ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.

Why you should listen

Jacqueline Novogratz writes: "I want to build a movement in which we define success based on the amount of human energy we release in the world.

"I started my career on Wall Street and soon discovered that markets are efficient, but by themselves they too often overlook or exploit the poor. So I moved to Rwanda in 1986 to help found the country’s first micro-finance bank. There I saw the humanitarian ethos of philanthropy, and also how often top-down solutions too often create dependency, the opposite of dignity. Through 30 years of working on solutions to poverty, I have come to redefine it for myself, seeing it not as how much income a person earns, but how free they are to make their own choices and decisions, how much agency they have over their own lives.

Acumen was founded to change the way the world tackles poverty in 2001. Our mission was simple – to raise philanthropy and invest it as patient capital – long-term investment in intrepid entrepreneurs willing to go where markets and government had failed the poor. We enable companies to experiment and fail, never wavering from a commitment to stand with the poor, yet understanding that profitability is necessary for sustainable solutions. We’ve invested more than $110M across South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, and have seen entire sectors disrupted and hundreds of millions served.

The work also taught that it was critical to invest in talent. To date, we’ve supported nearly 400 Acumen Fellows across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion and ideology. They are a beautiful group, full of vision and grit, and a determination to do what is right, not easy. The group itself enables individual leaders to endure the loneliness that is part of the work.

And then we measure what matters rather than just what we can count. Take this all together and you see our mission to do what it takes to build a world in which all of us have the chance to dream and to flourish, not from a place of easy sentimentality but through a commitment to using the tools of capitalism and the attributes of moral leadership to focus on doing what it takes, and no less.

More profile about the speaker
Jacqueline Novogratz | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Jacqueline Novogratz: An escape from poverty

賈桂琳‧諾佛葛瑞茲談脫離貧窮

Filmed:
1,298,963 views

賈桂琳‧諾佛葛瑞茲分享一個令人動容的故事。她在奈洛比貧民窟遇見一位叫「珍」的女子。珍曾淪落為妓女,但未因此向命運低頭,而她兒時的夢想:脫離貧困、成為醫師、嫁為人妻,也以她意想不到的方式,逐一實現。
- Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I've been working加工 on issues問題 of poverty貧窮 for more than 20 years年份,
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我研究貧窮的問題二十多年了
00:16
and so it's ironic具有諷刺意味 that the problem問題 that and question that I most grapple抓鉤 with
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諷刺的是,我覺得最困難之處
00:21
is how you actually其實 define確定 poverty貧窮. What does it mean?
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在於如何界定貧窮,貧窮所指為何?
00:24
So often經常, we look at dollar美元 terms條款 --
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通常我們會用收入衡量
00:26
people making製造 less than a dollar美元 or two or three a day.
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窮人就是一天賺不到兩三塊美金的人
00:28
And yet然而 the complexity複雜 of poverty貧窮 really has to look at
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但貧窮牽涉的層面很多
00:33
income收入 as only one variable變量.
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收入只是其中之一
00:35
Because really, it's a condition條件 about choice選擇,
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因為貧窮代表無力選擇
00:37
and the lack缺乏 of freedom自由.
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以及缺乏個人自由
00:39
And I had an experience經驗 that really deepened加深 and elucidated闡明 for me
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而某次經歷讓我更瞭解貧窮
00:42
the understanding理解 that I have.
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以及其背後的真義
00:44
It was in Kenya肯尼亞, and I want to share分享 it with you.
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那時我人在肯亞,在此和各位分享
00:46
I was with my friend朋友 Susan蘇珊 Meiselas梅塞拉斯, the photographer攝影師,
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我和攝影師朋友蘇珊
00:48
in the Mathare瑪薩瑞 Valley slums貧民窟.
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前往馬沙爾谷的貧民窟
00:50
Now, Mathare瑪薩瑞 Valley is one of the oldest最老的 slums貧民窟 in Africa非洲.
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它是非洲歷史最久的貧民窟之一
00:53
It's about three miles英里 out of Nairobi內羅畢,
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大約離奈洛比五公里
00:55
and it's a mile英里 long and about two-tenths十分之二 of a mile英里 wide,
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佔地約1.5公里長,300公尺寬
00:58
where over half a million百萬 people
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卻住了超過50萬人
01:00
live生活 crammed臨時抱佛腳 in these little tin shacks窩棚,
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全擠在小小的鐵皮屋裡
01:02
generation after generation, renting租房 them,
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一代代就這麼租著鐵皮屋
01:05
often經常 eight or 10 people to a room房間.
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一間屋子塞八到十人
01:07
And it's known已知 for prostitution賣淫, violence暴力, drugs毒品:
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在那裡賣淫、暴力和毒品猖獗
01:13
a hard place地點 to grow增長 up.
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成長環境非常艱辛
01:15
And when we were walking步行 through通過 the narrow狹窄 alleys小巷,
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我們穿越一條條窄巷
01:17
it was literally按照字面 impossible不可能 not to step in the
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腳下踩著的都是
01:20
raw生的 sewage污水 and the garbage垃圾 alongside並肩 the little homes家園.
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小屋旁的骯髒穢物和垃圾
01:24
But at the same相同 time it was also
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然而於此同時
01:26
impossible不可能 not to see the human人的 vitality活力,
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我也見到了人的生命力
01:29
the aspiration心願 and the ambition志向 of the people who live生活 there:
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以及心懷理想和抱負的居民
01:32
women婦女 washing洗滌 their babies嬰兒, washing洗滌 their clothes衣服, hanging them out to dry.
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許多婦女在替孩子洗澡、洗晾衣物
01:35
I met會見 this woman女人, Mama媽媽 Rose玫瑰,
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我遇到一位叫蘿絲的媽媽
01:37
who has rented that little tin shack窩棚 for 32 years年份,
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她租小鐵皮屋已有32年之久
01:40
where she lives生活 with her seven children孩子.
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和七個孩子同住
01:42
Four sleep睡覺 in one twin雙胞胎 bed,
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其中四個擠在一張床上
01:44
and three sleep睡覺 on the mud and linoleum油布 floor地板.
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三個睡在滿是泥巴的油地氈上
01:47
And she keeps保持 them all in school學校 by selling銷售 water from that kiosk,
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七個孩子都有上學,全靠她在那個小亭子賣水
01:51
and from selling銷售 soap肥皂 and bread麵包 from the little store商店 inside.
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還有在裡面那家小商店賣肥皂和麵包
01:55
It was also the day after the inauguration就職典禮,
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那天剛好是歐巴馬就職的隔天
01:57
and I was reminded提醒 how Mathare瑪薩瑞 is still connected連接的 to the globe地球.
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我發現馬沙爾並未和世界脫軌
02:01
And I would see kids孩子 on the street corners角落,
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因為一些街上的小朋友
02:03
and they'd他們會 say "Obama奧巴馬, he's our brother哥哥!"
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會對我說「歐巴馬是我們同胞耶!」
02:05
And I'd say "Well, Obama's奧巴馬 my brother哥哥, so that makes品牌 you my brother哥哥 too."
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我便答「他也是我的同胞,所以我們大家都是同胞」
02:08
And they would look quizzically疑惑, and then be like, "High five!"
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他們先一臉疑惑,然後開心地要跟我擊掌
02:12
And it was here that I met會見 Jane.
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我就是在這裡遇到了珍
02:15
I was struck來襲 immediately立即 by the kindness善良 and the gentleness溫柔 in her face面對,
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她臉上溫柔親切的神情立刻打動了我
02:18
and I asked her to tell me her story故事.
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我便請她跟我分享她的故事
02:21
She started開始 off by telling告訴 me her dream夢想. She said, "I had two.
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她先從她的兩個夢想說起
02:24
My first dream夢想 was to be a doctor醫生,
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第一個夢想是當醫生
02:26
and the second第二 was to marry結婚 a good man
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第二個是嫁給好男人
02:28
who would stay with me and my family家庭,
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「一個能長伴我和家人左右的男人」
02:30
because my mother母親 was a single mom媽媽,
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「由於我母親是單親媽媽」
02:32
and couldn't不能 afford給予 to pay工資 for school學校 fees費用.
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「付不起學費」
02:34
So I had to give up the first dream夢想, and I focused重點 on the second第二."
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「所以我只得放棄第一個夢,努力實現另一個夢」
02:38
She got married已婚 when she was 18, had a baby寶寶 right away.
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珍在18歲時結婚,很快生了個小孩
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And when she turned轉身 20, found發現 herself她自己 pregnant with a second第二 child兒童,
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她20歲時發現自己懷第二胎
02:45
her mom媽媽 died死亡 and her husband丈夫 left her -- married已婚 another另一個 woman女人.
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母親卻在這時過世,先生也另娶新歡
02:49
So she was again in Mathare瑪薩瑞, with no income收入, no skill技能 set, no money.
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她待在馬沙爾,毫無收入或一技之長
02:53
And so she ultimately最終 turned轉身 to prostitution賣淫.
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最後只好選擇出賣肉體
02:56
It wasn't organized有組織的 in the way we often經常 think of it.
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賣淫並非如我們想像得那麼容易
02:58
She would go into the city at night with about 20 girls女孩,
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她晚上和大約20個女子一起進城
03:01
look for work, and sometimes有時 come back with a few少數 shillings先令,
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努力拉客,有時一晚才賺幾角美金
03:04
or sometimes有時 with nothing.
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有時一毛錢都賺不到
03:06
And she said, "You know, the poverty貧窮 wasn't so bad. It was the humiliation屈辱
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她說「其實窮倒還好,出賣肉體受的屈辱
03:09
and the embarrassment困窘 of it all."
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才是最令人難受的事
03:11
In 2001, her life changed.
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2001年是她生命的轉捩點
03:15
She had a girlfriend女朋友 who had heard聽說 about this organization組織, JamiiJamii Bora寶來,
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她的朋友跟她提起Jamii Bora信貸機構
03:19
that would lend money to people no matter how poor較差的 you were,
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該機構願意借錢給任何窮人
03:22
as long as you provided提供 a commensurate相稱 amount in savings.
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前提是借的錢不得多於現有存款
03:26
And so she spent花費 a year to save保存 50 dollars美元,
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所以珍花一年存了50美金
03:29
and started開始 borrowing借款, and over time she was able能夠 to buy購買 a sewing針線活 machine.
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便開始貸款,過一陣子她買了縫紉機
03:34
She started開始 tailoring剪裁.
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開始幫人做衣服
03:35
And that turned轉身 into what she does now,
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然後逐漸變成現在的工作
03:38
which哪一個 is to go into the secondhand二手 clothing服裝 markets市場,
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就是經營二手衣市場
03:40
and for about three dollars美元 and 25 cents she buys購買 an old ball gown.
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她只花三塊多就可以買到舊的晚禮服
03:44
Some of them might威力 be ones那些 you gave.
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有些可能是各位捐的
03:46
And she repurposesrepurposes them with frills褶邊 and ribbons緞帶,
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她把禮服重新修改,加上緞帶和花邊
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and makes品牌 these frothy多泡的 confections甜點 that she sells塞爾斯 to women婦女
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做成一件件蓬蓬的洋裝賣給其他婦女
03:54
for their daughter's女兒的 Sweet 16 or first Holy Communion交往 --
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供她們參加女兒的成年禮或聖餐禮穿
03:58
those milestones里程碑 in a life that people want to celebrate慶祝
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因為在這些人生的重要場合
04:01
all along沿 the economic經濟 spectrum光譜.
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即使是窮人也會想辦法盛裝慶祝
04:03
And she does really good business商業. In fact事實, I watched看著 her
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她的生意相當好
04:06
walk步行 through通過 the streets街道 hawking霍金. And before you knew知道 it,
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我看著她沿街叫賣沒多久
04:08
there was a crowd人群 of women婦女 around her, buying購買 these dresses禮服.
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身旁就圍了一群婦女要買洋裝
04:12
And I reflected反射的, as I was watching觀看 her sell the dresses禮服,
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我看著珍忙著賣衣服
04:15
and also the jewelry首飾 that she makes品牌,
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還有親手做的首飾
04:17
that now Jane makes品牌 more than four dollars美元 a day.
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我便想到,她現在一天賺超過4美金了
04:20
And by many許多 definitions定義 she is no longer poor較差的.
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已不太符合「貧窮」的定義了
04:23
But she still lives生活 in Mathare瑪薩瑞 Valley.
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但她仍住在馬沙爾谷
04:25
And so she can't move移動 out.
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無法搬離那裡
04:28
She lives生活 with all of that insecurity不安全,
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每天都得提心吊膽
04:30
and in fact事實, in January一月, during the ethnic民族 riots暴動,
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今年一月的種族暴動
04:33
she was chased from her home and had to find a new shack窩棚
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她從自家被趕出,只得另尋鐵皮屋
04:35
in which哪一個 she would live生活.
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不然就無處可住
04:37
JamiiJamii Bora寶來 understands理解 that and understands理解
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Jamii Bora信貸機構很清楚這點
04:39
that when we're talking about poverty貧窮,
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也知道所謂的貧窮
04:41
we've我們已經 got to look at people all along沿 the economic經濟 spectrum光譜.
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不能只靠收入來判斷
04:44
And so with patient患者 capital首都 from Acumen敏銳 and other organizations組織,
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所以該機構和Acumen等組織合資
04:47
loans貸款 and investments投資 that will go the long term術語 with them,
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釋出長期貸款和投資方案
04:50
they built內置 a low-cost低成本 housing住房 development發展,
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共同打造低價的住宅區
04:54
about an hour小時 outside Nairobi內羅畢 central中央.
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離奈洛比市區約一小時車程
04:58
And they designed設計 it from the perspective透視 of
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此住宅區旳設計理念
05:00
customers顧客 like Jane herself她自己,
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是基於像珍這類客戶的需求
05:02
insisting堅持 on responsibility責任 and accountability問責.
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且堅守對客戶的責任和義務
05:04
So she has to give 10 percent百分 of the mortgage抵押 --
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珍得先付房貸的一成
05:08
of the total value, or about 400 dollars美元 in savings.
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大約是她存的四百美金
05:12
And then they match比賽 her mortgage抵押 to what she paid支付 in rent出租 for her little shanty窩棚.
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該機構會把房貸和原租金兩相對照
05:17
And in the next下一個 couple一對 of weeks, she's going to be
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再過幾個禮拜,珍和她孩子
05:19
among其中 the first 200 families家庭 to move移動 into this development發展.
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連同近200個家庭,將搬進此住宅區
05:22
When I asked her if she feared害怕 anything,
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我問她心裡怕不怕
05:26
or whether是否 she would miss小姐 anything from Mathare瑪薩瑞,
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會不會想念馬沙爾
05:28
she said, "What would I fear恐懼
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她說「我有什麼好怕
05:30
that I haven't沒有 confronted面對 already已經?
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什麼大風大浪沒見過
05:32
I'm HIVHIV positive. I've dealt處理 with it all."
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我還患有愛滋,該吃的苦都吃過了」
05:36
And she said, "What would I miss小姐?
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她又說「有什麼好想念的?
05:39
You think I will miss小姐 the violence暴力 or the drugs毒品? The lack缺乏 of privacy隱私?
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難道我會想念暴力、毒品或缺乏隱私嗎?
05:42
Do you think I'll miss小姐 not knowing會心 if my children孩子 are going to come home
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難道我會想念老是擔心孩子安危的日子?
05:44
at the end結束 of the day?" She said "If you gave me 10 minutes分鐘
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只要給我十分鐘
05:46
my bags包裝袋 would be packed打包."
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我立刻可以打包走人」
05:48
I said, "Well what about your dreams?"
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我問到她的夢想
05:51
And she said, "Well, you know,
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她說「我的夢想
05:53
my dreams don't look exactly究竟 like I thought they would when I was a little girl女孩.
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已經和小時候想的不太一樣了
05:57
But if I think about it, I thought I wanted a husband丈夫,
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現在仔細想想,我以前想嫁個老公
06:01
but what I really wanted was a family家庭
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但其實是想組個充滿愛的家庭
06:04
that was loving愛心. And I fiercely激烈 love my children孩子, and they love me back."
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我好愛我的孩子,他們也很愛我」
06:08
She said, "I thought that I wanted to be a doctor醫生,
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她還說「我以前想當醫生
06:11
but what I really wanted to be was somebody
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但其實我真正想做的是服務人群
06:13
who served提供服務 and healed癒合 and cured治愈.
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療癒別人的傷痛
06:16
And so I feel so blessed幸福 with everything that I have,
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所以我很感激現有的一切
06:19
that two days a week I go and I counsel法律顧問 HIVHIV patients耐心.
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我每星期輔導愛滋患者兩次
06:23
And I say, 'Look'看 at me. You are not dead.
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我對他們說「看看我,你還沒死
06:26
You are still alive. And if you are still alive you have to serve服務.'"
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還活得好好的,那就要幫助別人」
06:29
And she said, "I'm not a doctor醫生 who gives out pills.
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「我雖然不是開藥的醫生
06:33
But maybe me, I give out something better
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但我給的東西或許更有用
06:35
because I give them hope希望."
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因為我給他們希望」
06:37
And in the middle中間 of this economic經濟 crisis危機,
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現在經濟不景氣
06:41
where so many許多 of us are inclined to pull in
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我們很容易就畏縮
06:44
with fear恐懼, I think we're well suited合適的 to
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但我覺得我們需要的是
06:48
take a cue球桿 from Jane and reach達到 out,
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學習珍的精神,幫助他人
06:51
recognizing認識 that being存在 poor較差的 doesn't mean being存在 ordinary普通.
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要知道貧窮不代表甘於平凡
06:55
Because when systems系統 are broken破碎,
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因為一旦制度上有缺失
06:57
like the ones那些 that we're seeing眼看 around the world世界,
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就像現在世界各地的例子
06:59
it's an opportunity機會 for invention發明 and for innovation革新.
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反而給我們革新的機會
07:02
It's an opportunity機會 to truly build建立 a world世界
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給我們改變世界的機會
07:05
where we can extend延伸 services服務 and products製品
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將各種服務和產品
07:08
to all human人的 beings眾生, so that they can
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提供給全人類,如此一來
07:11
make decisions決定 and choices選擇 for themselves他們自己.
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他們才能自己抉擇
07:13
I truly believe it's where dignity尊嚴 starts啟動.
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我深信這是擁有尊嚴的第一步
07:15
We owe it to the Janes簡氏 of the world世界.
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這樣才算給處境跟珍相同的人一個交代
07:18
And just as important重要, we owe it to ourselves我們自己.
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也算給自己一個交代
07:21
Thank you.
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謝謝大家
07:23
(Applause掌聲)
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(掌聲)
Translated by Bu-sheng Lin
Reviewed by Sammy Lee

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.

Why you should listen

Jacqueline Novogratz writes: "I want to build a movement in which we define success based on the amount of human energy we release in the world.

"I started my career on Wall Street and soon discovered that markets are efficient, but by themselves they too often overlook or exploit the poor. So I moved to Rwanda in 1986 to help found the country’s first micro-finance bank. There I saw the humanitarian ethos of philanthropy, and also how often top-down solutions too often create dependency, the opposite of dignity. Through 30 years of working on solutions to poverty, I have come to redefine it for myself, seeing it not as how much income a person earns, but how free they are to make their own choices and decisions, how much agency they have over their own lives.

Acumen was founded to change the way the world tackles poverty in 2001. Our mission was simple – to raise philanthropy and invest it as patient capital – long-term investment in intrepid entrepreneurs willing to go where markets and government had failed the poor. We enable companies to experiment and fail, never wavering from a commitment to stand with the poor, yet understanding that profitability is necessary for sustainable solutions. We’ve invested more than $110M across South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, and have seen entire sectors disrupted and hundreds of millions served.

The work also taught that it was critical to invest in talent. To date, we’ve supported nearly 400 Acumen Fellows across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion and ideology. They are a beautiful group, full of vision and grit, and a determination to do what is right, not easy. The group itself enables individual leaders to endure the loneliness that is part of the work.

And then we measure what matters rather than just what we can count. Take this all together and you see our mission to do what it takes to build a world in which all of us have the chance to dream and to flourish, not from a place of easy sentimentality but through a commitment to using the tools of capitalism and the attributes of moral leadership to focus on doing what it takes, and no less.

More profile about the speaker
Jacqueline Novogratz | Speaker | TED.com