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We live in a time of fear,

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and our response to fear
can either be to contract

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and attempt to guard ourselves

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or to extend ourselves,
hold on to each other,

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and face our fears together.

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What is your instinct?

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What do you see more of in the world?

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The problem with the first approach

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is that in our mounting isolation,

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we divide ourselves from others.

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Our sense of isolation grows,

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because our imagination
goes into overdrive

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about the people and the spaces
that we no longer engage with.

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Our sense of otherness grows,
and we lose empathy.

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Today I'm going to tell you
about a group of people

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that took the global
challenge of terrorism

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and began creating spaces
where strangers connect in solidarity.

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My own obsession with what I see
as irrational divisions began as a child.

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As a fourth-generation
Kenyan Muslim of Indian origin,

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it bothered me that in four generations,

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there wasn't a single
marriage in my family

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outside of my small religious community.

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And I wondered what that was about.

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Was it fear?

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Was it racism?

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Was it cultural preservation?

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Did it have something
to do with colonialism?

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Certainly, we didn't share a lot
of the same public spaces with others.

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These divisions bothered me deeply,
and they drove my career choices.

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When I was 20, the US embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed.

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A year later, I was on my way
to the Middle East

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to study conflict resolution.

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And then from that point on,

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it wasn't very hard for me
to find insecure environments to work in,

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because the world was quickly shifting

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in what we now know
as the time of terrorism.

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I was in Washington, DC
when 9/11 happened,

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and then I moved back home
to Kenya to work with refugees

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and then later worked in Pakistan

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and in Afghanistan.

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In all of these places, what I noticed

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was how important physical spaces are

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to making us feel safe

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and well

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and like we belong.

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In 2013, I came back home
to Nairobi from Afghanistan.

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Al-Shabaab operatives
had besieged Westgate shopping center,

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killing 67 people
in a day of utter horror.

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Soon after that,

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I could see how Nairobi
was beginning to change,

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and it was beginning to feel
more like the fear and terror-weary

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and war-torn cities that I had worked in.

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And Nairobi continues to grow
in fear-driven ways.

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We see more walls, more barriers,

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more security.

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And like other parts of the world,

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we are experiencing
an erosion of human connection.

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Divisions along
religious lines are deepening,

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and we're doubting more and more
how much we have in common.

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We are at a pivotal time

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when we need to restore
our confidence in humanity

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and stand boldly and visibly together.

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So in 2014, I brought together
a group of people in Nairobi

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to figure out what to do:

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public intellectuals, diplomats,
artists, development workers.

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And the group articulated
our challenge as threefold:

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one, to reclaim the city
from the narrative of terrorism

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and back into the hands
of the people that live there;

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two, introduce a language
beyond race, tribe or religion

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that would help us
transcend our differences;

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and three, provide a gesture
that would help restore empathy

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and conversation and trust.

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One of the people in this group
was an artist and architect,

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Yazmany Arboleda.

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He and I have collaborated
in other parts of the world

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over many years.

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He has a history

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of disrupting urban environments

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and making strangers connect

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in incredible, beautiful
and spectacular ways.

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He had an idea.

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The idea was to unite people
of different faiths

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by getting them to paint
each other's houses of worship,

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mosques, temples, synagogues, churches,

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paint them yellow

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in the name of love.

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By focusing on icons of faith,

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we would get people to reexamine
the true essence of their faith,

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the common belief that we share
in kindness, generosity and friendship.

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By creating pathways
between houses of worship

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within one neighborhood,

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we would create islands of stability

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and networks of people

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that could withstand threats.

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And neighbors, by picking up
a paintbrush with other neighbors,

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would engage not just with their heads

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but with their hands
and with their hearts.

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And the painted buildings would become
sculptures in the landscape

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that speak of people
from very different backgrounds

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that stand together.

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We'd call the project "Colour in Faith."

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We loved the idea and we immediately
began approaching houses of worship:

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churches, temples, mosques, synagogues.

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Door to door, we went
to more than 60 rabbis,

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imams, pastors and priests.

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As you can imagine,

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bringing these communities together

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when prejudices are reinforced
by a global pandemic of fear

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is not easy.

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It was complicated.

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We were confronted
with the hierarchy of decision-making

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within religious establishments.

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For example, with Catholic churches,

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we were told that the archbishop
would have to make the decision.

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And so we wrote a letter
to the archbishop.

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We wrote a letter to the Vatican.

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We're still waiting to hear back.

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(Laughter)

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And with other houses of worship,

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we were told that the patrons,
the people that pay for the building

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and the construction
and the painting of the buildings

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would have to make a decision.

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And then we came head-to-head

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with the long legacy
of missionary and donor dependence

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that so impedes
unconditional civic action,

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and we learned this the hard way.

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There was one community

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that in our repeated conversations
would keep asking us

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to appreciate them.

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And so we would keep going back

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and telling them that we appreciate them,

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and of course,

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if we didn't appreciate them,
we wouldn't be here.

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And then we learned
painfully late in the game

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that the word "appreciation"
is code for getting paid to participate.

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And so we challenged them

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and we asked the question,

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"So what will it cost?

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How much could we pay you?

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And if we pay for your faith,
is it really faith?"

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We started the project
asking the question,

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"Where does your faith live?"

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And here we found ourselves
asking the question,

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"How much does your faith cost?"

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But the most difficult issue
was the perceived risk of standing apart.

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We had one synagogue
that flat-out refused to participate

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because it feared
drawing attention to itself

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and becoming a target.

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Similarly, we had a mosque
that also feared becoming a target.

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And these fears are justified.

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And yet, there were 25 houses of worship
that pledged to participate.

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(Applause)

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These bold leaders took the gesture
and reinforced it with their own meaning.

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For some, it was to tell the world
that they're not terrorists.

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For others, it was to welcome people
through their doors to ask questions.

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And for some, it was to bridge the gap

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between the older
and the younger generation,

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which by the way is something that
many faiths are grappling with right now.

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And for some it was simply
to build neighborhood solidarity

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in advance of feared election violence.

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When asked why yellow,

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one imam beautifully said,

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"Yellow is the color of the sun.

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The sun shines on us all equally.

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It does not discriminate."

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He and others spread the word
through their congregations

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and over the radio.

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Municipal government officials
stepped forward and helped

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with permits and with convening
civil society organizations.

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A paint company donated
a thousand liters of yellow paint

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mixed especially for us
in what they now call "optimistic yellow."

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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And a poetry collective
joined forces with a university

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and hosted a series of tweet chats

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that challenged the nation
on issues of faith,

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our faith not just
in the context of religion,

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but our faith in politicians
and tribe and nation,

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our faith in the older generation
and in the younger generation.

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And then Colour in Faith
was launched at a gallery event

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that invited an incredible mix
of gallerygoers

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and religious leaders
and artists and businesspeople.

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Already, even before
picking up a paintbrush,

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we had accomplished so much
of the conversation and connection

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that we had hoped for.

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And then we began to paint.

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Muslims stood by Christians

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and atheists and agnostics and Hindus

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and painted a mosque yellow.

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And then they all came together again
and painted a church yellow,

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and then another mosque,

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and then another church.

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Poets and musicians
performed while we painted.

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We painted in Nairobi,

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and then we painted in Mombasa.

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The local and international press
did features on Colour in Faith

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in English and French and Swahili

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and Spanish and Somali.

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CNN highlighted Colour in Faith
as a way of bringing communities together.

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And our social media platforms lit up,

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connecting more and more people.

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And these neighbors
continued to stay in touch.

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There are some that are pursuing
politics with a platform of peace,

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and we have communities
as far as Argentina and the US

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and as close as Mali and Rwanda

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that are asking for our help.

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And we would love to help.

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It's our dream that this project,
this idea, spreads across the world,

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with or without our support.

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Colour in Faith is literally highlighting
those who mean well in yellow.

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Colour in Faith is binding
neighborhoods together,

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and it's our hope
that when threats come knocking,

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they will collectively
sift fact from rumor

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and stand in solidarity.

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We've proven that the human family
can come together and send a message

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far brighter and more powerful

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than the voices of those
that wish to do us harm.

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Though fear is infectious,

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we are showing that so is hope.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)