YOSSI GHINSBERG- Media appearances (2006) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03What begins as a dream expedition turns
2. 0:05into a terrifying struggle to survive,
3. 0:08and our next guest lived to tell about
4. 0:10it in his book Jungle. We welcome Yossi
5. 0:13Ghinsberg. Yossi, welcome. So nice to
6. 0:15meet you.
7. 0:16Thank you, Jacinta.
8. 0:17Wow, this is an amazing journey that you
9. 0:19took. Um, what made you want to go into
10. 0:21the Amazon like that?
11. 0:23It was like an inner calling for
12. 0:25adventure. I read many adventure books
13. 0:27as a kid, and I I knew this is a dream
14. 0:30that I'm going to follow myself.
15. 0:32In one day, that was the same day of the
16. 0:34split from my friends, the accident
17. 0:36immediately after. In one day, I lost
18. 0:38everything. I lost three friends, all my
19. 0:39equipment. This was the rainy season in
20. 0:42the uncharted Amazon. This was far far
21. 0:45far
22. 0:45You guys had no it was no cell phone, no
23. 0:47GPS device.
24. 0:48So, what did So, what did you do?
25. 0:51I cried.
26. 0:52I would start crying, too. I would.
27. 0:54And I prayed. But, you know, it took a
28. 0:56couple of days, the shock. And in these
29. 1:00days, I was searching for my friend cuz
30. 1:02my my plan was I find my friend, he'll
31. 1:04take care of me. I didn't find him. Then
32. 1:06I realized it's all about me. I'm alone.
33. 1:09I'm in this environment. I have to
34. 1:10choose life or death. And the choice was
35. 1:13natural.
36. 1:14So, you got We got plenty of water,
37. 1:15right? Cuz it was raining. But, what
38. 1:16about food? What did you do for food?
39. 1:18I ate everything that came my way. If
40. 1:21a dangerous venomous snake would cross
41. 1:24my way, he was in danger. It was I would
42. 1:27I would take a rock, kill the snake,
43. 1:30peel its skin, chew it up. Um, raw eggs,
44. 1:33even if there was like little chicks
45. 1:35inside, I would
46. 1:36You You reach a certain stage, it's
47. 1:38about energy. It's not about repulsive
48. 1:41or you know, it's just need energy. I
49. 1:44believe that life is not tough enough.
50. 1:46That's why we complain. The moment life
51. 1:48is really tough, we stop complaining and
52. 1:51we find the knowledge and we take
53. 1:53action. That's the way it goes. I was in
54. 1:55a situation where there was one
55. 1:58single uh purpose in in in in me. I want
56. 2:01to stay alive. When you're so
57. 2:03single-minded, there's no word uh
58. 2:05worries, there's no fears, there's just
59. 2:07crystallized action. You do the right
60. 2:09thing.
61. 2:10The Amazon rainforest is is is the home
62. 2:13for 50% of all life.
63. 2:16Wow.
64. 2:16I know them.
65. 2:17Personally.
66. 2:19Intimately. They all came to visit.
67. 2:22And you wrote about it in your new book,
68. 2:24Jungle.
69. 2:25This profoundly changed your life, and I
70. 2:27know you've done some other things
71. 2:28outside of it. You've you you did the
72. 2:29Shalaton project with the rainforest
73. 2:31conservation. You also did something
74. 2:33with the Palestinian Intifada. You uh
75. 2:35grew up in Israel.
76. 2:36Yes.
77. 2:36Uh and you went back to help with
78. 2:37conflict resolution. Did this have
79. 2:39anything to do with your your ordeal in
80. 2:41the jungle?
81. 2:41Absolutely, yes. Um Look, you you I've
82. 2:44touched a place where I realized that as
83. 2:46humanity, we are connected whoever we
84. 2:48are. My life was saved by people from
85. 2:50different race, different religion,
86. 2:52different background, and these people
87. 2:54had no reward whatsoever. They came
88. 2:56after me just for a very slight hope
89. 2:58that I I may be alive. It was one of
90. 3:00those forming uh
91. 3:02experiences. I feel, you know, I got
92. 3:05lost
93. 3:07in the jungle, but what I found is I
94. 3:09found myself, you know, like so. My life
95. 3:12has changed dramatically,
96. 3:14and the story has been a source of great
97. 3:16inspiration for me and for many others.