0:00:00.000,0:00:02.000
Many times

0:00:02.000,0:00:05.000
I go around the world to speak,

0:00:05.000,0:00:07.000
and people ask me questions

0:00:07.000,0:00:09.000
about the challenges,

0:00:09.000,0:00:12.000
my moments,

0:00:12.000,0:00:14.000
some of my regrets.

0:00:14.000,0:00:17.000
1998:

0:00:17.000,0:00:19.000
A single mother of four,

0:00:19.000,0:00:23.000
three months after the birth of my fourth child,

0:00:23.000,0:00:26.000
I went to do a job

0:00:26.000,0:00:30.000
as a research assistant.

0:00:30.000,0:00:33.000
I went to Northern Liberia.

0:00:33.000,0:00:36.000
And as part of the work,

0:00:36.000,0:00:39.000
the village would give you lodgings.

0:00:39.000,0:00:42.000
And they gave me lodging with a single mother

0:00:42.000,0:00:44.000
and her daughter.

0:00:44.000,0:00:47.000
This girl happened to be

0:00:47.000,0:00:49.000
the only girl in the entire village

0:00:49.000,0:00:51.000
who had made it

0:00:51.000,0:00:53.000
to the ninth grade.

0:00:53.000,0:00:56.000
She was the laughing stock of the community.

0:00:56.000,0:00:59.000
Her mother was often told by other women,

0:00:59.000,0:01:01.000
"You and your child

0:01:01.000,0:01:04.000
will die poor."

0:01:04.000,0:01:07.000
After two weeks of working in that village,

0:01:07.000,0:01:09.000
it was time to go back.

0:01:09.000,0:01:13.000
The mother came to me, knelt down,

0:01:13.000,0:01:17.000
and said, "Leymah, take my daughter.

0:01:17.000,0:01:19.000
I wish for her

0:01:19.000,0:01:22.000
to be a nurse."

0:01:22.000,0:01:26.000
Dirt poor, living in the home with my parents,

0:01:26.000,0:01:29.000
I couldn't afford to.

0:01:29.000,0:01:31.000
With tears in my eyes,

0:01:31.000,0:01:34.000
I said, "No."

0:01:34.000,0:01:36.000
Two months later,

0:01:36.000,0:01:38.000
I go to another village

0:01:38.000,0:01:40.000
on the same assignment

0:01:40.000,0:01:44.000
and they asked me to live with the village chief.

0:01:44.000,0:01:47.000
The women's chief of the village has this little girl,

0:01:47.000,0:01:49.000
fair color like me,

0:01:49.000,0:01:51.000
totally dirty.

0:01:51.000,0:01:53.000
And all day she walked around

0:01:53.000,0:01:55.000
only in her underwear.

0:01:55.000,0:01:58.000
When I asked, "Who is that?"

0:01:58.000,0:02:00.000
She said, "That's Wei.

0:02:00.000,0:02:03.000
The meaning of her name is pig.

0:02:03.000,0:02:06.000
Her mother died while giving birth to her,

0:02:06.000,0:02:09.000
and no one had any idea who her father was."

0:02:09.000,0:02:12.000
For two weeks, she became my companion,

0:02:12.000,0:02:14.000
slept with me.

0:02:14.000,0:02:16.000
I bought her used clothes

0:02:16.000,0:02:18.000
and bought her her first doll.

0:02:18.000,0:02:21.000
The night before I left,

0:02:21.000,0:02:23.000
she came to the room

0:02:23.000,0:02:25.000
and said, "Leymah, don't leave me here.

0:02:25.000,0:02:27.000
I wish to go with you.

0:02:27.000,0:02:29.000
I wish to go to school."

0:02:29.000,0:02:32.000
Dirt poor, no money,

0:02:32.000,0:02:34.000
living with my parents,

0:02:34.000,0:02:36.000
I again said, "No."

0:02:36.000,0:02:38.000
Two months later,

0:02:38.000,0:02:41.000
both of those villages fell into another war.

0:02:41.000,0:02:45.000
Till today, I have no idea

0:02:45.000,0:02:47.000
where those two girls are.

0:02:47.000,0:02:51.000
Fast-forward, 2004:

0:02:51.000,0:02:54.000
In the peak of our activism,

0:02:54.000,0:02:56.000
the minister of Gender Liberia called me

0:02:56.000,0:02:59.000
and said, "Leymah, I have a nine-year-old for you.

0:02:59.000,0:03:01.000
I want you to bring her home

0:03:01.000,0:03:03.000
because we don't have safe homes."

0:03:03.000,0:03:05.000
The story of this little girl:

0:03:05.000,0:03:07.000
She had been raped

0:03:07.000,0:03:09.000
by her paternal grandfather

0:03:09.000,0:03:11.000
every day for six months.

0:03:11.000,0:03:14.000
She came to me bloated,

0:03:14.000,0:03:16.000
very pale.

0:03:16.000,0:03:19.000
Every night I'd come from work and lie on the cold floor.

0:03:19.000,0:03:21.000
She'd lie beside me

0:03:21.000,0:03:24.000
and say, "Auntie, I wish to be well.

0:03:24.000,0:03:27.000
I wish to go to school."

0:03:27.000,0:03:29.000
2010:

0:03:29.000,0:03:32.000
A young woman stands before President Sirleaf

0:03:32.000,0:03:34.000
and gives her testimony

0:03:34.000,0:03:37.000
of how she and her siblings live together,

0:03:37.000,0:03:40.000
their father and mother died during the war.

0:03:40.000,0:03:43.000
She's 19; her dream is to go to college

0:03:43.000,0:03:45.000
to be able to support them.

0:03:45.000,0:03:47.000
She's highly athletic.

0:03:47.000,0:03:49.000
One of the things that happens

0:03:49.000,0:03:51.000
is that she applies for a scholarship.

0:03:51.000,0:03:53.000
Full scholarship. She gets it.

0:03:53.000,0:03:55.000
Her dream of going to school,

0:03:55.000,0:03:57.000
her wish of being educated,

0:03:57.000,0:03:59.000
is finally here.

0:03:59.000,0:04:02.000
She goes to school on the first day.

0:04:02.000,0:04:04.000
The director of sports

0:04:04.000,0:04:06.000
who's responsible for getting her into the program

0:04:06.000,0:04:08.000
asks her to come out of class.

0:04:08.000,0:04:10.000
And for the next three years,

0:04:10.000,0:04:12.000
her fate will be

0:04:12.000,0:04:15.000
having sex with him every day,

0:04:15.000,0:04:18.000
as a favor for getting her in school.

0:04:18.000,0:04:22.000
Globally, we have policies,

0:04:22.000,0:04:24.000
international instruments,

0:04:24.000,0:04:26.000
work leaders.

0:04:26.000,0:04:28.000
Great people have made commitments --

0:04:28.000,0:04:31.000
we will protect our children

0:04:31.000,0:04:33.000
from want and from fear.

0:04:33.000,0:04:37.000
The U.N. has the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

0:04:37.000,0:04:41.000
Countries like America, we've heard things like No Child Left Behind.

0:04:41.000,0:04:44.000
Other countries come with different things.

0:04:44.000,0:04:46.000
There is a Millennium Development called Three

0:04:46.000,0:04:50.000
that focuses on girls.

0:04:50.000,0:04:52.000
All of these great works by great people

0:04:52.000,0:04:54.000
aimed at getting young people

0:04:54.000,0:04:57.000
to where we want to get them globally,

0:04:57.000,0:04:59.000
I think, has failed.

0:04:59.000,0:05:02.000
In Liberia, for example,

0:05:02.000,0:05:04.000
the teenage pregnancy rate

0:05:04.000,0:05:08.000
is three to every 10 girls.

0:05:08.000,0:05:11.000
Teen prostitution is at its peak.

0:05:11.000,0:05:13.000
In one community, we're told,

0:05:13.000,0:05:15.000
you wake up in the morning

0:05:15.000,0:05:19.000
and see used condoms like used chewing gum paper.

0:05:19.000,0:05:22.000
Girls as young as 12 being prostituted

0:05:22.000,0:05:26.000
for less than a dollar a night.

0:05:26.000,0:05:29.000
It's disheartening, it's sad.

0:05:29.000,0:05:31.000
And then someone asked me,

0:05:31.000,0:05:33.000
just before my TEDTalk, a few days ago,

0:05:33.000,0:05:35.000
"So where is the hope?"

0:05:35.000,0:05:38.000
Several years ago, a few friends of mine

0:05:38.000,0:05:40.000
decided we needed to bridge the disconnect

0:05:40.000,0:05:42.000
between our generation

0:05:42.000,0:05:44.000
and the generation of young women.

0:05:44.000,0:05:46.000
It's not enough to say

0:05:46.000,0:05:49.000
you have two Nobel laureates from the Republic of Liberia

0:05:49.000,0:05:52.000
when your girls' kids are totally out there

0:05:52.000,0:05:55.000
and no hope, or seemingly no hope.

0:05:55.000,0:05:57.000
We created a space

0:05:57.000,0:06:00.000
called the Young Girls Transformative Project.

0:06:00.000,0:06:03.000
We go into rural communities

0:06:03.000,0:06:06.000
and all we do, like has been done in this room,

0:06:06.000,0:06:09.000
is create the space.

0:06:09.000,0:06:11.000
When these girls sit,

0:06:11.000,0:06:14.000
you unlock intelligence,

0:06:14.000,0:06:17.000
you unlock passion,

0:06:17.000,0:06:19.000
you unlock commitment,

0:06:19.000,0:06:21.000
you unlock focus,

0:06:21.000,0:06:23.000
you unlock great leaders.

0:06:23.000,0:06:26.000
Today, we've worked with over 300.

0:06:26.000,0:06:28.000
And some of those girls

0:06:28.000,0:06:30.000
who walked in the room very shy

0:06:30.000,0:06:33.000
have taken bold steps, as young mothers,

0:06:33.000,0:06:36.000
to go out there and advocate

0:06:36.000,0:06:39.000
for the rights of other young women.

0:06:39.000,0:06:41.000
One young woman I met,

0:06:41.000,0:06:43.000
teen mother of four,

0:06:43.000,0:06:45.000
never thought about finishing high school,

0:06:45.000,0:06:48.000
graduated successfully;

0:06:48.000,0:06:50.000
never thought about going to college,

0:06:50.000,0:06:52.000
enrolled in college.

0:06:52.000,0:06:54.000
One day she said to me,

0:06:54.000,0:06:56.000
"My wish is to finish college

0:06:56.000,0:06:58.000
and be able to support my children."

0:06:58.000,0:07:00.000
She's at a place where she can't find money

0:07:00.000,0:07:02.000
to go to school.

0:07:02.000,0:07:05.000
She sells water, sells soft drinks

0:07:05.000,0:07:09.000
and sells recharge cards for cellphones.

0:07:09.000,0:07:11.000
And you would think she would take that money

0:07:11.000,0:07:14.000
and put it back into her education.

0:07:14.000,0:07:16.000
Juanita is her name.

0:07:16.000,0:07:18.000
She takes that money

0:07:18.000,0:07:21.000
and finds single mothers in her community

0:07:21.000,0:07:23.000
to send back to school.

0:07:23.000,0:07:25.000
Says, "Leymah, my wish

0:07:25.000,0:07:27.000
is to be educated.

0:07:27.000,0:07:29.000
And if I can't be educated,

0:07:29.000,0:07:32.000
when I see some of my sisters being educated,

0:07:32.000,0:07:34.000
my wish has been fulfilled.

0:07:34.000,0:07:36.000
I wish for a better life.

0:07:36.000,0:07:38.000
I wish for food for my children.

0:07:38.000,0:07:43.000
I wish that sexual abuse and exploitation in schools would stop."

0:07:43.000,0:07:45.000
This is the dream of the African girl.

0:07:45.000,0:07:47.000
Several years ago,

0:07:47.000,0:07:49.000
there was one African girl.

0:07:49.000,0:07:51.000
This girl had a son

0:07:51.000,0:07:54.000
who wished for a piece of doughnut

0:07:54.000,0:07:57.000
because he was extremely hungry.

0:07:57.000,0:08:00.000
Angry, frustrated,

0:08:00.000,0:08:02.000
really upset

0:08:02.000,0:08:05.000
about the state of her society

0:08:05.000,0:08:07.000
and the state of her children,

0:08:07.000,0:08:09.000
this young girl started a movement,

0:08:09.000,0:08:11.000
a movement of ordinary women

0:08:11.000,0:08:13.000
banding together

0:08:13.000,0:08:15.000
to build peace.

0:08:15.000,0:08:17.000
I will fulfill the wish.

0:08:17.000,0:08:19.000
This is another African girl's wish.

0:08:19.000,0:08:21.000
I failed to fulfill the wish of those two girls.

0:08:21.000,0:08:23.000
I failed to do this.

0:08:23.000,0:08:26.000
These were the things that were going through the head of this other young woman --

0:08:26.000,0:08:29.000
I failed, I failed, I failed.

0:08:29.000,0:08:33.000
So I will do this.

0:08:33.000,0:08:35.000
Women came out,

0:08:35.000,0:08:38.000
protested a brutal dictator,

0:08:38.000,0:08:41.000
fearlessly spoke.

0:08:41.000,0:08:45.000
Not only did the wish of a piece of doughnut come true,

0:08:45.000,0:08:47.000
the wish of peace came true.

0:08:47.000,0:08:49.000
This young woman

0:08:49.000,0:08:51.000
wished also to go to school.

0:08:51.000,0:08:53.000
She went to school.

0:08:53.000,0:08:55.000
This young woman wished for other things to happen,

0:08:55.000,0:08:57.000
it happened for her.

0:08:57.000,0:09:01.000
Today, this young woman is me,

0:09:01.000,0:09:03.000
a Nobel laureate.

0:09:03.000,0:09:05.000
I'm now on a journey

0:09:05.000,0:09:07.000
to fulfill the wish,

0:09:07.000,0:09:09.000
in my tiny capacity,

0:09:09.000,0:09:11.000
of little African girls --

0:09:11.000,0:09:13.000
the wish of being educated.

0:09:13.000,0:09:15.000
We set up a foundation.

0:09:15.000,0:09:17.000
We're giving full four-year scholarships

0:09:17.000,0:09:20.000
to girls from villages that we see with potential.

0:09:20.000,0:09:23.000
I don't have much to ask of you.

0:09:23.000,0:09:25.000
I've also been to places in this U.S.,

0:09:25.000,0:09:27.000
and I know that girls in this country

0:09:27.000,0:09:29.000
also have wishes,

0:09:29.000,0:09:32.000
a wish for a better life somewhere in the Bronx,

0:09:32.000,0:09:34.000
a wish for a better life

0:09:34.000,0:09:36.000
somewhere in downtown L.A.,

0:09:36.000,0:09:39.000
a wish for a better life somewhere in Texas,

0:09:39.000,0:09:42.000
a wish for a better life somewhere in New York,

0:09:42.000,0:09:44.000
a wish for a better life

0:09:44.000,0:09:46.000
somewhere in New Jersey.

0:09:46.000,0:09:48.000
Will you journey with me

0:09:48.000,0:09:51.000
to help that girl,

0:09:51.000,0:09:54.000
be it an African girl or an American girl

0:09:54.000,0:09:56.000
or a Japanese girl,

0:09:56.000,0:09:58.000
fulfill her wish,

0:09:58.000,0:10:00.000
fulfill her dream,

0:10:00.000,0:10:02.000
achieve that dream?

0:10:02.000,0:10:04.000
Because all of these

0:10:04.000,0:10:07.000
great innovators and inventors

0:10:07.000,0:10:09.000
that we've talked to and seen

0:10:09.000,0:10:11.000
over the last few days

0:10:11.000,0:10:14.000
are also sitting in tiny corners

0:10:14.000,0:10:16.000
in different parts of the world,

0:10:16.000,0:10:18.000
and all they're asking us to do

0:10:18.000,0:10:20.000
is create that space

0:10:20.000,0:10:22.000
to unlock the intelligence,

0:10:22.000,0:10:24.000
unlock the passion,

0:10:24.000,0:10:26.000
unlock all of the great things

0:10:26.000,0:10:29.000
that they hold within themselves.

0:10:29.000,0:10:32.000
Let's journey together. Let's journey together.

0:10:32.000,0:10:34.000
Thank you.

0:10:34.000,0:10:57.000
(Applause)

0:10:57.000,0:10:59.000
Chris Anderson: Thank you so much.

0:10:59.000,0:11:01.000
Right now in Liberia,

0:11:01.000,0:11:03.000
what do you see

0:11:03.000,0:11:06.000
as the main issue that troubles you?

0:11:06.000,0:11:08.000
LG: I've been asked to lead

0:11:08.000,0:11:11.000
the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative.

0:11:11.000,0:11:13.000
As part of my work,

0:11:13.000,0:11:16.000
I'm doing these tours

0:11:16.000,0:11:18.000
in different villages and towns --

0:11:18.000,0:11:22.000
13, 15 hours on dirt roads --

0:11:22.000,0:11:25.000
and there is no community that I've gone into

0:11:25.000,0:11:29.000
that I haven't seen intelligent girls.

0:11:29.000,0:11:31.000
But sadly,

0:11:31.000,0:11:34.000
the vision of a great future,

0:11:34.000,0:11:36.000
or the dream of a great future,

0:11:36.000,0:11:38.000
is just a dream,

0:11:38.000,0:11:40.000
because you have all of these vices.

0:11:40.000,0:11:43.000
Teen pregnancy, like I said, is epidemic.

0:11:43.000,0:11:45.000
So what troubles me

0:11:45.000,0:11:49.000
is that I was at that place

0:11:49.000,0:11:52.000
and somehow I'm at this place,

0:11:52.000,0:11:54.000
and I just don't want to be the only one

0:11:54.000,0:11:56.000
at this place.

0:11:56.000,0:11:58.000
I'm looking for ways

0:11:58.000,0:12:00.000
for other girls to be with me.

0:12:00.000,0:12:03.000
I want to look back 20 years from now

0:12:03.000,0:12:05.000
and see that there's another Liberian girl,

0:12:05.000,0:12:08.000
Ghanaian girl, Nigerian girl, Ethiopian girl

0:12:08.000,0:12:11.000
standing on this TED stage.

0:12:11.000,0:12:13.000
And maybe, just maybe, saying,

0:12:13.000,0:12:15.000
"Because of that Nobel laureate

0:12:15.000,0:12:17.000
I'm here today."

0:12:17.000,0:12:19.000
So I'm troubled

0:12:19.000,0:12:22.000
when I see them like there's no hope.

0:12:22.000,0:12:25.000
But I'm also not pessimistic,

0:12:25.000,0:12:27.000
because I know it doesn't take a lot

0:12:27.000,0:12:29.000
to get them charged up.

0:12:29.000,0:12:31.000
CA: And in the last year,

0:12:31.000,0:12:33.000
tell us one hopeful thing

0:12:33.000,0:12:35.000
that you've seen happening.

0:12:35.000,0:12:38.000
LG: I can tell you many hopeful things that I've seen happening.

0:12:38.000,0:12:40.000
But in the last year,

0:12:40.000,0:12:42.000
where President Sirleaf comes from, her village,

0:12:42.000,0:12:44.000
we went there to work with these girls.

0:12:44.000,0:12:46.000
And we could not find 25 girls

0:12:46.000,0:12:48.000
in high school.

0:12:48.000,0:12:51.000
All of these girls went to the gold mine,

0:12:51.000,0:12:53.000
and they were predominantly prostitutes

0:12:53.000,0:12:55.000
doing other things.

0:12:55.000,0:12:57.000
We took 50 of those girls

0:12:57.000,0:12:59.000
and we worked with them.

0:12:59.000,0:13:02.000
And this was at the beginning of elections.

0:13:02.000,0:13:04.000
This is one place where women were never --

0:13:04.000,0:13:06.000
even the older ones

0:13:06.000,0:13:09.000
barely sat in the circle with the men.

0:13:09.000,0:13:12.000
These girls banded together and formed a group

0:13:12.000,0:13:14.000
and launched a campaign

0:13:14.000,0:13:16.000
for voter registration.

0:13:16.000,0:13:18.000
This is a real rural village.

0:13:18.000,0:13:20.000
And the theme they used was:

0:13:20.000,0:13:22.000
"Even pretty girls vote."

0:13:22.000,0:13:24.000
They were able to mobilize young women.

0:13:24.000,0:13:27.000
But not only did they do that,

0:13:27.000,0:13:29.000
they went to those who were running for seats

0:13:29.000,0:13:31.000
to ask them, "What is it

0:13:31.000,0:13:33.000
that you will give the girls of this community

0:13:33.000,0:13:35.000
when you win?"

0:13:35.000,0:13:37.000
And one of the guys

0:13:37.000,0:13:40.000
who already had a seat was very --

0:13:40.000,0:13:42.000
because Liberia has one of the strongest rape laws,

0:13:42.000,0:13:45.000
and he was one of those really fighting in parliament

0:13:45.000,0:13:47.000
to overturn that law

0:13:47.000,0:13:49.000
because he called it barbaric.

0:13:49.000,0:13:53.000
Rape is not barbaric, but the law, he said, was barbaric.

0:13:53.000,0:13:55.000
And when the girls started engaging him,

0:13:55.000,0:13:57.000
he was very hostile towards them.

0:13:57.000,0:13:59.000
These little girls turned to him and said,

0:13:59.000,0:14:01.000
"We will vote you out of office."

0:14:01.000,0:14:03.000
He's out of office today.

0:14:03.000,0:14:09.000
(Applause)

0:14:09.000,0:14:12.000
CA: Leymah, thank you. Thank you so much for coming to TED.

0:14:12.000,0:14:14.000
LG: You're welcome. (CA: Thank you.)

0:14:14.000,0:14:18.000
(Applause)