WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 I'd like to take you to another world. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.000 And I'd like to share 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:10.000 a 45 year-old love story 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:13.000 with the poor, 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.000 living on less than one dollar a day. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.000 I went to a very elitist, snobbish, 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.000 expensive education in India, 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000 and that almost destroyed me. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.000 I was all set 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.000 to be a diplomat, teacher, doctor -- 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 all laid out. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.000 Then, I don't look it, but I was the Indian national squash champion 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.000 for three years. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 (Laughter) 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.000 The whole world was laid out for me. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Everything was at my feet. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:55.000 I could do nothing wrong. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.000 And then I thought out of curiosity 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.000 I'd like to go and live and work 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 and just see what a village is like. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:03.000 So in 1965, 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.000 I went to what was called the worst Bihar famine in India, 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000 and I saw starvation, death, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000 people dying of hunger, for the first time. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000 It changed my life. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:18.000 I came back home, 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.000 told my mother, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 "I'd like to live and work in a village." 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:25.000 Mother went into a coma. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:28.000 (Laughter) 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.000 "What is this? 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000 The whole world is laid out for you, the best jobs are laid out for you, 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:35.000 and you want to go and work in a village? 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000 I mean, is there something wrong with you?" 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.000 I said, "No, I've got the best eduction. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.000 It made me think. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.000 And I wanted to give something back 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 in my own way." 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.000 "What do you want to do in a village? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.000 No job, no money, 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.000 no security, no prospect." 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.000 I said, "I want to live 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.000 and dig wells for five years." 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 "Dig wells for five years? 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.000 You went to the most expensive school and college in India, 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 and you want to dig wells for five years?" 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 She didn't speak to me for a very long time, 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 because she thought I'd let my family down. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.000 But then, 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.000 I was exposed to the most extraordinary knowledge and skills 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.000 that very poor people have, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.000 which are never brought into the mainstream -- 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 which is never identified, respected, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.000 applied on a large scale. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:29.000 And I thought I'd start a Barefoot College -- 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.000 college only for the poor. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.000 What the poor thought was important 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.000 would be reflected in the college. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.000 I went to this village for the first time. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 Elders came to me 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000 and said, "Are you running from the police?" 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 I said, "No." 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 (Laughter) 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.000 "You failed in your exam?" 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000 I said, "No." 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.000 "You didn't get a government job?" I said, "No." 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.000 "What are you doing here? 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.000 Why are you here? 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.000 The education system in India 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.000 makes you look at Paris and New Delhi and Zurich; 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.000 what are you doing in this village? 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.000 Is there something wrong with you you're not telling us?" 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.000 I said, "No, I want to actually start a college 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 only for the poor. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.000 What the poor thought was important would be reflected in the college." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.000 So the elders gave me some very sound and profound advice. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 They said, "Please, 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.000 don't bring anyone with a degree and qualification 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000 into your college." 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.000 So it's the only college in India 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.000 where, if you should have a Ph.D. or a Master's, 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.000 you are disqualified to come. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:42.000 You have to be a cop-out or a wash-out or a dropout 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.000 to come to our college. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000 You have to work with your hands. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.000 You have to have a dignity of labor. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.000 You have to show that you have a skill that you can offer to the community 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.000 and provide a service to the community. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.000 So we started the Barefoot College, 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 and we redefined professionalism. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Who is a professional? 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 A professional is someone 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000 who has a combination of competence, 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.000 confidence and belief. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 A water diviner is a professional. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000 A traditional midwife 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.000 is a professional. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000 A traditional bone setter is a professional. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 These are professionals all over the world. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:25.000 You find them in any inaccessible village around the world. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.000 And we thought that these people should come into the mainstream 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 and show that the knowledge and skills that they have 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 is universal. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 It needs to be used, needs to be applied, 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 needs to be shown to the world outside -- 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:39.000 that these knowledge and skills 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:43.000 are relevant even today. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 So the college works 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000 following the lifestyle and workstyle of Mahatma Gandhi. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:53.000 You eat on the floor, you sleep on the floor, you work on the floor. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.000 There are no contracts, no written contracts. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.000 You can stay with me for 20 years, go tomorrow. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.000 And no one can get more than $100 a month. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:04.000 You come for the money, you don't come to Barefoot College. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.000 You come for the work and the challenge, 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.000 you'll come to the Barefoot College. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.000 That is where we want you to try crazy ideas. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:13.000 Whatever idea you have, come and try it. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.000 It doesn't matter if you fail. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.000 Battered, bruised, you start again. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 It's the only college where the teacher is the learner 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.000 and the learner is the teacher. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 And it's the only college where we don't give a certificate. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.000 You are certified by the community you serve. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 You don't need a paper to hang on the wall 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 to show that you are an engineer. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.000 So when I said that, 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.000 they said, "Well show us what is possible. What are you doing? 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.000 This is all mumbo-jumbo if you can't show it on the ground." 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 So we built the first Barefoot College 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.000 in 1986. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.000 It was built by 12 Barefoot architects 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.000 who can't read and write, 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.000 built on $1.50 a sq. ft. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.000 150 people lived there, worked there. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 They got the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2002. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.000 But then they suspected, they thought there was an architect behind it. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000 I said, "Yes, they made the blueprints, 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.000 but the Barefoot architects actually constructed the college." 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.000 We are the only ones who actually returned the award for $50,000, 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.000 because they didn't believe us, 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:25.000 and we thought that they were actually casting aspersions 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000 on the Barefoot architects of Tilonia. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000 I asked a forester -- 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.000 high-powered, paper-qualified expert -- 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.000 I said, "What can you build in this place?" 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 He had one look at the soil and said, "Forget it. No way. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.000 Not even worth it. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.000 No water, rocky soil." 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.000 I was in a bit of a spot. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.000 And I said, "Okay, I'll go to the old man in village 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000 and say, 'What should I grow in this spot?'" 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.000 He looked quietly at me and said, 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.000 "You build this, you build this, you put this, and it'll work." 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:56.000 This is what it looks like today. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.000 Went to the roof, 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000 and all the women said, "Clear out. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 The men should clear out because we don't want to share this technology with the men. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.000 This is waterproofing the roof." 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 (Laughter) 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.000 It is a bit of jaggery, a bit of urens 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.000 and a bit of other things I don't know. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.000 But it actually doesn't leak. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.000 Since 1986, it hasn't leaked. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 This technology, the women will not share with the men. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.000 It's the only college 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.000 which is fully solar-electrified. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 All the power comes from the sun. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.000 45 kilowatts of panels on the roof. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.000 And everything works off the sun for the next 25 years. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.000 So long as the sun shines, 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.000 we'll have no problem with power. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.000 But the beauty is 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 that is was installed 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:48.000 by a priest, a Hindu priest, 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.000 who's only done eight years of primary schooling -- 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:54.000 never been to school, never been to college. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.000 He knows more about solar 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.000 than anyone I know anywhere in the world guaranteed. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.000 Food, if you come to the Barefoot College, 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.000 is solar cooked. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.000 But the people who fabricated that solar cooker 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.000 are women, 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:15.000 illiterate women, 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.000 who actually fabricate 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.000 the most sophisticated solar cooker. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.000 It's a parabolic Scheffler solar cooker. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.000 Unfortunately, they're almost half German, 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.000 they're so precise. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.000 (Laughter) 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:36.000 You'll never find Indian women so precise. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:39.000 Absolutely to the last inch, 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.000 they can make that cooker. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.000 And we have 60 meals twice a day 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.000 of solar cooking. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000 We have a dentist -- 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.000 she's a grandmother, illiterate, who's a dentist. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.000 She actually looks after the teeth 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.000 of 7,000 children. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Barefoot technology: 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.000 this was 1986 -- no engineer, no architect thought of it -- 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.000 but we are collecting rainwater from the roofs. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.000 Very little water is wasted. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.000 All the roofs are connected underground 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.000 to a 400,000 liter tank, 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.000 and no water is wasted. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.000 If we have four years of drought, we still have water on the campus, 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.000 because we collect rainwater. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000 60 percent of children don't go to school, 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:22.000 because they have to look after animals -- 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.000 sheep, goats -- 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.000 domestic chores. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.000 So we thought of starting a school 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:31.000 at night for the children. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.000 Because the night schools of Tilonia, 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.000 over 75,000 children have gone through these night schools. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Because it's for the convenience of the child; 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000 it's not for the convenience of the teacher. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000 And what do we teach in these schools? 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 Democracy, citizenship, 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.000 how you should measure your land, 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 what you should do if you're arrested, 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.000 what you should do if your animal is sick. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.000 This is what we teach in the night schools. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.000 But all the schools are solar-lit. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.000 Every five years 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.000 we have an election. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:06.000 Between six to 14 year-old children 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.000 participate in a democratic process, 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.000 and they elect a prime minister. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.000 The prime minister is 12 years old. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.000 She looks after 20 goats in the morning, 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:22.000 but she's prime minister in the evening. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 She has a cabinet, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:27.000 a minister of education, a minister for energy, a minister for health. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:29.000 And they actually monitor and supervise 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.000 150 schools for 7,000 children. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 She got the World's Children's Prize five years ago, 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 and she went to Sweden. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 First time ever going out of her village. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:43.000 Never seen Sweden. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 Wasn't dazzled at all by what was happening. 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.000 And the Queen of Sweden, who's there, 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.000 turned to me and said, "Can you ask this child where she got her confidence from? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.000 She's only 12 years old, 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.000 and she's not dazzled by anything." 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.000 And the girl, who's on her left, 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.000 turned to me and looked at the queen straight in the eye 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.000 and said, "Please tell her I'm the prime minister." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:14.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.000 Where the percentage of illiteracy is very high, 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.000 we use puppetry. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Puppets is the way we communicate. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.000 You have Jokhim Chacha 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.000 who is 300 years old. 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:40.000 He is my psychoanalyst. He is my teacher. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.000 He's my doctor. He's my lawyer. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.000 He's my donor. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.000 He actually raises money, 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.000 solves my disputes. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000 He solves my problems in the village. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000 If there's tension in the village, 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.000 if attendance at the schools goes down 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.000 and there's a friction between the teacher and the parent, 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.000 the puppet calls the teacher and the parent in front of the whole village 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.000 and says, "Shake hands. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.000 The attendance must not drop." 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.000 These puppets 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.000 are made out of recycled World Bank reports. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:20.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.000 So this decentralized, demystified approach 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.000 of solar-electrifying villages, 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.000 we've covered all over India 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.000 from Ladakh up to Bhutan -- 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.000 all solar-electrified villages 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.000 by people who have been trained. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.000 And we went to Ladakh, 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.000 and we asked this woman -- 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.000 this, at minus 40, you have to come out of the roof, 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:49.000 because there's no place, it was all snowed up on both sides -- 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.000 and we asked this woman, 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.000 "What was the benefit you had 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.000 from solar electricity?" 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.000 And she thought for a minute and said, 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:01.000 "It's the first time I can see my husband's face in winter." NOTE Paragraph 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:04.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.000 Went to Afghanistan. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:11.000 One lesson we learned in India 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.000 was men are untrainable. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.000 (Laughter) 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.000 Men are restless, 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.000 men are ambitious, 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.000 men are compulsively mobile, 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.000 and they all want a certificate. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.000 (Laughter) 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.000 All across the globe, you have this tendency 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.000 of men wanting a certificate. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.000 Why? Because they want to leave the village 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.000 and go to a city, looking for a job. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.000 So we came up with a great solution: 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.000 train grandmothers. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.000 What's the best way of communicating 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 in the world today? 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.000 Television? No. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.000 Telegraph? No. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.000 Telephone? No. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.000 Tell a woman. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:07.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.000 So we went to Afghanistan for the first time, 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.000 and we picked three women 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.000 and said, "We want to take them to India." 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.000 They said, "Impossible. They don't even go out of their rooms, 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.000 and you want to take them to India." 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000 I said, "I'll make a concession. I'll take the husbands along as well." 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.000 So I took the husbands along. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:24.000 Of course, the women were much more intelligent than the men. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:26.000 In six months, 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.000 how do we train these women? 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.000 Sign language. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.000 You don't choose the written word. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.000 You don't choose the spoken word. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.000 You use sign language. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.000 And in six months 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.000 they can become solar engineers. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:48.000 They go back and solar-electrify their own village. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.000 This woman went back 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.000 and solar-electrified the first village, 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:55.000 set up a workshop -- 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.000 the first village ever to be solar-electrified in Afghanistan 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.000 [was] by the three women. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.000 This woman 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.000 is an extraordinary grandmother. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:10.000 55 years old, and she's solar-electrified 200 houses for me in Afghanistan. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.000 And they haven't collapsed. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.000 She actually went and spoke to an engineering department in Afghanistan 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.000 and told the head of the department 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.000 the difference between AC and DC. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.000 He didn't know. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.000 Those three women have trained 27 more women 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:28.000 and solar-electrified 100 villages in Afghanistan. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.000 We went to Africa, 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.000 and we did the same thing. 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.000 All these women sitting at one table from eight, nine countries, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.000 all chatting to each other, not understanding a word, 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.000 because they're all speaking a different language. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.000 But their body language is great. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.000 They're speaking to each other 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.000 and actually becoming solar engineers. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 I went to Sierra Leone, 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.000 and there was this minister driving down in the dead of night -- 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 comes across this village. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 Comes back, goes into the village, says, "Well what's the story?" 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.000 They said, "These two grandmothers ... " 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.000 "Grandmothers?" The minister couldn't believe what was happening. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.000 "Where did they go?" "Went to India and back." 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.000 Went straight to the president. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.000 He said, "Do you know there's a solar-electrified village in Sierra Leone?" 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.000 He said, "No." Half the cabinet went to see the grandmothers the next day. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000 "What's the story." 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.000 So he summoned me and said, "Can you train me 150 grandmothers?" 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.000 I said, "I can't, Mr. President. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.000 But they will. The grandmothers will." 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:26.000 So he built me the first Barefoot training center in Sierra Leone. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.000 And 150 grandmothers have been trained in Sierra Leone. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.000 Gambia: 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.000 we went to select a grandmother in Gambia. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.000 Went to this village. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:39.000 I knew which woman I would like to take. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:42.000 The community got together and said, "Take these two women." 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 I said, "No, I want to take this woman." 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.000 They said, "Why? She doesn't know the language. You don't know her." 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.000 I said, "I like the body language. I like the way she speaks." 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:51.000 "Difficult husband; not possible." 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.000 Called the husband, the husband came, 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 swaggering, politician, mobile in his hand. "Not possible." 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.000 "Why not?" "The woman, look how beautiful she is." 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:01.000 I said, "Yeah, she is very beautiful." 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.000 "What happens if she runs off with an Indian man?" 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.000 That was his biggest fear. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:08.000 I said, "She'll be happy. She'll ring you up on the mobile." 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.000 She went like a grandmother 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:13.000 and came back like a tiger. 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.000 She walked out of the plane 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.000 and spoke to the whole press as if she was a veteran. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.000 She handled the national press, 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.000 and she was a star. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:26.000 And when I went back six months later, I said, "Where's your husband?" 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.000 "Oh, somewhere. It doesn't matter." 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.000 (Laughter) 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.000 Success story. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:43.000 I'll just wind up by saying 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:47.000 that I think you don't have to look for solutions outside. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.000 Look for solutions within. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.000 And listen to people. They have the solutions in front of you. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.000 They're all over the world. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Don't even worry. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.000 Don't listen to the World Bank, listen to the people on the ground. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.000 They have all the solutions in the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:05.000 I'll end with a quotation by Mahatma Gandhi. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.000 "First they ignore you, 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.000 then they laugh at you, 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.000 then they fight you, 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:13.000 and then you win." NOTE Paragraph 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.000 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:46.000 (Applause)