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I just want to say my name is Emmanuel Jal.
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And I come from a long way.
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I've been telling a story that has been so painful for me.
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It's been a tough journey for me, traveling the world,
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telling my story in form of a book.
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And also telling it like now.
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And also, the easiest one was
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when I was doing it in form of a music.
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So I have branded myself as a war child.
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I'm doing this
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because of an old lady in my village now,
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who have lost her children.
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There is no newspaper to cover her pain,
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and what she wants to change in this society.
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And I'm doing it for a young man
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who want to create a change and has no way to project his voice
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because he can't write.
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Or there is no Internet, like Facebook, MySpace,
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YouTube, for them to talk.
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Also one thing that kept me pushing this story,
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this painful stories out, the dreams I have,
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sometimes, is like the voices of the dead,
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that I have seen
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would tell me, "Don't give up. Keep on going."
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Because sometime I feel like stopping and not doing it,
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because I didn't know what I was putting myself into.
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Well I was born in the most difficult time,
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when my country was at war.
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I saw my village burned down.
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The world that meant a lot to me, I saw it
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vanish in my face.
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I saw my aunt in rape when I was only five.
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My mother was claimed by the war.
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My brothers and sisters were scattered.
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And up to now, me and my father
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were detached and I still have issues with him.
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Seeing people die every day,
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my mother crying,
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it's like I was raised in a violence.
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And that made me call myself a war child.
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And not only that, when I was eight
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I became a child soldier.
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I didn't know what was the war for.
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But one thing I knew
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was an image that I saw that stuck in my head.
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When I went to the training camp I say,
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"I want to kill as many Muslims,
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and as many Arabs, as possible."
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The training wasn't easy, but that was the driving force,
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because I wanted to revenge for my family.
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I wanted to revenge for my village.
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Luckily now things have changed
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because I came to discover the truth.
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What was actually killing us wasn't the Muslims,
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wasn't the Arabs.
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It was somebody sitting somewhere manipulating the system,
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and using religion to get what they want to get out of us,
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which is the oil, the diamond,
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the gold and the land.
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So realizing the truth gave me a position to choose:
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should I continue to hate, or let it go?
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So I happened to forgive. Now I sing
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music with the Muslims. I dance with them.
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I even had a movie out called "War Child,"
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funded by Muslim people.
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So that pain has gone out.
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But my story is huge.
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So I'm just going to go into a different step now,
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which is easier for me.
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I'm going to give you poem
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called "Forced to Sin,"
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which is from my album "War Child."
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I talk about my story.
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One of the journey that I tread
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when I was tempted to eat my friend because we had no food
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and we were like around 400.
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And only 16 people survived that journey.
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So I hope you're going to hear this.
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My dreams are like torment.
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My every moment.
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Voices in my brain, of friends that was slain.
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Friends like Lual who died by my side,
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of starvation.
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In the burning jungle, and the desert plain.
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Next was I, but Jesus heard my cry.
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As I was tempted to eat the rotten flesh
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of my comrade,
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he gave me comfort.
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We used to raid villages,
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stealing chickens, goats and sheeps,
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anything we could eat.
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I knew it was rude, but we needed food.
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And therefore I was forced to sin,
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forced to sin to make a living,
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forced to sin to make a living.
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Sometimes you gotta lose to win.
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Never give up. Never give in.
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Left home at the age of seven.
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One year later, live with an AK-47 by my side.
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Slept with one eye open wide.
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Run, duck, play dead and hide.
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I've seen my people die like flies.
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But I've never seen a dead body,
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at least one that I've killed.
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But still as I wonder, I won't go under.
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Guns barking like lightning and thunder.
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As a child so young and tender,
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Words I can't forget I still remember.
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I saw sergeant command raising his hand,
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no retreat, no surrender.
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I carry the banner of the trauma.
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War child, child without a mama,
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still fighting in the saga.
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Yet as I wage this new war I'm not alone in this drama.
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No sit or stop, as I reach for the top
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I'm fully dedicated like a patriotic cop.
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I'm on a fight, day and night.
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Sometime I do wrong in order to make things right.
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It's like I'm living a dream.
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First time I'm feeling like a human being.
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Ah! The children of Darfur.
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Your empty bellies on the telly and now it's you
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that I'm fighting for.
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Left home.
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Don't even know the day I'll ever return.
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My country is war-torn.
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Music I used to hear was bombs and fire of guns.
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So many people die that I don't even cry no more.
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Ask God question, what am I here for.
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And why are my people poor.
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And why, why when the rest of the children were learning how to read and write,
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I was learning how to fight.
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I ate snails, vultures, rabbits,
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snakes, and anything that had life.
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I was ready to eat.
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I know it's a shame. But who is to be blamed?
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That's my story shared in the form of a lesson.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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What energized me and kept me going is the music I do.
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I never saw anybody
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to tell my story to them
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so they could advise me or do therapy.
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So the music had been my therapy for me.
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It's been where I actually see heaven,
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where I can be happy,
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where I can be a child again, in dances, through music.
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So one thing I know about music:
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music is the only thing that has power
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to enter your cell system,
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your mind, your heart,
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influence your soul and your spirit,
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and can even influence the way you live
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without even you knowing.
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Music is the only thing that can
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make you want to wake up your bed
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and shake your leg,
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without even wanting to do it.
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And so the power music has
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I normally compare to the power love
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when love doesn't see a color.
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You know, if you fall in love with a frog, that's it.
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One testimony about how I find music
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is powerful is when
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I was still a soldier back then.
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I hated the people in the north.
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But I don't know why I don't hate their music.
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So we party and dance to their music.
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And one thing that shocked me is one day
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they brought an Arab musician
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to come and entertain the soldiers.
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And I almost broke my leg dancing to his music.
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But I had this question.
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So now I'm doing music so I know what the power of music is.
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So what's happening here?
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I've been in a painful journey.
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Today is day number 233
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in which I only eat dinner.
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I don't eat breakfast. No lunch.
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And I've done a campaign called
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Lose to Win.
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Where I'm losing so that I could win
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the battle that I'm fighting now.
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So my breakfast, my lunch,
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I donate it to a charity that I founded
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because we want to build a school in Sudan.
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And I'm doing this because also
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it's a normal thing in my home, people eat one meal a day.
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Here I am in the West. I choose not to.
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So in my village now, kids there,
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they normally listen to BBC, or any radio,
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and they are waiting to know,
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the day Emmanuel will eat his breakfast
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it means he got the money to build our school.
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And so I made a commitment. I say,
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"I'm gonna not eat my breakfast."
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I thought I was famous enough that I would raise the money within one month,
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but I've been humbled.
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(Laughter)
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So it's taken me 232 days.
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And I said, "No stop until we get it."
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And like it's been done on Facebook, MySpace.
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The people are giving three dollars.
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The lowest amount we ever got was 20 cents.
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Somebody donated 20 cents online.
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I don't know how they did it.
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(Laughter)
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But that moved me.
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And so, the importance of education to me
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is what I'm willing to die for.
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I'm willing to die for this,
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because I know what it can do to my people.
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Education enlighten your brain,
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give you so many chances,
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and you're able to survive.
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As a nation we have been crippled.
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For so many years we have fed on aid.
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You see a 20-years-old, 30-years-old
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families in a refugee camps.
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They only get the food that drops from the sky, from the U.N.
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So these people,
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you're killing a whole generation if you just give them aid.
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If anybody want to help us
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this is what we need.
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Give us tools. Give the farmers tools.
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It's rain. Africa is fertile. They can grow the crops.
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(Applause)
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Invest in education.
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Education so that we have strong institution
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that can create a revolution to change everything.
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Because we have all those old men
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that are creating wars in Africa. They will die soon.
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But if you invest in education
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then we'll be able to change Africa.
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That's what I'm asking.
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(Applause)
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So in order to do that,
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I founded a charter called Gua Africa,
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where we put kids in school.
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And now we have a couple in university.
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We have like 40 kids, ex-child soldiers
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mixed with anybody that we feel like we want to support.
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And I said "I'm going to put it in practice."
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And with the people that are going to follow me and help me do things.
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That's what I want to do to change,
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to make a difference in the world.
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Well now, my time is going,
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so I want to sing a song.
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But I'll ask you guys to stand up
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so we celebrate the life of a British aid worker
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called Emma McCune
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that made it possible for me to be here.
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I'm gonna sing this song,
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just to inspire you how this woman has made a difference.
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She came to my country and saw the importance
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of education.
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She said the only way to help Sudan