My dear new friends ...
(Laughter) My name is Eddie Jaku, and I'm standing in front of you today, a survivor of the Holocaust and a witness of the most tragic times in the history of mankind.
I was a proud young German.
I thought this was the best civilization that could be given to a young man like me.
How wrong I was.
On the 9th of November, 1938, I returned from boarding school where I had lived under a false name for five years because I was a Jew.
I lived away from my family, like an orphan, getting an education and under enormous pressure and fear that somebody could find out that I was not Walter Shleiss who I pretended to be.
I was in great danger.
On that fateful night, I had arrived home, but my family had gone in hiding, and I was alone.
I went to bed with my dog close by.
At 5 a.m., on the 10th of November, 1938, ten Nazis broke down the door of our house.
What they did to me, I am ashamed to tell you.
It was so bad that I believed, "Eddie, you're going to die today."
After, they made me witness the demolition of our 200-year-old house and murdering my beloved dog, Lulu, who had tried to protect me, in front of my eyes.
I lost my dignity, my freedom, and my faith in humanity.
I lost everything I lived for.
I was reduced from a man to being nothing.
What happened to my country where I was born in, the country of my ancestors, the country which produced [Schiller], Goethe, Beethoven, and Mozart?
What had happened to my German friends who became murderers?
At the time, none of us understood that "Kristallnacht" - the "Night of Broken Glass" where the fronts of Jewish-owned shops were smashed, and the shops looted, and homes and synagogues were set on fire - was only the beginning of the nightmare of much, much worse to come.
That day, I was transported to my first concentration camp, Buchenwald, where I was kept with another 11,000 Jewish men for about five months.
On the 2nd of May, 1939, I was released.
My father picked me up and brought me to Aachen.
After 10 hours driving, we made an arrangement with a smuggler to take us into Belgium.
I spent two weeks there with my dad in an apartment until I was arrested by Belgium police as a German, not a Jew.
and interned in a camp with 4,000 other Germans.
On the 10th of May, 1940, the camp was liquidated.
We split up in Dunkirk, and I continued on to Lyon.
There, I was arrested by French police and sent to Gurs, a terrible camp with 6,000 Germans.
After my internments at camps, I was finally transported to what became my hell on earth: Auschwitz.
My parents and sister were also transported to Auschwitz, and I was never to see my parents again.
I did not have a chance to say goodbye to my beloved mother, and I have missed her every day of my life.
If you have the opportunity today, please go home and make sure you tell your mom how much you love her.
Please do this for your new friend, Eddie.
I was lucky enough, managed to escape what became known as the death march.
and I hid in a forest, alone, for many months, before I was found by the American army.
But I'm standing here today a happy man, who enjoys life with a wonderful wife and a beautiful family.
I do not hate anyone.
Hate is a disease which may destroy your enemy, but will also destroy you in the process.
(Applause) I'm doing everything I can to make this world a better place for everyone, and I implore you all to do your best too.
Let us ensure that this terrible tragedy, the worst in the history, may never happen again and also will never, ever be forgotten.
After many years of hardship and hiding, on the 7th September, 1945, after a long journey by train, I entered back into Belgium without any papers.
Very shortly after that, I met and married my wife, Flore, to whom I have been married for 73 years.
(Cheers) (Applause) Thank you.
At that time, I was not a happy man.
(Laughter) (Chuckles) I did not enjoy being amongst people.
That was until our first son, Michael, was born.
At that time, my heart was healed and my happiness returned in abundance.
I made the promise that from that day until the end of my life, I promised to be happy, smile, be polite, helpful, and kind.
I also promised to never put my foot on German soil again.
Today, I stand in front of you, a man who has kept all those promises.
My greatest happiness comes from my family, my wife, two sons - Michael and Andre - my many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who all bring so much joy.
Today, I teach and share happiness with everyone I meet.
Happiness does not fall from the sky; it's in your hands.
If you're healthy and happy, you're a millionaire.
(Chuckles) Happiness also brings good health to the body and mind, and I attribute my 99 years of health mostly to the positive and happy attitude.
(Applause) One flower is my garden; one good friend is my world.
Young people today forget to stop.
They're constantly running and don't know where they're running to.
(Laughter) You should take time to be happy and enjoy life.
There's a time to laugh and there's a time to cry.
I see good things in life.
Invite a friend or family member for a meal.
Go for a walk.
Tomorrow will come, but first enjoy today!
(Applause) I wonder how people exist without friendship, without people to share their secrets, hopes, and dreams, to share good fortune or sad losses.
In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasure, good times made better and bad times forgotten - due to the magic of friendship.
For me, when I wake up, I'm happy because it is another day to enjoy.
When I remember that I should have died a miserable death, but instead I'm alive, so I aim to help people who are down.
I was at the bottom of the pit.
So If I can make one miserable person smile, I'm happy.
(Applause) Remember these words: Please do not walk in front of me - I may not be able to follow.
Please do not walk behind me - I may not be able to lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.
(Applause) I will end my talk with a wish from my heart to all your hearts.
May you always have lots of love to share, lots of good health to spare, and lots of good friends that care.
Thank you for giving me the privilege of speaking to you today.
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)
4,300 years ago in ancient Sumer, the most powerful person in the city of Ur was banished to wander the vast desert.
Her name was Enheduanna.
She was the high priestess of the moon god and history’s first known author.
By the time of her exile, she had written 42 hymns and three epic poems— and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her.
Enheduanna lived 1,700 years before Sappho, 1,500 years before Homer, and about 500 years before the biblical patriarch Abraham.
She was born in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the birthplace of the first cities and high cultures.
Her father was King Sargon the Great, history’s first empire builder, who conquered the independent city-states of Mesopotamia under a unified banner.
Sargon was a northern Semite who spoke Akkadian, and the older Sumerian cities in the south viewed him as a foreign invader.
They frequently revolted to regain their independence, fracturing his new dynasty.
To bridge the gap between cultures, Sargon appointed his only daughter, Enheduanna, as high priestess in the empire’s most important temple.
Female royalty traditionally served religious roles, and she was educated to read and write in both Sumerian and Akkadian, and make mathematical calculations.
The world's first writing started in Sumer as a system of accounting, allowing merchants to communicate over long distances with traders abroad.
Their pictogram system of record keeping developed into a script about 300 years before Enheduanna’s birth.
This early writing style, called cuneiform, was written with a reed stylus pressed into soft clay to make wedge-shaped marks.
But until Enheduanna, this writing mostly took the form of record keeping and transcription, rather than original works attributable to individual writers.
Enheduanna’s Ur was a city of 34,000 people with narrow streets, multi-storied brick homes, granaries, and irrigation.
As high priestess, Enheduanna managed grain storage for the city, oversaw hundreds of temple workers, interpreted sacred dreams, and presided over the monthly new moon festival and rituals celebrating the equinoxes.
Enheduanna set about unifying the older Sumerian culture with the newer Akkadian civilization.
To accomplish this, she wrote 42 religious hymns that combined both mythologies.
Each Mesopotamian city was ruled by a patron deity, so her hymns were dedicated to the ruling god of each major city.
She praised the city’s temple, glorified the god’s attributes, and explained the god’s relationship to other deities within the pantheon.
In her writing, she humanized the once aloof gods— now they suffered, fought, loved, and responded to human pleading.
Enheduanna’s most valuable literary contribution was the poetry she wrote to Inanna, goddess of war and desire, the divinely chaotic energy that gives spark to the universe.
Inanna delighted in all forms of sexual expression and was considered so powerful that she transcended gender boundaries, as did her earthly attendants, who could be prostitutes, eunuchs or cross-dressers.
Enheduanna placed Inanna at the top of the pantheon as the most powerful deity.
Her odes to Inanna mark the first time an author writes using the pronoun “I,” and the first time writing is used to explore deep, private emotions.
After the death of Enheduanna’s father, King Sargon, a general took advantage of the power vacuum and staged a coup.
As a powerful member of the ruling family, Enheduanna was a target, and the general exiled her from Ur.
Her nephew, the legendary Sumerian king Naram-Sin, ultimately crushed the uprising and restored his aunt as high priestess.
In total, Enheduanna served as high priestess for 40 years.
After her death, she became a minor deity, and her poetry was copied, studied, and performed throughout the empire for over 500 years.
Her poems influenced the Hebrew Old Testament, the epics of Homer, and Christian hymns.
Today, Enheduanna’s legacy still exists, on clay tablets that have stood the test of time.
I don't speak English.
I start speaking English, learning English, about a year ago.
I speak French and I grew up with French, so my English is Franglais.
I'm born in the Western Congo, in an area around here, and then went to university in Kisangani.
And after I finished, I went to this area, the Ituri Forest.
But what I've been doing -- when I was about 14, I grew in my uncle's house.
And my father was a soldier, and my uncle was a fisherman and also a poacher.
What I've been doing from 14 to 17 was, I was assisting them collecting ivory tusk, meat and whatever they were killing, poaching, hunting in the forest, bring it in the main city to get access to the market.
But finally, I got myself involved.
Around 17 to 20 years, I became, myself, a poacher.
And I wanted to do it, because -- I believed -- to continue my studies.
I wanted to go to university, but my father was poor, my uncle even.
So, I did it.
And for three to four years, I went to university.
For three times, I applied to biomedical science, to be a doctor.
I didn't succeed.
I was having my inscriptions, my admission to biology.
And I said, "No way, I'm not doing it.
My family's poor, my area don't have better health care.
I want to be a doctor to serve them."
Three times, that means three years, and I start getting old.
I say, "Oh, no, I continue."
So, I did tropical ecology and plant botany.
When I finished, I went to the Ituri Forest for my internship.
It's where I really getting passion with what I'm doing right up to now -- I'm standing in front of you -- doing botany and wildlife conservation.
That time the Ituri Forest was created as a forest reserve with some animals and also plants.
And the training center there was built around the scientific Congolese staff and some American scientists also.
So, the Okapi Faunal Reserve protects number -- I think that is the largest number of elephants we have right now in protected areas in Congo.
It has also chimpanzees.
And it has been named Okapi Faunal Reserve because of this beautiful creature.
That is a forest giraffe.
I think you guys know it quite well.
Here we have savanna giraffes, but through evolution we have this forest giraffe that lives only in Congo.
It has also some beautiful primates.
Thirteen species -- highest diversity we can find in one single area in Africa.
And it has the Ituri Forest itself -- about 1,300 species of plants, so far known.
I joined the Wildlife Conservation Society, working there, in 1995, but I started working with them as a student in 1991.
I was appointed as a teaching assistant at my university because I accomplished with honor.
But I didn't like the way -- the instruction I got was very poor.
And I wanted to be formed to a training center and a research center.
With the end of the dictatorship regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, that most of you know, life became very, very difficult.
And the work we have been doing was completely difficult to do and to achieve it.
When Kabila started his movement to liberate Congo, so Mobutu soldiers started moving and retreated.
So they started fleeing from the east to the west.
And the Okapi Faunal Reserve is there, so there was a road from Goma, somewhere here, and coming like this.
So they might go through, pass through the Okapi Faunal Reserve.
Congo has five of the world's richest sites of protected area, and the Okapi Faunal Reserve is one of them.
So soldier was fleeing in the Okapi Faunal Reserve.
On their way, they looted everything.
Torture, wars -- oh, my God, you can't believe.
Every person was looking his way -- where to go, we don't know.
And it was for us, the young, the first time really we hear the language of war, of guns.
And even people who faced the rebellion of 1963, after our independence, they didn't believe what was happening.
They were killing people.
They were doing whatever they want because they have power.
Who have been doing that?
Young children.
Child soldiers.
You can't ask him how old he is because he has guns.
But I was from the west, working in the east.
I even [at] that time was not speaking Swahili.
And when they came, they looted everything.
You can't speak Lingala because Lingala was from Mobutu, and everyone speaking Lingala is soldier.
And I was from the same area to him.
All my friends said, we are leaving because we are a target.
But I'm not going to the east, because I don't know Swahili.
I stay.
If I go, I will be killed.
I can't go back to my area -- it's more than 1,000 kilometers [away].
I stayed after they looted everything.
We have been doing research on botany, and we have a small herbarium of 4,500 sheets of plants.
We cut, we dry and we packed them, we mounted them on a folder.
Purpose: so that we start them for agriculture, for medicine, for whatever, and for science, for the study of the flora and the change of the forest.
That is people moving around, that's even Pygmies.
And this is a bright guy, hard-working person, and Pygmy.
I've been working with him about 10 years.
And with soldiers, they went to the forest for poaching elephants.
Because he's Pygmy, he knows how to track elephants in the forest.
He has been attacked by a leopard and they abandon him in the forest.
They came to told me, I have to save him.
And what I did, I gave him just antibiotics that we care for tuberculosis.
And fortunately, I saved his life.
And that was the language of the war.
Everywhere there has been constant extraction of mineral, killing animals, the logging timbers and so on.
And what of important things -- I think all of you here have a cell phone.
That mineral has killed a lot: five millions of Congolese have gone because of this Colombo-Tantalite -- they call it Coltan -- that they use it to make cell phones and it has been in that area, all over in Congo.
Extraction, and good, big business of the war.
And what I did for the first war, after we have lost everything, I have to save something, even myself, my life and life of the staff.
I buried some of our new vehicle engines, I buried it to save it.
And some of equipment went with them, on the top of the canopy, to save it.
He's not collecting plants, he's going to save our equipment on the canopy.
And with the material that's left -- because they wanted to destroy it, to burn it, they didn't understand it, they didn't go to school -- I packed it.
And that is me, going to, hurrying to Uganda, to try to save that 4,000 material, with people carrying them on the bikes, bicycles.
And after that, we succeeded.
I housed that 4,000 material at the herbarium of Makerere University.
And after the war, I have been able to bring it back home, so that we continue our studies.
The second war came while we didn't expect it.
With friends, we had been sitting and watching match football, and having some good music with WorldSpace radio, when it started, I think.
So, it was so bad.
We heard that now from the east again the war started, and it's going fast.
This time I think Kabila will go in place of, as he did with Mobutu.
And the reserve was a target to the rebels.
Three different movements and two militia acting in the same area and competing for natural resources.
And there was no way to work.
They destroy everything.
Poaching -- oh, no way.
And that's the powerful men.
We have to meet and to talk to them.
What's the regulation of the reserve and what is the regulation of the parks?
And they can't do what they are doing.
So we went to meet them.
That is Coltan extraction, gold mining.
So, we started talking with them, convincing them that we are in a protected area.
There are regulations that it's prohibited to do logging, mining and poaching, specifically.
But they said, "You guys, you think that soldiers who are dying are not important, and your animals you are protecting are most important.
We don't think so.
We have to do it, because to let our movement advance."
I say, "No way, you are not going to do it here."
We started talking with them and I was negotiating.
Tried to protect our equipment, tried to protect our staff and the villages of about 1,500 people.
And we continued.
But I was doing that, negotiating with them.
Sometimes we are having meeting and they are talking with Jean-Pierre Bemba, with Mbusa Nyamwisi, with Kabila, and I'm there.
Sometimes, they talk to my own language, that is, Lingala.
I hear it and what strategy they are doing, what they are planning.
Sometimes, they are having a helicopter to supply them with ammunition and so on.
They used me to carry that, and I was doing counting, what comes from where, and where, and where.
I had only this equipment -- my satellite phone, my computer and a plastic solar panel -- that I hide it in the forest.
And every time, daily, after we have meeting, what compromise we have, whatever, I go, I write a short email, send it.
I don't know how many people I had on my address.
I sent the message: what is going about the progress of the war and what they are planning to do.
They started suspecting that what we do on the morning, and the afternoon, it's on the news, BBC, RFI.
(Laughter) Something might be going on.
And one day, we went for a meeting.
(Applause) Sorry.
One day, we went to meet the Chief Commander.
He had the same iridium cell phone like me.
And he asked me, "Do you know how to use this?"
I said, "I have never seen it.
(Laughter) I don't know."
And I had mine on my pocket.
So, it was a chance that they trusted me a lot.
They didn't -- they was not looking on me.
So I was scared.
And when we finished the meeting, I went to return it in the forest.
And I was sending news, doing whatever, reporting daily to the U.N., to UNESCO, to our institution in New York, what have been going.
And for that, they have been having big pressure to leave, to free the area.
Because there was no way -- whatever they do, it's known the same time.
During the first two rebellions, they killed all animals in the zoo.
We have a zoo of 14 Okapis, and one of them was pregnant.
And during the war, after a week of heavy war, fighting in the area, we succeeded: we had the first Okapi.
This is the only trouser and shirt remind me of this.
This is not local population, this is rebels.
They are now happy sending the news that they have protected the Okapi with the war, because we sent the news that they are killing and poaching everywhere.
After a week, we celebrated the birthday of that Okapi, they killed an elephant, just 50 meters to the area where the zoo, where Okapi was born.
And I was mad.
I oppose it -- that they are now going to dissect it, until I do my report and then I see the Chief Commander.
And I succeeded.
The elephant just decayed and they just got the tusks.
What we are doing after that -- that was the situation of the war -- we have to rebuild.
I had some money.
I was paid 150 dollars.
I devoted half of it to rebuild the herbarium, because we didn't have good infrastructure to start plants.
Wildlife Conservation Society more dealing with plants.
I started this with 70 dollars, and start fundraising money to where I've been going.
I had opportunity to go all over, where herbarium for my African material is.
And they supported me a bit, and I built this.
Now, it's doing work to train young Congolese.
And also, what one of the speciality we are doing, my design is tracking the global warming effect on biodiversity, and what the impacts of the Ituri Forest is playing to uptake carbon.
This is one of the studies we are doing on a 40-hectare plot, where we have tagged trees and lianas from one centimeters, and we are tracking them.
We have now data of about 15 years, to see how that forest is contributing to the carbon reductions.
And that is -- I think it's difficult for me.
This is a very embarrassing talk, I know.
I don't know where to start, where to finish it.
When I was thinking to come here, what best title I wanted to say to my talk, I didn't find this.
But now I think that I would have titled it, "The Language of Guns."
Where are you people?
Now we are talking about reconstitution, rebuild Africa.
But is gun industries a tool to rebuild, or is it a game?
I think we see the war like a game -- like soccer, football.
Everybody is happy, but see what it's doing, see what is going in Darfur.
Now we say, oh, my God.
See what the wars in Rwanda.
That's because of the language of guns.
I don't think that someone may blame Google, because it's doing the right things, even if people like Al-Qaeda are using Google to connect between them.
But it's serving millions for the best.
But what is doing with gun industries?
Thank you.
(Applause) Chris Anderson: Thank you, thank you.
Just wait over there.
It's an amazing story.
I suspect a lot of people here have the same question I have.
How can we help you?
Corneille Ewango: That's really embarrassing questions.
I think that now I feel nervous.
And I think, helping us, people are acting sometimes by ignorance.
I did it myself.
If I know when I was young, that [by] killing an elephant, I'm destroying biodiversity, I would not have done it.
Many, many of you have seen the talents of Africans, but there are few who are going to school.
Many are dying because of all those kind of pandemics, HIV, malaria, poverty, not going to school.
What you can assist us, it's by building capacities.
How many have got opportunity like me to go to U.S., do a master's?
And go -- now, I'm in the Netherlands to do a Ph.D.
But many of them are just here, because they don't have money.
And they can't go even to university.
They can't even attain the bachelor's degree.
Building capacities for the young generation is going to make a better generation and a better future tomorrow for Africa.
CA: Thank you, thank you.
(Applause)