Ted Talk #8 (Choice)

I watched a ted talk by Jacqueline Novogratz. Her talk was about poverty and changing it. When you first think of poverty, you think of someone that doesn't make a lot of money. In this talk she talked about how that is not the only thing that should define people in poverty. She told an inspiring story about a young women she met who was living in the slums of Africa named Jane. These slums were unimaginable. They were basically pieces of metal but together and put so close to each other, privacy was impossible. Jane had two dreams. One, to become a doctor and two to have husband that won't leave her. She couldn't afford to get an education and her husband left her with two children. With no money she had to turn to prostitution. She said something that really made me think. She said it wasn't the poverty that was bad but it was embarrassment she felt standing on a street selling her body.I think in America, prostitution is so horrible and we view any woman involved as someone who we should not associate with. However, Jane had to choose between feeding her babies and selling her body or having pride but having her children die. Should we really shun this? She also talked about an organization that works to provide for those in poverty. They will loan money to anyone as long as those people try to save some sort of money. Jane saved 50 dollars and that was a lot. She got helped with money and made a dress making business. I think a lot of times we think that people need to work there way up from the bottom, why? Why can't those who are fortunate help those that aren't. I think this world focuses to much on competition and fighting for ourselves when we could be helping everyone and building from each others strengths. At the end of the story with Jane, she gets to go live in a new housing facility in Africa that is similar to the loan organization. As long as the people can come up with some sort of savings, they get a house. Jane was asked what about her dreams? She described how they had changed, she didn't want to be a doctor, she wanted to help people. One of her jobs is going and talking to women suffering from HIV, like herself. She said she gives these people hope, which is better than any medicine. She also realized that she didn't want a husband that wouldn't leave her, she wanted a family that loves her. Jane loves her children more than anything. So in the end her dreams weren't what she thought they would be, but sometimes your dreams need to change with your life. This was so inspiring to me because I think we all get way to caught up in living out our dreams of going to college and getting a good job. There are people all over the world that can't do this, but they still don't give up on reaching for a goal. I will definitely take that away from this video. Jacqueline told her Ted talk through story. This story pulled people in and made them think. Like Daniel Pink says, we have an innate sense for story and in the end, we will listen most to it. I will always remember this woman's story and how poverty isn't always the money you have but what you are going through and what you went through.