Carl Wilkens, Director of World Outside My Shoes — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02our next speaker
2. 0:05decided to share with us his story for
3. 0:07why he actually decided to stay in the
4. 0:10Rwandan Genocide American
5. 0:14he now he now is a tour to speak to
6. 0:18student teachers and parents about the
7. 0:21experience in Rwanda his active worker
8. 0:23in helping the victims of the genocide
9. 0:25in Darfur and he is also the co-founder
10. 0:29director of the word outside my shoes
11. 0:31ladies and Gentlemen please welcome with
12. 0:33me Carl Wilkins
13. 0:42thank you and you have 15 minutes I'll
14. 0:44use this 15 15. starting right now
15. 0:51that's all right sometimes on television
16. 0:54you just get two minutes two minutes and
17. 0:56that's a lot of time
18. 1:00well thank you very much boy coming
19. 1:02towards the end of the day
20. 1:04any of you need to stretch a few muscles
21. 1:08um thank you to the uh to the team here
22. 1:12for pulling this event together
23. 1:15and it's my pleasure to be here I didn't
24. 1:17know I was involved in cultural
25. 1:18diplomacy I haven't had enough academic
26. 1:20background to know what to call what
27. 1:22I've been doing and and so that's one of
28. 1:25the advantages
29. 1:27just ignore it
30. 1:29you're hard to ignore
31. 1:31one of the advantages is I have really
32. 1:34learned a lot in these last couple of
33. 1:35days I'm sorry I wasn't here at the
34. 1:38beginning of the conference
35. 1:40um
36. 1:40but I know when I got the email it was
37. 1:42talking about pledge to protect in the
38. 1:44Syrian crisis and I was pretty excited
39. 1:46at the you know that email is coming to
40. 1:48me just right at the time when I was
41. 1:50planning to if you could knock the
42. 1:51lights down just a little bit so we can
43. 1:53have a little better definition on the
44. 1:54screen
45. 1:55um
46. 1:56this is uh last Sunday a week ago today
47. 1:58I was in zaatri refugee camp there on
48. 2:01the border of of Jordan and Syria and uh
49. 2:05right there shaking that little guy's
50. 2:06hand practicing cultural diplomacy but
51. 2:09the but the week the the trip to Jordan
52. 2:12um originated a couple of years ago when
53. 2:14my wife and I decided I travel around
54. 2:16speaking at schools against genocide we
55. 2:18decided this year uh this school year
56. 2:21two years ago to travel on bikes you
57. 2:23know who needs cars and planes and all
58. 2:24that kind of stuff and and the plan was
59. 2:27to go from our home in Spokane that's
60. 2:28where we live over to Seattle LA to DC
61. 2:31okay we just made it to LA but but still
62. 2:33a thousand six hundred miles wasn't too
63. 2:35bad and as we would go from school to
64. 2:38school we came on this kid right here
65. 2:39his name happens to be Jordan and he was
66. 2:43in his senior year high school he'd seen
67. 2:44the documentary on the Rwandan Genocide
68. 2:46and he was like gotta do something got
69. 2:49to do something and I'd love to tell you
70. 2:51more about when he graduated heading to
71. 2:53South Sudan Distributing 525 mosquito
72. 2:56Nets to moms who are pregnant or had
73. 2:57little ones I think boy if that kid
74. 2:59didn't do anything else look at those
75. 3:01lives he just saved because he wasn't
76. 3:02going to sit around and do nothing so
77. 3:04for the for the younger ones here too
78. 3:06today I just wanted to put in this plug
79. 3:08because this boy Jordan goes on to
80. 3:10college from his uh Arabic teacher who's
81. 3:13from Syria he finds out about what's
82. 3:15going on from Syria in a personal way as
83. 3:17she talks about her family again he's
84. 3:19like I got to do something so he finds a
85. 3:21study abroad program in Amman to
86. 3:23continue his Arabic studies and while
87. 3:25he's not only named Jordan but his
88. 3:26Grandpa's from Jordan and so we're just
89. 3:29crazy talking on the phone a couple
90. 3:31weeks ago and he's like boy I wish you
91. 3:33could speak to my school before I leave
92. 3:34here and I'm like well what'll it take
93. 3:36and well ended up just spending the week
94. 3:38in in there's Jordan my buddy we're in a
95. 3:41shared taxi well you learn wonderful
96. 3:43things in shared taxis this guy was
97. 3:46asking all kinds of questions a
98. 3:48university student there in Amman and at
99. 3:50the end he says do you have a Facebook
100. 3:51page and I'm like well yeah absolutely
101. 3:54so that night when I get home look at
102. 3:57what's on my Facebook page here my buddy
103. 4:00and here's his page
104. 4:03um and uh
105. 4:05you know before if I would have seen
106. 4:08someone's Facebook page you know with
107. 4:10the national media and stuff like that
108. 4:11I'd I don't know what assumptions I
109. 4:14might have come up with but but
110. 4:16um since we sat together in the taxi and
111. 4:19we talked I know what a wonderful friend
112. 4:21he says he wrote me this letter thanks
113. 4:23for dealing gently with me in the taxi
114. 4:25you know he's practicing is developing I
115. 4:28should say his English and please come
116. 4:30to my house for dinner and of course the
117. 4:31Middle Eastern hospitality is just so
118. 4:34anyway
119. 4:35um I I thought before we jump into the
120. 4:37failures of the UN and what happened in
121. 4:40Rwanda I have to I just have to because
122. 4:43I was just there I've got to just share
123. 4:45these couple of snapshots from the camp
124. 4:47and while conditions compared to some
125. 4:49places might be much better what they're
126. 4:52facing right now is freezing cold and
127. 4:54these tents are are hardly any barrier
128. 4:57against I mean there's something okay I
129. 4:59don't want to put down but but um but I
130. 5:01hope that you'll explore further as I
131. 5:04know many of you have what we can can do
132. 5:06especially for the people who have been
133. 5:07chased out man you know what we could do
134. 5:09we could maybe end War just an idea but
135. 5:13in any case it is just expanding they're
136. 5:17just making more and more room because
137. 5:18they don't know how many more thousands
138. 5:20of people are going to come trying to
139. 5:21get them into these little box houses to
140. 5:24give them a little more shelter from the
141. 5:26from the tents there but when I was
142. 5:30there with them you know my mind was
143. 5:31flashing here to eastern Congo DR
144. 5:34mcwegay some of you may be familiar with
145. 5:36him if you're in the medical community
146. 5:37and he's doing these obstetric fistula
147. 5:40because of all the violence happening
148. 5:42against the women of the Eastern Congo
149. 5:44that day when I was visiting him there
150. 5:46at his Hospital a little more than a
151. 5:47year ago he said we've got over 200
152. 5:49cases constantly I'm working with very
153. 5:52delicate surgery as you might imagine
154. 5:53and and hard to perform takes multiple
155. 5:56surgeries with some of the women and so
156. 5:59whether whether we're talking about
157. 6:00Syria or whether we're talking about the
158. 6:02ongoing crisis that is so old in eastern
159. 6:04Congo that many people people have sort
160. 6:06of given up on what we can do there but
161. 6:09you know what was so amazing among these
162. 6:11women
163. 6:12I mean I wasn't ready to find mumps you
164. 6:14know most of them are there for that
165. 6:15surgery because of the the the violence
166. 6:17the gender-based I wasn't ready to see
167. 6:19gray hair sticking out from scarves of
168. 6:22the women that were there I mean I
169. 6:23shouldn't be ready to see 16 year olds
170. 6:25shouldn't be ready to see 26 year olds
171. 6:27but but you know what's so oppressed
172. 6:29impressed me about the women there was
173. 6:32their courage and and they started to
174. 6:34sing for us when we arrived and and I
175. 6:37asked permission and so I've got my you
176. 6:39know handy little smartphone which has
177. 6:41probably minerals in it from Eastern
178. 6:43Congo and and
179. 6:45um as I'm filming and these ladies are
180. 6:46singing the nurse next to me he says do
181. 6:48you know what they're singing and I said
182. 6:50no I mean I got this big lump in my
183. 6:52throat already but you know what they're
184. 6:54singing no he says they're singing to Dr
185. 6:57mcwegay
186. 6:58Dr mcwegay goes to Europe to find
187. 7:02medicines for us was in their song Dr
188. 7:04mcwegay is giving us a new life Dr
189. 7:07mcwegay should be lifted up and I'm
190. 7:09thinking to myself it's men who have
191. 7:11done this to these women and here's a
192. 7:13man who's doing his best to undo it oh
193. 7:15you should have seen the little kids
194. 7:17gather around them like a dad somebody
195. 7:18attacked his home just a few weeks ago
196. 7:20tried to kill him they killed his
197. 7:22Watchmen a long time friend Dr mcquage
198. 7:24is just one of my heroes
199. 7:27in eastern Congo Rwanda has so many
200. 7:31refugees right now thousands of refugees
201. 7:33from the Eastern Congo these were little
202. 7:35triplets you know what these women it's
203. 7:38not only their strength and their
204. 7:39courage of singing what they were
205. 7:40singing about what they had now don't
206. 7:42don't get me wrong they probably sing
207. 7:43about what they don't have too but what
208. 7:45I've seen again and again especially in
209. 7:47the years going back to Rwanda is people
210. 7:49focusing more on what they have than
211. 7:52what they have lost not that they'll
212. 7:54ever forget what they've lost they'll
213. 7:56never forget what they've lost but this
214. 7:58idea of focusing on what you have
215. 8:00is a huge key to me to life it's one of
216. 8:05the great gifts that people who pass
217. 8:07through adversity can pass on to us when
218. 8:09we're talking about cultural gifts and
219. 8:12and diversity and these little kids this
220. 8:13was their little triplets here you might
221. 8:16think with their genetic I mean a mom
222. 8:18could be concerned will my little one
223. 8:19looked like the the one of the many men
224. 8:21who violated me most the women who are
225. 8:24captured don't survive so these are the
226. 8:25lucky ones a few who surv who who Escape
227. 8:28are are recaptured and then they die and
228. 8:31then a few of the few who actually
229. 8:33escape and and can get to the hospital
230. 8:35well these are very strong very
231. 8:37courageous women and and they're they're
232. 8:38you know these kids we don't have to say
233. 8:40poor poor people in Africa poor women
234. 8:42enough no no these are courageous strong
235. 8:45women and I'm thinking these children
236. 8:46are fortunate to have a mom like that
237. 8:48because their mom is showing them what
238. 8:51real life and courage and strength is
239. 8:55and and um as I I met this kid back in
240. 8:58my hometown and sure enough is accent
241. 9:01he's from the Congo and he asked me next
242. 9:03time I went to rwandi he says my aunt
243. 9:05has been in a refugee camp in Rwanda for
244. 9:0712 years can you take her a suitcase and
245. 9:10I'd love to tell you more about her
246. 9:11story but but we took her suitcase full
247. 9:13of stuff from her family enroll in
248. 9:15America and as she went into her simple
249. 9:18little like you said you've been in this
250. 9:19refugee camp for 12 years as she went
251. 9:21into her little simple home came out
252. 9:23with a gift she says can I send
253. 9:25something to my nephew in America and
254. 9:27I'm like you know what is this boy in
255. 9:29American need what is she going to send
256. 9:31to him from her little mud hut in Africa
257. 9:33what is she she comes out with a paper
258. 9:35bag puts it in my hand and and I I look
259. 9:38it's open I look in the end there's a
260. 9:40beautiful pair of dress shoes in there
261. 9:42you know something shiny on the back the
262. 9:44long tip that's on the front and I'm
263. 9:46like this boy's in America he doesn't
264. 9:48need we got millions
265. 9:50America you know he does but then I
266. 9:52realized wait this isn't about shoes huh
267. 9:54this lady when we were sitting in her
268. 9:56house she was apologizing for not giving
269. 9:57us refreshments and I'm like we're in a
270. 10:00refugee camp I mean I didn't say that
271. 10:02out loud but no no we're in her home and
272. 10:05even though we her home has been a
273. 10:07refugee camp for for 12 years it has not
274. 10:09stripped from her the sense of
275. 10:11hospitality even if I can't give you
276. 10:13some some refreshments I want to tell
277. 10:15you I wish I could and then I'm thinking
278. 10:17she can't afford these beautiful shoes
279. 10:19they sent to America and then I'm like
280. 10:20wait a minute I'll bet she's thinking I
281. 10:22can't afford not to I can't afford to
282. 10:25miss this opportunity to send something
283. 10:28to my nephew every time he pulls those
284. 10:30shoes on well I will I will take the
285. 10:32last part of my 15 minutes here to um
286. 10:35just introduce you this family it's a
287. 10:37couple years ago okay
288. 10:39do you do see the resemblance that is me
289. 10:43no come on
290. 10:45thank you a few of you there my wife
291. 10:48hasn't changed this is 1989. our
292. 10:50daughters were actually born in Zimbabwe
293. 10:52we went right out of college moved to
294. 10:54Africa I was a high school shop teacher
295. 10:56all mechanics welding and all of that
296. 10:58good kind of stuff we're in France in
297. 10:59this picture trying to learn French
298. 11:01because we're headed to Rwanda this
299. 11:02beautiful land of a Thousand Hills we're
300. 11:04going there to build schools let's just
301. 11:07keep it simple go in there to build
302. 11:08schools we're there for four years from
303. 11:10the 90 to 96. okay you know it's going
304. 11:13to hit 94. is this genocide our home
305. 11:16really comfortable our kids it was a
306. 11:18wonderful place to raise children I mean
307. 11:20at least as a baby Grabber to this day
308. 11:22you know and all around the neighborhood
309. 11:25everybody thinks their kids are cute but
310. 11:27but our whole neighborhood thought our
311. 11:29kids were cute and and our kids for four
312. 11:32years were making deposits in the hearts
313. 11:35of the moms and the grandmas of this
314. 11:37neighborhood
315. 11:38as they're playing with their children
316. 11:40as they're eating meals in their homes
317. 11:42and and you know those stereotypes about
318. 11:44half naked little African kids well
319. 11:46there he is proof in it you know all the
320. 11:49other kids have got more clothes on than
321. 11:50him but but for four years our kids are
322. 11:53building real our kids are doing
323. 11:55uh what do you call this
324. 11:57cultural diplomacy huh you see the two
325. 12:01tools that I want to leave you with
326. 12:03before we take off uh today is
327. 12:06um is right over here so we can write on
328. 12:09this thing that we can read it all right
329. 12:14uh
330. 12:16bear with me she only got a couple
331. 12:19minutes computer there we go
332. 12:22the power
333. 12:24of stories
334. 12:27and the power
335. 12:28of service so many people say what can
336. 12:31we do what can we do about Syria well
337. 12:34Jordan showed you Jordan went over there
338. 12:36to learn the stories and once we learn
339. 12:38the stories then we find out how to
340. 12:40partner this year you know stories
341. 12:42Inspire service service empowers stories
342. 12:45I don't care about your story until I
343. 12:47know what you're doing but then we can't
344. 12:49we can't be doing the right thing if we
345. 12:51don't know the stories so this cycle and
346. 12:53power of stories and services is what
347. 12:56I'm really passionate about because when
348. 12:58this plane is shot down here's our
349. 13:00neighborhood
350. 13:01there's our house surrounded by pretty
351. 13:03much mud brick Tin Roof homes and stuff
352. 13:05when the plane is shot down Wednesday
353. 13:07night we hear the explosion from our
354. 13:09house we don't know what it is until
355. 13:10about 45 minutes later president's plane
356. 13:12has been shot down this of course as you
357. 13:14know didn't cause the genocide but it's
358. 13:16what they used to launch the genocide
359. 13:18the planners this was well planned this
360. 13:20is not about one group of people hating
361. 13:22another group shoot they married each
362. 13:24other by the thousands by the thousands
363. 13:26in Rwanda This Is Not Unusual they got
364. 13:28the same religion most of them
365. 13:30Christians uh same food same wedding
366. 13:32funeral practices and stuff no this is
367. 13:35not about two groups of people who hate
368. 13:36each other that must be the three minute
369. 13:38warning it it um it's about it's about
370. 13:41politicians staying in power that's what
371. 13:44this is about and so as as they're
372. 13:47killing in our neighborhood that night
373. 13:49looked right by the tree here a band of
374. 13:51guys with machetes and clubs come to our
375. 13:53house and and we never know because
376. 13:57remember I said our kids depositing in
377. 13:59the hearts of the moms and the 80s in
378. 14:01that neighborhood these are some of the
379. 14:03women who courageously stood in front of
380. 14:05our gate and said no you can't go in
381. 14:07that house and and under what power
382. 14:09under what Authority were these women
383. 14:11speaking with what weapons did they have
384. 14:13what every grandma has stories
385. 14:17somehow stories have this potential to
386. 14:19change the way we think which can change
387. 14:22the way we feel which changes the way we
388. 14:24act potentially potentially and so I'll
389. 14:27wrap up my good friend
390. 14:31with uh these ladies oh they said you
391. 14:33can't go in that house their kids play
392. 14:35with our kids
393. 14:36for the three months of the genocide and
394. 14:38actually what I did I'm coming your way
395. 14:42Don't Be Afraid
396. 14:44since we don't have enough time to tell
397. 14:46all the stories I did bring a bunch of
398. 14:48books these are gifts they're from other
399. 14:51people who have read this book and want
400. 14:52to pay it forward and so if you'd like
401. 14:54to take home a book this evening and
402. 14:57hear more of the stories you're welcome
403. 14:58to take home a book but but and you'll
404. 15:01find out about this whole idea of the UN
405. 15:04being there this was an incredible
406. 15:06opportunity never had we had this since
407. 15:09the end of World War II we didn't have
408. 15:11to go knocking on doors asking France
409. 15:14your Belgium America UK you know
410. 15:17Bangladesh for soldiers they were
411. 15:19already in Rwanda
412. 15:21they were already there the will of the
413. 15:23world is the family should not be
414. 15:24slaughtered and the soldiers were there
415. 15:26and what did we do we withdrew them we
416. 15:29took them out of there we gave this
417. 15:31false sense of security
418. 15:33and people fled to the compounds where
419. 15:35the U.N soldiers were to the schools and
420. 15:37places and then the soldiers left and
421. 15:40the people were slaughtered so this
422. 15:42whole idea of what I'd I'll end with is
423. 15:45this phrase here something well you know
424. 15:47why stories are so powerful for me huh
425. 15:49our neighbors use stories to turn the
426. 15:52killers away from our house but but this
427. 15:54whole other idea of the power of
428. 15:56presence
429. 15:58just being there my wife and I made the
430. 16:01decision that I would stay not knowing
431. 16:03that nearly a million people would be
432. 16:04killed not knowing that it would go on
433. 16:05for three months and and um
434. 16:09I'll just pop up a picture of my wife
435. 16:11here the evacuation of the foreigners
436. 16:14and I won't get this was the young lady
437. 16:16who lived and worked in our house her ID
438. 16:19card said Tootsie which meant she was
439. 16:20marked to be killed so that's why my
440. 16:23wife and I made the decision I would
441. 16:24stay it started with this with this
442. 16:26young lady and this young man right here
443. 16:28all decisions they start with small
444. 16:31small ways but um as the kids are
445. 16:34leaving they don't look like they're
446. 16:35scared to death huh
447. 16:37you know why yes Lisa thank you very
448. 16:40much hold on buddy thank you no my wife
449. 16:43is coming up here hold on you're in
450. 16:44danger you're in danger Lisa are you
451. 16:47afraid she says no why not because mom's
452. 16:51not afraid the role that women play in
453. 16:54stability and security not only in the
454. 16:57home but in the community and in the
455. 16:59country that's one of the reasons Rwanda
456. 17:01is doing so well today because they said
457. 17:03in our country 30 of all the positions
458. 17:07in the government will be held by women
459. 17:09so if you'd like to thank you very much
460. 17:12if you'd like to uh thank you Mark
461. 17:15I really appreciate the story I know you
462. 17:18do I know you're not I'm and I'm glad I
463. 17:20don't have your job
464. 17:24let's roll it back to the audience we'll
465. 17:26take one question
466. 17:37my name is Suleiman tovani from Dallas
467. 17:39Texas and I have a question uh
468. 17:43when you said uh on the capacity that
469. 17:46you are working where you working in the
470. 17:49fields on an individual basis or as a
471. 17:52member from the United Nations I was
472. 17:54there with the Seventh Adventist Church
473. 17:55every organization a religion has their
474. 17:58humanitarian arm so I was working with
475. 18:00the Adra Adventist development relief
476. 18:02agency okay so if your relief agency
477. 18:04doing any kind of work in the park in in
478. 18:08Cambodia and in Myanmar where there are
479. 18:11hundreds and thousands of people are
480. 18:13being killed no I thank you for bringing
481. 18:15that up and and the organization is
482. 18:17working there but but I'm going to use
483. 18:19that for an excuse to put in this last
484. 18:21piece
485. 18:22it's not going to be the organizations
486. 18:24and the institutions in Rwanda we saw
487. 18:26the organizations and the institutions
488. 18:28fail they failed miserably the churches
489. 18:30failed the government's failed the U.N
490. 18:32failed it's going to be us as
491. 18:33individuals who are going to make that
492. 18:35difference but then hopefully the
493. 18:37institutions are going to be there to
494. 18:39channel and direct and organize that but
495. 18:42but we can we can throw stones and be
496. 18:45frustrated at politicians as we've done
497. 18:48and under but as you said who elects the
498. 18:50politicians it's up to us to make that
499. 18:53difference but thank you for that
500. 18:55question and thank you and thank you
501. 18:56very much thank you indeed for your
502. 18:58participation thanks a lot thank you