Transcript
DAYLE HADDON:
I felt that I was given so much in my life that it was time for me to give back. I approached UNICEF and I finally went to them. I said, you're gonna have to make me an ambassador. (STAMMERS) Take me in, you're gonna have to. Lucky for me, they did, you know? I'm the only ambassador that begged to be an ambassador. I said, I want Darfur. Here's my goal, to get glamour involved, we're gonna get a talk at the woman's forum for every woman leader around the world about Darfur. I really wanted to find out about the essence of women in what they were doing in extreme situation.
They have a stalwartness and a grace, a resilience that just translate as a kind of beauty. They told me their stories and then when they told me what they've been through and how their lives were now in the camps. When girls said to me, I don't live anymore in my town. I was somebody that taught people inspired people, now, I just exist. And because the men, when they go out for firewood are killed, the women are sent out because they're only raped. So, it is very, very, uh, mind blowing, um, to see that and experience that.
I try to get their stories and bring them back to share with the women here and see if we can do something about it. One little boy said to me, I said, what do you want to be? And they wanted to be things like they'd seen. I want to be a UNICEF worker, I want to be, uh, a teacher, I want to be, they wanted to be great things, you know, great inspiring things. And then I said, okay, if you can have one thing that you want, what would you like? He said, a real classroom.
That's what they're striving for, education. The women there, you know, holding their babies and children want the same thing as the women here want. They want their children to be healthy, they want them to be safe and they want them to have an education. That's all they want. I feel very grateful for the breadth of my experiences. All of them make me richer person. Sometimes I wonder who's healing who. And I don't know if I make a difference, I'm trying to make a difference. Some people, I'm learning from them, resilience and what a human being is able to accept. And, still love is phenomenal to me.
