WEBVTT

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(the aid worker
pernille ironside)

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[Applause]

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[Anderson Cooper] Thanks. You have the coolest name, by the way, yeah.

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[Pernille Ironside] So one of the groups you just mentioned earlier on, the CNDP [Congrès national pour la défense du peuple],

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I was part of a humanitarian group that met with him and its commanders for the first time in 2007,

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in order to negotiate the release of children.

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You know, is that somebody I want to be friends with? Absolutely not.

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But it's a necessary part of our work in order to achieve results, and we did.

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It took several days in the bush with him and his thousand armed men

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who were extremely aggressive, confrontational,

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and yet, we managed to make progress during that time

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and eventually released, at that moment, about 150 children.

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[Cooper] And kids can be saved, they can be brought back and the work could be done? [Applause]

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[Ironside] Absolutely. Absolutely: kids - it's not about saving per se,

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it's about restoring their rights and and their rights to be children in the most incredible environment.

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[Applause]

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[Ironside] You know, they all have, like any of our children here, they all have hopes and dreams

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and they have the capacity to overcome the violence that they have been exposed to and forced to commit.

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And I've seen children make that transformation through the programs

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that I've helped deliver with my colleagues.

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And I'd really like to emphasize that it's those colleagues who are, day in, day out,

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the Congolese and other national workers, who are really the unsung heroes. [Applause]

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(I Was Here - World Humanitarian Day August 19 - whd-iwashere.org)