WEBVTT

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(the foundation president and the aid chief
laurent vieira de mello & valerie amos)

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[Applause]

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[Anderson Cooper] Thank you so much for being here.

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The legacy of your father, I mean, there are so many people in this room

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who have been inspired by your father.
What do you want his legacy to be?

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[Laurent Vieira De Mello] Yes, actually, it's true that he has touched so many lives

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that we receive lots of messages from people who were inspired by his work.

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And his legacy is also running through these people who continue believing in his principles.

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[Cooper] What - was there ever a time, in the wake of your father's death,

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where you doubted the importance of humanitarian work?

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[De Mello] No, I don't think so, because there is a lot of people in need around the world,

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and they are most of them voiceless.

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So if nobody goes there and helps them, nothing happens.

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So you still have to do your duty, and it's the same for journalists.

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Journalists get killed, but still they have to go onsite and report what's happening.

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[Cooper] Yeah.
[De Mello] So we need that.

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[Cooper] I also want to bring to the stage Valerie Amos,

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whom I had the pleasure of interviewing earlier today, with Beyoncé.

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And she's just returned from DRC, from Eastern Congo.

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She's the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

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Valerie, please come up

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[Applause]

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[Cooper] So nice to see you.

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First of all, just, World Humanitarian Day: why do you think this is so important?

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What do you hope to accomplish this year?

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[Valerie Amos] Well, I think it's important for several reasons.

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One, it's about really honoring and remembering our colleagues who have given their lives.

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And you talked very movingly about your father.

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But it's also, I think, a celebration of the work that humanitarian workers do,

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and what we're hoping to do with this campaign that we're launching next week-end,

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it's really to get people to understand that every act of kindness, of help and support,

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can contribute to humanitarian work around the world.

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Part of my job is to try to give voice to that, and really to help the world to recognize that

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there are lots of bad things going on out there, there are a lot of people who need help.

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We tend to focus on the here and now, so people are really focusing on Syria.

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There aren't many people in the world who have any idea of what's going on in Yemen, for example.

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We still have ongoing crises in Sudan, in South Sudan,

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and we've got 18 million people across nine countries in West and Central Africa

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who are, you know, potentially, going to be extremely hungry in the next few months.

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[Cooper] And now the situation in Mali as well, so...

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[Amos] And conflict in Mali.

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[Cooper] The website again?

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[Amos] whdiwashere.org

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