0:00:01.250,0:00:03.101
Sometimes,

0:00:03.125,0:00:05.208
you have a negative feeling about things.

0:00:06.708,0:00:10.059
You're not happy[br]about the way things are going.

0:00:10.083,0:00:13.083
You feel frustrated and dissatisfied,

0:00:13.750,0:00:16.750
and so often, we choose to live with it.

0:00:17.792,0:00:21.417
It's a negative that[br]we tell ourselves we have to endure.

0:00:22.458,0:00:25.184
And yet, I passionately believe

0:00:25.208,0:00:27.351
that we all have the ability

0:00:27.375,0:00:29.643
to turn that negative feeling

0:00:29.667,0:00:31.476
into a positive

0:00:31.500,0:00:34.351
by allowing our dissatisfaction

0:00:34.375,0:00:36.042
to give birth to change.

0:00:37.417,0:00:40.601
On January 6, 1999,

0:00:40.625,0:00:42.393
I was working in London

0:00:42.417,0:00:44.851
when the news channels began to report

0:00:44.875,0:00:48.143
the rebel invasion of my hometown,

0:00:48.167,0:00:50.208
Freetown, Sierra Leone.

0:00:51.500,0:00:53.893
Thousands of people lost their lives,

0:00:53.917,0:00:57.351
and there were bodies[br]littering the streets of Freetown.

0:00:57.375,0:01:01.434
My husband's elderly aunt[br]was burned alive,

0:01:01.458,0:01:04.434
and I thought of my own two-year old

0:01:04.458,0:01:07.875
as I saw images of little children[br]with amputated limbs.

0:01:09.000,0:01:10.809
Colleagues said to me,

0:01:10.833,0:01:12.726
"How could we help?"

0:01:12.750,0:01:14.601
I didn't know,

0:01:14.625,0:01:18.893
so I began to call the telephone numbers[br]that came up on my screen

0:01:18.917,0:01:22.434
as international aid agencies[br]started to make appeals

0:01:22.458,0:01:25.458
to raise money to address the tragedy.

0:01:26.708,0:01:31.393
The vagueness of those telephone[br]conversations disappointed me.

0:01:31.417,0:01:34.059
It felt like the people[br]who were raising the money

0:01:34.083,0:01:36.559
seemed so far removed from the crisis,

0:01:36.583,0:01:38.851
and understandably so,

0:01:38.875,0:01:40.559
but I wasn't satisfied

0:01:40.583,0:01:42.393
and I wasn't convinced

0:01:42.417,0:01:46.018
that the interventions[br]they would eventually implement

0:01:46.042,0:01:49.250
would actually have the level of impact[br]that was so clearly needed.

0:01:50.333,0:01:53.018
There were butterflies[br]in my stomach for days

0:01:53.042,0:01:56.726
as I continued to watch[br]horrors unfold on television,

0:01:56.750,0:01:59.309
and I continuously asked myself,

0:01:59.333,0:02:01.143
what could I be doing?

0:02:01.167,0:02:02.934
What should I be doing?

0:02:02.958,0:02:06.851
What I wanted to do was to help[br]children affected by the war.

0:02:06.875,0:02:08.125
So that's what we did.

0:02:09.500,0:02:12.559
Myself, my sister and some friends

0:02:12.583,0:02:16.601
started the Sierra Leone[br]War Trust For Children, SLWT.

0:02:16.625,0:02:20.059
We decided to focus[br]on the thousands of displaced people

0:02:20.083,0:02:21.809
that fled the fighting

0:02:21.833,0:02:25.351
and were now living[br]in really poor, difficult conditions

0:02:25.375,0:02:27.518
in camps in Freetown.

0:02:27.542,0:02:30.351
Our work started with the Ross Road Camp

0:02:30.375,0:02:32.434
at the east end of the city.

0:02:32.458,0:02:35.268
Working with a local health organization,

0:02:35.292,0:02:40.434
we identified about 130[br]of the most vulnerable single mothers

0:02:40.458,0:02:43.059
with children under the age of five,

0:02:43.083,0:02:48.476
supporting them[br]by providing business skills,

0:02:48.500,0:02:50.434
microcredit,

0:02:50.458,0:02:52.684
whatever they asked us.

0:02:52.708,0:02:55.476
Working in those difficult conditions,

0:02:55.500,0:02:59.184
just getting the basics right,[br]was no small task,

0:02:59.208,0:03:02.351
but our collective sense[br]of dissatisfaction

0:03:02.375,0:03:05.018
at an unacceptable status quo

0:03:05.042,0:03:07.875
kept us focused on getting things done.

0:03:08.958,0:03:12.434
Some of those women went on[br]to open small businesses,

0:03:12.458,0:03:14.101
repaid their loans

0:03:14.125,0:03:16.809
and allowed other mothers[br]and their children

0:03:16.833,0:03:19.726
to have the same opportunity they did.

0:03:19.750,0:03:22.559
And we, we kept on going.

0:03:22.583,0:03:26.726
In 2004, we opened[br]an agricultural training center

0:03:26.750,0:03:28.601
for ex-child soldiers,

0:03:28.625,0:03:30.643
and when the war was behind us,

0:03:30.667,0:03:34.559
we started a scholarship program[br]for disadvantaged girls

0:03:34.583,0:03:38.083
who would otherwise not be able[br]to continue in school.

0:03:38.750,0:03:42.059
Today, Stella, one of those girls,

0:03:42.083,0:03:44.851
is about to qualify as a medical doctor.

0:03:44.875,0:03:49.018
It's amazing what a dose[br]of dissatisfaction can birth.

0:03:49.042,0:03:51.601
(Applause)

0:03:51.625,0:03:54.559
Ten years later, in 2014,

0:03:54.583,0:03:56.893
Sierra Leone was struck by Ebola.

0:03:56.917,0:04:03.143
I was working in Freetown at the time[br]on a hotel construction project on May 25

0:04:03.167,0:04:05.351
when the first cases were announced,

0:04:05.375,0:04:08.809
but I was back in London on July 30

0:04:08.833,0:04:12.143
when the state of emergency was announced,

0:04:12.167,0:04:17.208
the same day that many airlines[br]stopped their flights to Sierra Leone.

0:04:18.292,0:04:20.684
I remember crying for hours,

0:04:20.708,0:04:24.208
asking God, why this? Why us?

0:04:25.792,0:04:27.643
But beyond the tears,

0:04:27.667,0:04:30.018
I began to feel again

0:04:30.042,0:04:33.101
that profound sense of dissatisfaction.

0:04:33.125,0:04:37.351
So when, six months after[br]those first cases had been confirmed,

0:04:37.375,0:04:40.851
the disease was still spreading[br]rapidly in Sierra Leone

0:04:40.875,0:04:45.518
and the number of people[br]infected and dying continued to rise,

0:04:45.542,0:04:47.351
my level of frustration and anger

0:04:47.375,0:04:51.309
got so much that I knew I could not stay

0:04:51.333,0:04:54.167
and watch the crisis[br]from outside Sierra Leone.

0:04:55.000,0:04:57.934
So, in mid-November,

0:04:57.958,0:05:00.768
I said goodbye to my much loved

0:05:00.792,0:05:03.809
and very understanding[br]husband and children,

0:05:03.833,0:05:05.976
and boarded a rather empty plane

0:05:06.000,0:05:07.768
to Freetown.

0:05:07.792,0:05:11.143
Freetown was now[br]the epicenter of the outbreak.

0:05:11.167,0:05:14.476
There were hundreds[br]of new cases every week.

0:05:14.500,0:05:17.268
I spoke to many medical experts,

0:05:17.292,0:05:18.809
epidemiologists

0:05:18.833,0:05:21.018
and ordinary people every day.

0:05:21.042,0:05:22.667
Everyone was really scared.

0:05:23.750,0:05:29.143
"We won't succeed until we're talking[br]to people under the mango tree."

0:05:29.167,0:05:31.018
So said Dr. Yoti,

0:05:31.042,0:05:34.684
a Ugandan doctor who worked for WHO

0:05:34.708,0:05:37.643
and who had been involved[br]in pretty much every Ebola outbreak

0:05:37.667,0:05:39.559
in Africa previously.

0:05:39.583,0:05:40.893
He was right,

0:05:40.917,0:05:44.125
and yet there was no plan[br]to make that happen.

0:05:45.000,0:05:48.393
So during a weekend in early December,

0:05:48.417,0:05:53.434
I developed a plan that became known[br]as the Western Area Surge plan.

0:05:53.458,0:05:56.351
We needed to talk with people,

0:05:56.375,0:05:58.059
not at people.

0:05:58.083,0:06:02.143
We needed to work[br]with the community influencers

0:06:02.167,0:06:04.518
so people believed our message.

0:06:04.542,0:06:07.018
We needed to be talking[br]under the mango tree,

0:06:07.042,0:06:08.893
not through loudspeakers.

0:06:08.917,0:06:10.208
And we needed more beds.

0:06:10.917,0:06:13.851
The National Ebola Response Center, NERC,

0:06:13.875,0:06:16.643
built on and implemented that plan,

0:06:16.667,0:06:18.601
and by the third week of January,

0:06:18.625,0:06:21.934
the number of cases[br]had fallen dramatically.

0:06:21.958,0:06:23.351
I was asked to serve

0:06:23.375,0:06:26.059
as a new Director of Planning for NERC,

0:06:26.083,0:06:28.893
which took me right across the country,

0:06:28.917,0:06:30.976
trying to stay ahead of the outbreak

0:06:31.000,0:06:32.643
but also following it

0:06:32.667,0:06:34.893
to remote villages in the provinces

0:06:34.917,0:06:38.601
as well as to urban slum communities.

0:06:38.625,0:06:41.684
On one occasion, I got out of my car

0:06:41.708,0:06:44.417
to call for help for a man[br]who had collapsed on the road.

0:06:45.125,0:06:48.143
I accidentally stepped in liquid

0:06:48.167,0:06:50.976
that was coming down the road[br]from where he lay.

0:06:51.000,0:06:52.726
I rushed to my parents' house,

0:06:52.750,0:06:55.101
washed my feet in chlorine.

0:06:55.125,0:06:59.559
I'll never forget waiting[br]for that man's test results

0:06:59.583,0:07:04.250
as I constantly checked my temperature[br]then and throughout the outbreak.

0:07:05.292,0:07:10.101
The Ebola fight was probably[br]the most challenging

0:07:10.125,0:07:13.018
but rewarding experience of my life,

0:07:13.042,0:07:14.976
and I'm really grateful

0:07:15.000,0:07:16.601
for the dissatisfaction

0:07:16.625,0:07:18.643
that opened up the space

0:07:18.667,0:07:20.083
for me to serve.

0:07:20.833,0:07:25.351
Dissatisfaction can be[br]a constant presence in the background,

0:07:25.375,0:07:26.809
or it can be sudden,

0:07:26.833,0:07:28.500
triggered by events.

0:07:29.667,0:07:30.917
Sometimes it's both.

0:07:32.125,0:07:34.958
With my hometown, that's the way it was.

0:07:36.375,0:07:39.708
For years, our city had changed,

0:07:40.417,0:07:42.625
and it had caused me great pain.

0:07:43.875,0:07:45.351
I remember a childhood

0:07:45.375,0:07:47.792
growing up climbing trees,

0:07:48.708,0:07:51.684
picking mangoes and plums

0:07:51.708,0:07:54.667
on the university campus[br]where my father was a lecturer.

0:07:55.958,0:08:00.309
Went fishing in the streams[br]deep in the botanical gardens.

0:08:00.333,0:08:06.559
The hillsides around Freetown[br]were covered with lush green vegetation,

0:08:06.583,0:08:08.893
and the beaches were clean and pristine.

0:08:08.917,0:08:13.476
The doubling of the population of Freetown[br]in the years that followed the civil war,

0:08:13.500,0:08:16.851
and the lack of planning[br]and building control

0:08:16.875,0:08:19.458
resulted in massive deforestation.

0:08:20.125,0:08:24.851
The trees, the natural beauty,[br]were destroyed as space was made

0:08:24.875,0:08:27.559
for new communities, formal or informal,

0:08:27.583,0:08:30.351
and for the cutting down of firewood.

0:08:30.375,0:08:33.042
I was deeply troubled and dissatisfied.

0:08:34.750,0:08:37.684
It wasn't just the destruction[br]of the trees and the hillsides

0:08:37.708,0:08:39.018
that bothered me.

0:08:39.042,0:08:42.268
It was also the impact of people,

0:08:42.292,0:08:47.309
as infrastructure failed to keep up[br]with the growth of the population:

0:08:47.333,0:08:50.393
no sanitation systems to speak of,

0:08:50.417,0:08:54.625
a dirty city with typhoid,[br]malaria and dysentery.

0:08:55.375,0:08:57.768
I didn't know the statistics at the time,

0:08:57.792,0:09:00.851
but it turned out that by 2017,

0:09:00.875,0:09:06.059
only six percent of liquid waste[br]and 21 percent of solid waste

0:09:06.083,0:09:07.393
was being collected.

0:09:07.417,0:09:09.518
The rest was right there with us,

0:09:09.542,0:09:13.226
in backyards, in fields, rivers

0:09:13.250,0:09:15.500
and deposited in the sea.

0:09:16.708,0:09:21.809
The steps to address that deep sense[br]of anger and frustration I felt

0:09:21.833,0:09:24.768
didn't unfold magically or clearly.

0:09:24.792,0:09:28.643
That's not how the power[br]of dissatisfaction works.

0:09:28.667,0:09:32.226
It works when you know[br]that things can be done better,

0:09:32.250,0:09:37.184
and it works when you decide to take[br]the risks to bring about that change.

0:09:37.208,0:09:40.518
And so it was that in 2017

0:09:40.542,0:09:42.851
I ended up running for mayor,

0:09:42.875,0:09:44.833
because I knew things could be better.

0:09:45.458,0:09:49.184
It seemed the people agreed with me,[br]because I won the election.

0:09:49.208,0:09:52.184
(Applause)

0:09:52.208,0:09:56.684
Today, we are implementing[br]an ambitious plan

0:09:56.708,0:09:58.792
to transform our city,

0:09:59.917,0:10:02.518
and when I say we,

0:10:02.542,0:10:04.351
what gets me really excited

0:10:04.375,0:10:07.643
is that I mean[br]the whole Freetown community,

0:10:07.667,0:10:13.851
whether it's being part of competitions[br]like rewarding the neighborhood

0:10:13.875,0:10:17.309
that makes the most improvement[br]in overall cleanliness,

0:10:17.333,0:10:19.059
or whether it's our programs

0:10:19.083,0:10:23.809
that are leading and joining[br]people and waste collectors

0:10:23.833,0:10:25.417
through our apps.

0:10:27.000,0:10:29.184
In Freetown today,

0:10:29.208,0:10:31.042
it's a much cleaner city,

0:10:32.208,0:10:35.226
and those trees[br]that we're so well known for,

0:10:35.250,0:10:39.018
we planted 23,000 of them[br]last rainy season.

0:10:39.042,0:10:40.309
(Applause)

0:10:40.333,0:10:41.643
And in 2020,

0:10:41.667,0:10:48.101
we plan to plant a million trees as part[br]of our "Freetown the Tree Town" campaign.

0:10:48.125,0:10:51.226
(Applause)

0:10:51.250,0:10:56.042
Sometimes, sometimes we have[br]a negative feeling about things.

0:10:56.917,0:11:00.101
We're not happy about[br]the way things are going.

0:11:00.125,0:11:02.018
We feel dissatisfied,

0:11:02.042,0:11:03.292
and we feel frustrated.

0:11:04.708,0:11:07.667
We can change that negative[br]into a positive.

0:11:10.083,0:11:14.101
If you believe that things can be better,

0:11:14.125,0:11:19.809
then you have the option to do something[br]rather than to do nothing.

0:11:19.833,0:11:24.143
The scale and circumstances[br]of our situations will differ,

0:11:24.167,0:11:25.542
but for each of us,

0:11:26.958,0:11:29.625
we all have one thing in common.

0:11:30.917,0:11:33.893
We can take risks to make a difference,

0:11:33.917,0:11:36.059
and I will close in saying,

0:11:36.083,0:11:37.601
step out,

0:11:37.625,0:11:38.934
take a risk.

0:11:38.958,0:11:42.184
If we can unite behind[br]the power of dissatisfaction,

0:11:42.208,0:11:43.976
the world will be a better place.

0:11:44.000,0:11:45.726
Thank you.

0:11:45.750,0:11:48.375
(Applause)