

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which in turn would destabilize
and weaken Western economies,

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established on the post-colonial
free-meal system.

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Last year, the IMF reports

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that six out of ten of the world's
fastest growing economies are in Africa,

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measured by their GDP growth.

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The French treasury, for example,

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is receiving about 500 billion dollars,

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year in, year out, in foreign exchange
reserves from African countries

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based on colonial debt
they forced them to pay.

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Former French president Jacques Chirac
stated in an interview recently

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that we have to be honest and acknowledge
that a big part of the money in our banks

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comes precisely from the exploitation
of the African continent.

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In 2008, he stated that without Africa,

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France will slide down
in the rank of a Third World power.

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This is what happens in the human world.
In the world we have created.

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Have you ever wondered
how things work in nature?

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One would assume that in evolution
the fittest survives.

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However in nature,
any species that is overhunting,

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overexploiting the resources
they depend on as nourishment,

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natural selection would sooner
or later take the predator out,

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because it offsets the balance.

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Now that I shared my perspective with you,

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I would like to share
my initiatives with you.

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As a Sierra Leonean,
I am a diamond expert.

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I find them in the rough.

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What nature created
from the darkest substance,

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under the influence of heat and pressure,

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transforms into the strongest,
most brilliant rocks.

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These rocks have the consistency
to sustain an entire nation.

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These will be our future leaders.

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Please meet the FOLORUNSHO
creative collective

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I formed with 21 street kids
that were orphaned and displaced

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as a result of the Sierra
Leonean civil war,

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and ended up living in the street
as early as age 3,

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growing up as outlaws of society.

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(Video)

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"My name is Timothy.
But my gangster name is A Fame."

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"I'm Donald Williams
but my nick name is Wanee."

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"My name is Patrick Christian Kargbo."

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"My name is Allusine Jalloh."
"My name's Momoh Alpha Kamara."

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"My name is Lamin Bangura.

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But in the streets
they call me Crazy Exhibit."

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"My name is Sahr Morsay."

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"My name is Sheku Conteh.
In the streets they call me DMX."

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(Music)

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"I lost my mother and father
during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

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I was brought up by my
grandmother in the village."

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"At the age of 5 years,

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my stepmother maltreated me,

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she even put poison into my food."

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"In Jesus name I pray, amen.
This is the story of my life."

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"We were the ones that formed Lion Base.

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We were the first ones
to lock the place down,

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till other gangsters came after some time.

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Now Lion Base is fearful.
It is a fearful crew."

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"You have the hard way and the soft way.

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The soft way is to steal.

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The hard way is to carry load
for people at Dorfcourt

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or to collect people’s rubbish."

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"If you are not strong in the streets,

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you will die at a young age
or you're going to end up bad."

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"2001 when I came into the streets
I used to do a lot of bad stuff.

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I stole, I used to steal people’s
phones, I used to live a bad life,

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till 2010 when I met Mallence."

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"From the streets she took me
and put me into a school.

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I live good, now.

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Then my own thing that I want to do
in the future is to study law.

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I always had that determination
to become a lawyer.

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This is my future."

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(Music)

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"My future plan is to be able
to afford my own family.

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Because I've now decided to go to school
to be an international business man."

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"The rough life some of my fellows
in the streets are living,

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I wish they would
or could change like me."

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"Leave the bad lifestyle behind,

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because this is not how human beings
are supposed to live.

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Human beings are supposed to reason,

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and wish for a better future
in this world."

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(Music)

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"It’s not about charity.
It’s all about sharing!"

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(Applause)

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These guys are my biggest inspiration.
Destiny brought us together.

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I met them by a chance encounter in 2010.

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In 2011 they all started
living with me, 21 in number.

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Wonderful things happen
when creatives meet with mutual respect.

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How did we go about it?

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Creativity; that same creativity
that ensured their survival

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under the most adverse
circumstances in the streets

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is channeled into outlets

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such as art, music, film and fashion.

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They made the impossible possible.

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From Lion Base in Sierra Leone

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to luxury fashion stores
in Paris, New York and Berlin.

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This is what we created single-handedly,
without a single cent in donations,

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without running water,
without electricity,

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most of them not being able to read
and write at the time when I met them.

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And now some of them are studying law,

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engineering, being filmmakers, and so on.

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This is made with pure energy,
inspiration and love in Freetown.

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With creativity and passion
as the sole ingredient,

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we participate in a global market
of international competition

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and find our way into the world’s
most exclusive department stores,

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onto the bodies
of the world’s fashion icons,

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and into the most distinguished
art collections and exhibitions

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in Berlin, Paris, New York, Miami.

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A proven concept that produced
self sufficient individuals,

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financing their own education
into lawyers, engineers,

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filmmakers and artists,
within only three years.

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A concept based on mutual
respect and sharing,

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a blueprint that can be replicated
anywhere, under any circumstances.

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I only had the vision and the insight
to recognize diamonds in the rough,

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and was determined to prove to the world

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that the absence of donation produces
quality in a self-sufficient manner.

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I believe charity merely creates
inferiority and dependency.

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I want to serve as a bridge
between two worlds I call home,

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to facilitate a fair exchange
between two contrasting worlds

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that become powerful
once balance is reinstalled.

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It’s not about charity,
it’s about sharity.

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Today I invite you
to change your perspective.

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Own your visions of a brighter world.

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Never see lack, see abundance,
always, everywhere,

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and watch the universe conspire.

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Don’t focus on problems
but on the solution.

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Remember our perception
of any given situation

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is the only thing
that determines the outcome.

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I am Mallence. I am German, too.

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Change your channel.

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(In German) Thank you for your attention.

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Thank you for listening.

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(Applause)