“In the jungle cathedral, we have the opportunity to see the best comeyeof ourselves to be reflected back to us". THE Boyd Varty, a wildlife activist, shares stories of animals, people and each otherconnections, or “umbudu” – defined as “I am… because you are”. And he dedicates the speech (TED Talks) to the leader of South Africa Nelson Mandela, the human embodiment of the same generous and generous spirit.
The translation into English was done by Chryssa Rapessi and edited by Stefano Reppa
I'm a man who tries to live by his heart, so just before I go on, I want to tell you as a South African, that one of the people who has inspired me the most, died a few hours ago. Nelson Mandela has reached the end of his long march to freedom. And so this speech will be about him.
I grew up in awe. I grew up among these animals. I grew up in the wild eastern part of South Africa, in a place called Londolozi Game Reserve. It is a place where my family has had a safari business for four generations. Now, as far as I can remember, the work it's been my passion to guide people in nature, so I think today is a beautiful twist of fate, to have the opportunity to bring some of my experiences in nature to this meeting. Africa is the place where the world still sits under the starry sky, and they tell stories around the fire, so what I have to share with you today is the simple remedy of some stories around the fire, stories about heroes of the heart . So my stories are not the stories you will hear on the news, and while it is true that Africa is a harsh place, I also know that it is a place where people, animals and ecosystems teach us about a more connected world.
When I was nine, President Mandela came to my family. He had just been released from his 27hronious imprisonment, and was in a period of readjustment to his sudden world idolization. Members of the National African Congress believed that the jungle would have time to rest and recover from publicity, and it is true that the lions are very deterrent to the press and paparazzi. (Laughter) But it was a defining moment for me as a young boy. I was taking breakfast in the bed, and then, with an old form and slippers, take a walk around the garden. In the evening, I was sitting with my family around the TV with the snow and the antennas, and I watched pictures of the same quiet man from the garden surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people, as every evening they broadcast scenes from his release. He brought peace to a divided and violent South Africa, a man with an incredible sense of humanity. Mandela often said that the gift of the prison was the ability to get in and think, to create within him the things that he wanted most about South Africa: peace, reconciliation, harmony. Through this act of immense open-hearted behavior became the incarnation of what we call "abound" in South Africa. Ubudutu: I'm .. because we are. Or, people are not people without other people. It is not a new idea or value, but it is something that I certainly believe is worthwhile in such times. In fact, it is reported that in the collective consciousness of Africa, we are experiencing the deepest parts of our own humanity through our interactions with others. Ombudsman plays a role at this time. You hold room for me to express the deeper truth about who I am. Without you, I'm just a guy talking in an empty room, and I spent too much time last week doing it, and it's not the same thing. (Laughs)
If Mandela was the national and global embodiment, then the man who taught me most about that value personally was this man, Solly Mlongo. Solly was born under a tree, 60 kilometers from where I grew up, in Mozambique. He would never have a lot of money, but he would be one of the richest people I will ever meet. Solly grew up tending to his father's cattle. Now I don't know what it is about those who grow up tending cattle, but it promotes hyper-ingenuity. The first job he ever did in the safari business was repairing safari trucks. How he learned to do that out there in the jungle I have no idea, but he could do it. Then it moved to what we call the natural environment group. These were the people at the shelter who were responsible for its operation. He repaired roads, repaired liquidplaces, was fighting poaching. And one day when we were out together, he found the tracks of a female leopard walking. And they were old tracks, but just for fun he turned around and started following them, and I tell you, I could tell by the speed at which he was moving in those tracks that this man was a Ph.D.-level tracker. If you were driving past Solly somewhere out there on the reserve, you'd look through the rearview mirror and see that he'd stopped the car 20, 50 meters down the road just in case you needed help with something. The only criticism I've ever heard of him was when one of our customers said to him, "Solly, you're pathologically helpful." (Laughs)
When I began to professionally lead in this environment, Solly was my tracer. We worked together as a team. And the first visitors we've ever had is a charity team from your East Coast, and they said to Solly, aside, they said, "Before we even go see lions and leopards, we want to see where you live." So we went to his house and this philanthropic visit to his house coincided with the time Solley's wife, who was learning English, was going through a phase where he opened the door, saying, "Hello, I love you. Welcome, I love you. " (Laughter) And that had something so splendidly African to me, this little house with the big heart in it.
Now the day Solya saved my life, he was my hero. It was a hot day, and we were in the river. Because of the heat, I took off my shoes, turned my backpacks, and walked in the river. Solly remained on the bank. The water was clean and flowed onto the sand, and we turned and started to go upstairs. A few yards ahead of us was a place where a tree had fallen from the bank, and its branches touched the water, and it was shady. And if it was a horror movie, the audience would start saying, "Do not go there. Do not go there. " (Laughter) And of course, the crocodile was in the shadows. Now the first thing you watch when attacking a crocodile is the boredom of biting. Bam! It catches my right foot. It pulls me. It turns me around. Raise my hand. I can catch a branch. It shakes me violently. It is a very strange feeling to try to eat another creature, and there are few things that promote vegetarianism in this way. (Laughter) Solly on the bank sees I have a problem. He turns around. It starts to come to me. The crocodile begins to shake me again. He's going to bite me a second time. I see a slick of blood in the water around me that rinses in the river. As he bites me the second time, I kick. My foot is in my throat. Spits me up. I pull on the branches, and as I walk out of the water, I look behind my shoulder. My leg under the knee has been overwhelmed beyond any description. The bone is cracked. The meat is torn. I am immediately opposed to never revisiting it. As I walk out of the water, Solly reaches the deep, a channel between us. He knows, he sees the condition of my leg, he knows that there is a crocodile among us, and I can tell you that this man does not waste time. Comes directly to the channel. It comes in with the water above its waist. He is approaching me. She grabs me. I'm still in a vulnerable position. It raises me and puts it on his shoulder. Still something about Solly is horribly loud. He turns around. It takes me to the bank. It leaves me down. He pulls off his shirt. It wraps around my leg, raises me once more, takes me to a vehicle, and can take me to medical care. And I survived.
Now - (Applause)
Now I do not know how many people you know who would enter a deep water channel where they know they have a crocodile to come to help you, but for Solly, it was natural, like breathing. And it is an amazing example of what I have experienced across Africa. In a more collective society, we realize from the inside that our well-being is deeply connected with the well-being of others. The risk is shared. Pain is shared. Joy is shared. The feat is shared. The houses are shared. The food is shared. Ubutitus asks us to open our hearts and share that what Solly taught me on that day is the essence of this value, his animating, enthusiastic action at all times.
Now although the root of the word has to do with people, I thought that maybe Ubudu has to do only with people. And then I met this young lady. Her name was Elvis. In fact, Solly gave her the name Elvis because she said she walked like she was dancing in the Elvis basin. He was born with severely deformed hind legs and pelvis. She arrived at our shelter from a shelter east of us on her migratory journey. When I first saw her, I thought she would be dead in a few days. And yet, for the next five years he returned in the winter months. And we were so excited when we were in the jungle and we came across these unusual traces. They looked like an inverted parenthesis, and we would leave whatever we did and follow them, and then we would come from the corner, where she would be there with her herd. And this overflow of emotions from the world on our safari trucks as they watched it, was the feeling of being tied up. And it reminded me that even people who grew up in cities feel a natural connection to the natural world and to animals. And yet, I was surprised that he survived. And one day we met them in a small puddle of water. It was like a hollow in the ground. And I watched as the matriarch drank, and then turned with this wonderfully slow movement of the elephants, it looked like the hand in motion, and began to climb the steep bank. The rest of the herd turned and started following. And I was watching young Elvis psychologically preparing to climb the hill. It was obvious - her ears came forward, she took shape and in the middle, her legs surrendered and she fell backwards. He tried it a second time, and again, in the middle, he fell backwards. And in the third attempt, something amazing happens. In the middle of the bank, a young teenage elephant came up behind her, put his proboscis under her and started pushing her on the bank. And I thought the rest of the herd was taking care of this young elephant. The next day I looked again as the matriarch broke a branch and put it in her mouth, and then broke a second one and threw it to the ground. And there was a consensus among all of us, who were guiding people in this area, that this herd was actually moving slower to facilitate this elephant.
What Elvis and the herd have taught me have made me broaden the definition of humor, and I believe in the jungle cathedral, we see the most beautiful pieces of ourselves reflecting back to us. And it is not only through other people who experience our humanity but through all the creatures that live on this planet. If Africa has to share a gift, it is a gift of a more collective society. And while it is true that the humble is an African idea, what I see is the essence of this value being invented here.
Thank you.
(Clap)
Pat Mitchell: Well, Boyd, we know that you knew President Mandela from early childhood and that you heard the news as we all do today, deeply shaken, and we know what a tragic loss it is to the world. But I just wondered if you'd like to share some additional thoughts because we know you heard this news shortly before you came out for this piece.
Boyd Varty: Thank you, Pat. I'm glad it's time to move on. He was. And so I have mixed feelings. But I just think of so many incidents, like when she went to the show and asked her what the show would be. (Laughter) And he said, "Well, it will be for you." I want to say, this is incredible humility. (Laughs)
He was the father of our nation and we have a long way to go to South Africa. And all of them, called Madhya magic. You know, go to a ragby fight and win. Where he went, things were going well. But I think the magic will be with us, and the important thing is that we carry what we advocate. So that's what I will try to do, and that's what people are trying to do across South Africa.
PM: And that's what you did today. MB: Oh, thank you.
PM: Thank you. MB: Thank you. Thank you very much.
