Be a Bridge

Transcripción

1. 0:01 I was born on an island, and like most islands, we were pretty isolated from the rest of the world.
2. 0:14 We had our own method of transportation, we had our own dialect, and we even had our own way of cooking things.
3. 0:22 Now, the island that I grew up on might be a little more diverse than most islands,
4. 0:27 because the island that I grew up on was part of New York City.
5. 0:32 Most people know that New Yorkers have their own way of seeing the world,
6. 0:35 and I was no different.
7. 0:37 I saw the world from my house, my street, my neighborhood,
8. 0:44 and I did things the way that my parents did them.
9. 0:47 And so it was no wonder that when I started first dating my husband, Andy,
10. 0:53 he wasn't from New York City.
11. 0:54 We had our first argument.
12. 0:56 We were going to have hot dogs for lunch, and I told him,
13. 1:00 put on a pot of water to boil.
14. 1:02 And he looked at me and he said,
15. 1:05 boil water? What are we, delivering a baby, or are we making hot dogs?
16. 1:11 I'll go get the grill.
17. 1:12 And I just looked at him in disbelief, and I couldn't believe it,
18. 1:16 because everyone knows that the only way that you can eat a hot dog is to boil it in water,
19. 1:22 put mustard on it, and then some sauerkraut.
20. 1:25 He couldn't believe what I was telling him.
21. 1:28 You know, in our house, we always grill our hot dogs when we put ketchup and relish.
22. 1:33 Ketchup, relish!
23. 1:34 So what is this?
24. 1:35 I couldn't believe it.
25. 1:36 So we went back and forth and back and forth.
26. 1:38 And then finally, Andy, in his infinite wisdom,
27. 1:41 I think he really just liked me a lot,
28. 1:45 said, OK, we will boil the hot dogs,
29. 1:49 because I guess that's the way they do it in New York City.
30. 1:54 And that was the first time that it ever really occurred to me
31. 1:59 that maybe the whole world didn't see the way that I did,
32. 2:03 from my viewpoint.
33. 2:04 Maybe the world wasn't according to Alicia.
34. 2:07 When I was about eight years old,
35. 2:09 my aunt and uncle and cousins moved to upstate New York.
36. 2:13 Now, granted, it was only about a 45-minute drive in a car,
37. 2:16 but you had to go over a bridge to get there.
38. 2:19 And once you were over that bridge, it was a totally different world.
39. 2:22 There were trees and grass and even swimming pools.
40. 2:26 So every summer, my parents sent me to go visit my aunt for about two weeks in the summertime,
41. 2:32 so that I could experience country living.
42. 2:35 And it was an incredible thing.
43. 2:37 I learned to swim and catch fireflies.
44. 2:40 And I taught my cousins how to play street games,
45. 2:43 like stickball and hopscotch.
46. 2:45 And it was a real cross-cultural experience.
47. 2:48 So it was when I got married to Andy, finally, the hot dog guy.
48. 2:53 He stayed with me all those years.
49. 2:56 We moved to Connecticut.
50. 2:58 And Connecticut is about a two-hour drive outside of the city.
51. 3:01 And again, you have to go over the bridge to get there.
52. 3:04 And it was there in Connecticut that we raised our two incredible kids, Jake and Anna.
53. 3:10 Now, Jake and Anna were a real handful growing up.
54. 3:13 I'll be honest with you.
55. 3:14 They didn't fit into any school system.
56. 3:17 And so we tried so many different things, lots of different schools,
57. 3:21 homeschooling, unschooling, life schooling, projects, programs, early college.
58. 3:26 And so it was when Anna was 15 years old that she came to us.
59. 3:30 And she said, you know what?
60. 3:33 I'm done with two years of college already.
61. 3:35 I'm ready to go live at a university.
62. 3:39 Now, Andy and I discussed it.
63. 3:42 And we weren't too fond about the idea of our 15-year-old daughter
64. 3:45 going to live in a university dormitory with 18- and 19-year-old hoodlums.
65. 3:50 And so we came up with an alternative idea.
66. 3:53 We proposed that Anna and I together take a year off
67. 3:57 and we go volunteer someplace
68. 3:59 so that we could learn about other people,
69. 4:01 and we could help, and we could learn about life,
70. 4:04 and we could learn about each other, too.
71. 4:07 Now, the last thing that a 15-year-old teenager wants to hear
72. 4:11 is that she's going to get to spend the year with her mother.
73. 4:16 But we threw in the extra enticement of,
74. 4:18 well, we could go do this in a foreign country.
75. 4:21 And so Anna took the bait.
76. 4:23 And so we did some research,
77. 4:24 and we finally found a project that wanted the two of us.
78. 4:27 And it was right here in Peru.
79. 4:30 And that was four years ago.
80. 4:32 So four years ago, we got on a plane and landed in Cusco
81. 4:36 and moved to the little town of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.
82. 4:41 And there we worked in a project
83. 4:43 that educated girls from the high mountain communities.
84. 4:46 Because you see, in the high mountains,
85. 4:48 schools only go up to sixth grade.
86. 4:50 And after the sixth grade,
87. 4:52 most girls have absolutely no chance to have a further education.
88. 4:56 They're basically left their communities to do chores
89. 5:00 and, let's face it, to get pregnant.
90. 5:04 So Anna and I moved to Ollantaytambo
91. 5:07 and worked in a girls' dormitory project.
92. 5:10 So every Sunday, the girls would hike down to the dorm
93. 5:13 so that they could live with us during the week
94. 5:16 while we tutored and mentored them.
95. 5:17 And they went to high school in town.
96. 5:20 And then on Friday after school, they went back to their communities.
97. 5:23 And they would hike anywhere from two to eight hours.
98. 5:26 to get to us every week.
99. 5:27 We were so humbled by this experience
100. 5:30 because we got to know their families
101. 5:32 and the way that they lived.
102. 5:34 And they all lived in one-room mud homes
103. 5:37 high in the mountains with dirt floors,
104. 5:40 no windows, no electricity,
105. 5:43 no running water,
106. 5:45 no bathing facilities,
107. 5:47 no bathrooms, no toilets.
108. 5:49 And we were so humbled
109. 5:51 because these girls were so grateful
110. 5:53 for the work that Anna and I were doing.
111. 5:56 We had left our comfortable homes
112. 5:58 to come and work with them
113. 5:59 so that they might have some more opportunity in life
114. 6:01 so that they could get an education.
115. 6:04 And so while we were there,
116. 6:06 Jake came down to visit us.
117. 6:09 And Jake installed a computer lab
118. 6:12 for the girls in the dorm
119. 6:13 because he does that type of work back in the States.
120. 6:16 He has a nonprofit that does that type of work.
121. 6:18 So he installed the lab
122. 6:20 and then we took him up to one of the communities
123. 6:23 that the girls come from.
124. 6:24 And it's at 14,000 feet.
125. 6:26 He got to experience the way that the girls live.
126. 6:29 And on the way back home that day,
127. 6:32 he was really uncharacteristically quiet.
128. 6:36 And finally, he came out with it.
129. 6:38 And he said,
130. 6:39 Mom, this is just crazy.
131. 6:43 He said, here we are giving technology
132. 6:46 and computers to kids in town,
133. 6:49 which is a great thing.
134. 6:51 But meanwhile,
135. 6:53 their families don't even have a light in their home.
136. 6:57 Not even a light.
137. 6:59 That was the beginning of an idea.
138. 7:02 So Jake went back home to his university
139. 7:04 and two months later he came back.
140. 7:07 But this time he had boxes of solar cells in his suitcase.
141. 7:11 And we took those solar cells
142. 7:13 and in my apartment in Ollantaytambo
143. 7:15 we built huge 250-watt solar panels.
144. 7:19 And the idea was
145. 7:20 that we would take these solar panels
146. 7:22 and install them in one of these high communities
147. 7:25 where there was no electricity.
148. 7:26 So the people in that community
149. 7:29 could have access to light and electricity.
150. 7:33 Well, that was the idea.
151. 7:35 But I had no idea of how to get that implemented.
152. 7:38 So I called a good friend of mine
153. 7:40 who was a native from Ollantaytambo
154. 7:42 and asked him to help us.
155. 7:44 He arranged the whole thing
156. 7:46 and all of us piled into a van
157. 7:49 and drove up to the community.
158. 7:51 When we got there,
159. 7:52 I was incredibly shocked.
160. 7:55 Because everyone from the community came out to help.
161. 7:59 They came and they carried the panels out from the van
162. 8:02 and then they proceeded to help us
163. 8:04 through the entire installation.
164. 8:06 It was just amazing.
165. 8:09 When the installation was done,
166. 8:11 they assembled the entire community
167. 8:14 in this salon where we had just installed the lights.
168. 8:17 And for two and a half hours
169. 8:19 I stood there with Jacob on one side
170. 8:22 and Anna on the other side.
171. 8:24 And every single person,
172. 8:26 every member of the community got up and spoke.
173. 8:28 They addressed each one of us.
174. 8:31 Señora Alicia, Jacob, Anna,
175. 8:35 desde nuestros corazones,
176. 8:37 from our hearts,
177. 8:40 we wish to give you our greatest gratitude.
178. 8:44 This gift that you've given us today
179. 8:47 will make a change in our lives.
180. 8:49 But even more than that
181. 8:51 is that it will affect our children's lives
182. 8:55 so much more than we can even imagine.
183. 8:58 You've given them hope for the future.
184. 9:01 They're going to experience a life
185. 9:03 that is so different
186. 9:04 than what we can even imagine.
187. 9:07 If there's anything you ever need
188. 9:09 while you're in this country,
189. 9:10 call on us.
190. 9:11 We're here to help you.
191. 9:13 And if you look at the smiles on their faces,
192. 9:16 you can see the gratitude.
193. 9:17 One picture says a thousand words.
194. 9:21 Now, I was totally blown away.
195. 9:24 That day, something in my heart changed.
196. 9:27 I've been involved in outreach projects
197. 9:29 in the United States
198. 9:30 for many, many years.
199. 9:33 My whole family has always pitched it,
200. 9:35 and we've done so many things.
201. 9:36 In the inner city,
202. 9:37 we've worked with children
203. 9:39 in school projects,
204. 9:40 with the homeless,
205. 9:42 with unwed mothers.
206. 9:43 But this?
207. 9:44 This was something really different.
208. 9:48 And it was different
209. 9:50 because we could see on that day
210. 9:52 the real results
211. 9:53 of this little act that we had done,
212. 9:56 how it was going to affect these people's lives.
213. 9:59 That day, I was acting as a bridge.
214. 10:02 I had taken my information
215. 10:04 as an engineer in the north,
216. 10:06 seen a problem here,
217. 10:08 and applied to me what was a simple solution.
218. 10:12 I was acting as a bridge.
219. 10:14 And the native people have a word for this
220. 10:16 in their native language.
221. 10:18 It's chakaruna.
222. 10:20 And a chakaruna is a bridge person.
223. 10:23 Now, traditionally,
224. 10:25 the chakaruna is the shaman of the community
225. 10:27 who acts as a bridge
226. 10:29 between the spiritual world
227. 10:31 and the physical world.
228. 10:33 And the native people are really smart.
229. 10:36 They understand that in this world,
230. 10:39 you have to have balance.
231. 10:41 And in order to have balance,
232. 10:43 sometimes you need a chakaruna
233. 10:44 to help you connect with another world.
234. 10:47 And I think that this concept
235. 10:49 is just absolutely amazing,
236. 10:51 and that we can apply it to our lives.
237. 10:52 Because here we are,
238. 10:54 all on our little islands,
239. 10:56 all in our own little worlds.
240. 10:58 I am in Cusco,
241. 10:59 my husband's in Connecticut,
242. 11:01 my mother's in New York,
243. 11:02 Anna's in Germany right now,
244. 11:04 you're in Lima,
245. 11:05 Juan Quispe is up in his mountain community,
246. 11:09 in his little hut.
247. 11:10 And we're all consumed with our daily lives,
248. 11:14 with those routines,
249. 11:15 with those things that we have to get done.
250. 11:17 But if we just reach out to another person
251. 11:20 and try and understand their world,
252. 11:22 and try and become a bridge,
253. 11:24 we'll all have more balance.
254. 11:26 Incan prophecy says that we're entering into a new age.
255. 11:30 And this age is the union of the eagle of the north
256. 11:34 and the condor of the south.
257. 11:36 And it's also said that the eagles from the north
258. 11:39 work from their minds.
259. 11:40 The condors from the south work from their hearts.
260. 11:44 Now both of those are good things,
261. 11:46 but not in isolation.
262. 11:48 And it's only when we can meld those two things
263. 11:51 and create a bridge between the north thinking
264. 11:54 and the south thinking
265. 11:56 that we'll have balance in this world.
266. 11:58 So the president of the community
267. 12:00 that we installed the panels in came to me
268. 12:03 and said,
269. 12:03 Senora Alicia,
270. 12:04 is it possible for you to teach us
271. 12:06 how to build these panels
272. 12:07 so we could have light in our house?
273. 12:10 Wow.
274. 12:11 Light in your house.
275. 12:12 What a concept.
276. 12:14 What an idea.
277. 12:16 I never thought about it
278. 12:17 because I always had light in my house.
279. 12:20 So I went back to my house
280. 12:21 to my apartment and did some research.
281. 12:23 And I found out that there are 1.8 billion people
282. 12:27 in this world that have no access to electricity.
283. 12:30 That's just amazing.
284. 12:32 Can you imagine your life without electricity?
285. 12:36 Can you imagine your life without light?
286. 12:47 Right here in the Andes Mountains,
287. 12:50 the sun sets at 6 p.m. every night year round.
288. 12:54 And most people go to sleep at that time
289. 12:57 because there's no light.
290. 12:58 There's no electricity.
291. 13:00 Others spend about 20% of their monthly income
292. 13:04 in alternative sources
293. 13:06 like candles and kerosene lanterns.
294. 13:09 Now, not only are those resources expensive,
295. 13:12 but they're also really dangerous
296. 13:14 for your health and your security.
297. 13:18 For instance,
298. 13:20 many children and elderly people
299. 13:21 have respiratory problems in those communities.
300. 13:24 There are also many, many burn victims
301. 13:27 because of the open flames.
302. 13:32 So here again was another chance
303. 13:33 for me to become a chakaruna.
304. 13:36 This problem was really real
305. 13:37 and it was really widespread.
306. 13:39 So I did some more research
307. 13:41 and I found that because the problem exists
308. 13:43 in Africa and India,
309. 13:45 there are solutions for the problem.
310. 13:47 There are small solar lanterns
311. 13:49 that have been developed
312. 13:50 with a solar panel built in
313. 13:51 and a really strong LED light.
314. 13:55 These lights are pretty cost-effective.
315. 13:57 They're not too expensive.
316. 14:00 They don't give off any harmful emissions.
317. 14:03 And the best thing is they run from the sun.
318. 14:05 They're solar-powered.
319. 14:06 And so once you have one in your house,
320. 14:08 you don't have to spend any more money
321. 14:10 on buying batteries or candles or kerosene.
322. 14:15 But I knew that as a foreigner,
323. 14:16 it was going to be impossible
324. 14:18 for me to try and implement a solution like this.
325. 14:21 So again, I called on my good friend,
326. 14:24 Washington Gebaha,
327. 14:25 who's a native of Ollantaytambo,
328. 14:27 and explained the problem and the solution to him.
329. 14:30 And because he has the local knowledge
330. 14:34 of the local culture and tradition
331. 14:37 and can speak the local language,
332. 14:39 together, he and I formed a bridge
333. 14:43 and we created a social enterprise
334. 14:45 to bring these products to people
335. 14:48 in remote areas that have no electricity.
336. 14:50 Now, I'm not going to say it was easy.
337. 14:53 We've had to hike four, six, eight, ten hours
338. 14:56 to some communities to get there.
339. 14:58 There are no roads.
340. 14:59 The government has forgotten about these places.
341. 15:01 We've had to put our products on horses and mules.
342. 15:04 And during rainy season, forget about it.
343. 15:07 It's almost impossible to get to a lot of these places.
344. 15:09 And so many times I've had to get out of our van
345. 15:12 or out of our truck and really push and just pray
346. 15:15 that we're going to get out of this mess
347. 15:17 that we're stuck in.
348. 15:19 We haven't had help from the government.
349. 15:22 We've had some help from small nonprofits
350. 15:24 and private funders.
351. 15:25 And in other countries,
352. 15:28 we've had a little bit of help from the U.S. government.
353. 15:31 And we've dug into our own pockets an awful lot
354. 15:34 to just keep this project going.
355. 15:37 But it's been really worth it.
356. 15:39 And this is what we found.
357. 15:41 With one engineer from the north, myself,
358. 15:43 and a tour guide from the south, Washi,
359. 15:46 we've been able to create a bridge
360. 15:49 that has touched over 75,000 lives.
361. 15:52 That's over 75,000 people
362. 15:54 who now have access to electricity.
363. 16:02 And the results are just amazing.
364. 16:03 Now children can read and study and do homework
365. 16:06 and get a better education.
366. 16:08 And women can weave in their homes
367. 16:10 so that they're producing more textiles
368. 16:12 that they can sell and have more income
369. 16:14 for their families.
370. 16:15 Men are able to work in their chakras
371. 16:17 or their farms for longer
372. 16:20 and come home safely at night.
373. 16:22 We've put solar panels on schools
374. 16:24 and on health clinics.
375. 16:26 We've been putting laptops,
376. 16:29 labs into schools
377. 16:31 and providing educational training,
378. 16:33 educational software and training to teachers
379. 16:35 so that kids can get a better education.
380. 16:38 And I've learned so much from being here,
381. 16:41 from living here.
382. 16:42 And I've learned lots of things.
383. 16:44 I've learned that I can be a bridge.
384. 16:46 I've learned that everyone can be a bridge.
385. 16:48 And I've also learned that bridges go two ways.
386. 16:51 It's not a one-way street.
387. 16:53 And there is so much that we can learn
388. 16:55 in the north from the indigenous people
389. 16:58 that live here.
390. 17:00 Concepts like I need.
391. 17:02 I help you today, you help me tomorrow.
392. 17:05 Concepts like we need balance
393. 17:08 between our minds and our hearts.
394. 17:11 Concepts like respect.
395. 17:12 We have to have respect for Mother Earth
396. 17:15 and everything on it,
397. 17:16 living or non-living.
398. 17:18 We have to think about other people
399. 17:20 and how our actions affect other people
400. 17:22 and the other things on this earth.
401. 17:24 And think about not only our children
402. 17:26 and our children's children,
403. 17:27 but seven generations in the future
404. 17:29 like our ancestors did.
405. 17:32 So now my mission is to create cross-cultural programs.
406. 17:36 And I'm uniting people from different cultures
407. 17:38 and we're doing some tremendous projects
408. 17:40 that are creating sustainable solutions
409. 17:44 for needs, real needs that are here.
410. 17:47 And so we're doing things like
411. 17:49 we are planting trees and reforesting.
412. 17:53 We're building greenhouses
413. 17:55 so that people can have
414. 17:56 good healthy food to eat.
415. 17:59 We're installing more solar panels
416. 18:01 and doing more education projects.
417. 18:04 And we're helping to bring
418. 18:06 hot meals to school children
419. 18:08 so that they can go to school with a full belly.
420. 18:12 Now I'm not saying that you need to leave your home,
421. 18:15 leave your family,
422. 18:17 leave your good paying job,
423. 18:19 and come to a foreign country
424. 18:21 the way that I did.
425. 18:23 But every day you can look for an opportunity
426. 18:25 to reach out and create just a small little bridge.
427. 18:30 Whether it's visiting a neighbor
428. 18:32 and listening to their stories,
429. 18:34 listening about where they came from,
430. 18:37 tutoring a child,
431. 18:40 mentoring someone,
432. 18:42 donating to a charity.
433. 18:44 Just smile at someone when you see them on the street.
434. 18:48 These are all ways that you can start to create
435. 18:50 a small little bridge.
436. 18:52 And once you do,
437. 18:54 you'll have more balance in your life.
438. 18:56 And we'll all be better off for it.
439. 18:59 So leave your island
440. 19:01 and be a bridge.
441. 19:03 Thank you.

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