Have you ever woken up and not know where your next strength is coming from or if you have enough water to boil for the little bit of rice to feed your entire family. This is as common as the desert. We are people struggling, fighting for vitality at night our windows rattle and bombs burst through the streets to split open every trek through demolition, they cracked battlelines into the community,h turn neighbors into warriors have been blinded by blood to bd see we are fighting on the same side. O we are the worlds forgotten war and survivors tired of s surviving. We want to live and refused to be starved of our humanity any longer. Good health, nutrition is not a privilege. Good health is not a luxury and water is not a treasure. The sun shines on me as it does you and you and you. Solidarity starts with open palms, square shoulders and steps towards action to care and offer yourself as a resource ane help support a foundation that was already there. In jan and an important part of the culture is to share so let us share the work and fight and accountability. How healthy can you be if you are not extending to the hungry, sick, thirsty, care. Its to offer partnership, teamwork, invest in what we are already living, dont beat just to separate the ones that come after us. Every cup at the table was full, overflowing. Now is the time to be, intentional about our of them ends and i pray we are rich with compassion and joy and support. Peace has always been within our reach and we cannot afford to waste any more time reaching our arms out to the sun and the sky in each other. The time is now more than ever. [cheering] i used to have dreams of traveling and exploring the world, studying, having a better life. All dreams have been blown away. Survival is all we think about every day. This is right in yemen, a country of people dont know about where thousands of women and children are dying every day for different reason. Imagine yourself you wake up in the morning and all you want to do is grab your kids and run for your life and survive. Thousands of people find themselves in this situation. All they think about is what will be next. Will they be able to get clean water to drink and have access to facilities when they get sick. The majority are in their daily routine. In i know many women and men who wish they wont wake up the next day so they dont have to go through pain and suffering. In my life ive also personally experienced this and i know what it means to be homeless, to be displaced and see everything collapsing everything around you and you are not able to save it. I know what it is to say goodbye to family members you wont see again because they are dead. D. I know what it means to be scared to death and feel you are trying to go to school but you may never see him again. Childhoods disappeared through the fear they live every day. Dreams about their future have changed if they still have any. This year they are going through is changing. Millions of people are living in these conditions every day. Another crisis is the outfit of cholera. Who could imagine in the 21st century people are still dying of cholera because people dont have access to basic services you all enjoy here that we should have the right to as well. People are dying and now more than ever we need your attention before it is too late. Thank you. [applause] please welcome president and cef michel non. Will you please join me in thanking them for sharing their stories. [applause] 18 million men, women, boys and girls. That is how many people are in need of humanitarian assistance right now so today as you are all here Standing Shoulder to shoulder and you are giving theh a voice and speaking to their hope to continue their education and requirements to see doctors and have access to lifesaving medications when they need it and desire to have some form of normalcy and a safe haven at home so today you signaled someone remembers them and insist our nation stand with the most vulnerable are around the world. Ordinary citizens like all of us have always shaped the nation to live out our values and promised to one another and the world. To the civil rights hugos, to the ordinary citizens the first responded to the refugees of a world war ii with a creation of the first care packages. Today you joined in this quarter of citizens responded with compassion and generosity and pave the way for people everywhere to live more free and dignified lives. Fi so theres never been a time in history that this has been more important. St there are more displaced People Living in the world than ever before. More people facing famine. More than ever before. So the theme now more than ever is true. We welcome you and we thank you for participating in the conference. So give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] please join me in thing in them. [applause] staggering statistics behind each of those numbers are individuals with unique and really powerful stories and amazing potential. We know, and this is the reason we are here is the world will be different if we help them realize their full potential. So, we have someone here today that embodies the truth, and that truth is we all have the capacity to be enormous agents of change and that person is elaine, and immigrants that came to this country from asia at thn age of eight speaking no english. S her family came to build auild a better life with 6. I was just talking to her backstage with a father that is now 90. Her experience in coming to this country in this way has motivated her to devote her entire career to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their family. They do that really profoundly when you look at the resume. She spoke to the president and operating officer of the united way of america and went on to be the director of the peace corps and then the secretary of labor and was the first asianamerican woman to be appointed to the cabinet position in alcabinet pf american history. So, today serving as the 18th secretary of the treasury of the United States. We want to thank her for her extraordinary leadership. Along the way with that and other things, she has received 36 honorary degrees. So please join me in warmly welcoming and appreciating the secretary. [applause] ive been told youre going to receive two days of workshops and trainings and on the third day you will be going throughout the government to share your experiences about care and issues you care about to the members of the congress and senate and the house of senat representatives. You are participating in something so fundamental that is so much a hallmark of who we are as a people and what democracy means. Ive been told that for some of you it is the first time and you might be a little scared. But dont worry. Youre going to do fine. Most of all, you have a story to tell you that that is an important story you are sharing with important policymakers. I am pleased to be part of this forum allowing them to make a difference for women. I think my goal of helping women started very early when i was a young child and when i heard about my mothers story. My mothers name is ruth [inaudible] , it is a mouthful but that is how chinese names are. She was among the very few women of her generation in the wartorn china of the early 19 hundreds to gain an education and who came from a distinguished family that would lead to the education of daughters, women. So she received an education. En and because of that education my mother was prepared to face a turmoil and challenge of her later life. She returned home to the war of august 2, 2007, but her spirit and good words continue to inspire me and my sisters every day. As youve heard im an immigrant to this country. I came to america when i was 8yearsold and i didnt speak any english. Not only did we not speak english but we couldnt get used to so many things in this country. We have difficulty with american blues, hamburgers, hot dogs. We didnt put me to between five. We didnt eat bread so we didnt understand so much about the culture and with mainstream america was like. Like so many other newcomers, my parents were so brave they were incredibly hardworking and they were determined to build a better life for their daughters. The fact that their six children were all girls was never an issue. They taught each one of their daughters to work and fulfill our potential and contribute to society. They believed with hard work, a positive attitude and perseverance, we could achieve anything we wanted to do. That was their recipe for empowerment. [applause] one of the most important attributes my parents also taught their daughters was to always help others and appreciate the value of Financial Independence for women so whenever i had the opportunity ive tried to launch programs that empower women and help them achieve very important goals. Broadly speaking, we know education is the key to success in all countries, rich and poor. It means there is a huge impediment to reduce poverty rates especially for women. Nearly a billion women today are estimated to be a literate, and two thirds of them are women. I was once the director of the peace corps and i saw so many efforts big and small to help impoverished people around the world. One account that stayed with me awas a peace corps volunteers experience helping women build their own Small Businesses and do you know what they told her they needed the most they told her the skills they needed the most was to learn how to read and write and count numbers. Basic math skills are something we take for granted in the developing country and its worth remembering women in developing countries need basic skills to access opportunities but educat it takes more than jh skills. Basic entrepreneurial skills are critical as well. So what the director of the peace corps i launched the first entrepreneurial training courses in the democracies of the former soviet union and an important element of this training was encouraging women entrepreneurs. I had an opportunity to help make a difference for women in the middle east. Rebuilding iraqs economy and Civil Society were priorities after the fall of saddam hussein, and as a part of the reconstruction, the department of labor under my tenure provided 10 million right away to help rebuild the ministry of labor and social affairs. This ministry has a very important task for creating job Training Programs and Employment Services so desperately needed after the war. I wanted to ensure when me womea priority for the ministry of labor. So do you know what i did . I was kind of proud of myself. The first three that we chose to participate in a Leadership Program at the department of labor were women. [applause] and that was so important because it sent such a signal to the Iraqi Ministry and because one of the major challenges in iraq and throughout the world with the empowerment of women. I was also honored to support the efforts of the First Lady Laura Bush and provide access to education to afghan women and girls. Her daughter barbara bush i understand shes good to be here today and is carrying out her mothers work on the most vulnerable population so im delighted that barbara is on the program this afternoon and i understand Chelsea Clinton is on the program as well. You are lucky. Working with the first lady, the Labor Department provided funding to purchase materials for School Uniforms for girls in afghanistan. Something so simple so that impoverished afghan families can send their daughters to school. As you know, girls couldnt attend school under the television and today hundreds of thousands have access to education. In addition i also cochaired along with Condoleezza Rice and other powerful woman of the administrations intradepartmental task force on child trafficking. Our goal was to strengthen the sanctions against child trafficking which is another splurge that devastates so many of the most Vulnerable Women and girls. Finally one more story, we achieved gender equity in the top Leadership Team during my tenure as the u. S. Secretary of labor. [applause] when i had the opportunity to travel to iraq i presented a group with a framed autograph of the eight top women executive leaders at the u. S. Department of labor. The iraq he women could not believe it. They couldnt believe that women held half of the top leadership positions in the Big Government ministries like the department of labor. I hear thank you so much for everything that you are doing, globally to reassure that each mother, daughter, sister and wife can grow and reach her full potential so that our world will be a better place. Thank you for all that you do. [applause] have a great conference. [applause] please welcome activist and violinist, mariana. Logthank you so much for the opportunity to share my story with you today. Its truly a great honor. Four years ago while i was i studied Business Administration and i graduated from the university of. [inaudible] i was also employed as a fulltime violin teacher at the Arabic Institute of music. I remember during the war walking to teach at the institute not knowing if i would make it back home in the eveni evening. As mortars or following everywhere, randomly. My students and i would hide under the tables when we heard the airstrike and the bomb sitting the closed neighborhood. Every day, we risk our lives by being there. However, this did not scare me. [inaudible] our determined to send my applications to different programs and universities all over the world. We do not have electricity or power so i was running under bombs falling to internet cafes. After six months of tireless work, i was beyond happy to receive an email from a college in illinois offering me a full tuition scholarship in music performance. Although i feel safe here now, i live in a constant fear about my family and friends who are still struggling and surviving without the basic necessities of life. I wonder if they will be alive tomorrow and i wonder if i will get the chance to be united with them one day. I was hoping for my mom to be here with me as i am graduating in two back weeks. [applause] but she did not come because she did not get the visa to come here. Even my fiance who has been admitted to Johns Hopkins university for a postgraduate degree in piano performance with a scholarship, being a refugee here talk to me to be strong, independent and among all, to never give up. Since i arrived here i have been working so hard to achieve success in the music world and to advocate for my colleagues and friends. I was humbled to be honored at the white house as a champion of change for world refugees in 2015. I feel this is a huge responsibility and i would like to be an ambassador for my country, syria, and the us and to present all the great values i learned here worldwide. I feel powerless to change the current tragedy ongoing in my country. However, i believe so much in the power of music to remove barriers between people and nations. Today, i am delighted to perfo perform. [inaudible] through this music i would like to get to tell the story of my suffering country and people. They music one day help heal the pain our world has felt and to be a peace platform for everyone. Thank you. [applause] [applause] please welcome cater founder of more than me and 2004 person of the year. I am back on the bathroom floor again. Its the middle of the night again. Flashes of your face keep me up again. Its you, abigail. You have seen my soul. Is it a street worker . Is it a sex worker . You tell me what is the politically correct way to say that my 11 yearold friends, abigail, is a war orphaned prostitute . Yes, this 2dollar hooker, this child. She opens her legs to men so that she can stay alive and right now im not sure that shes alive and when i think about her i dont have the words to describe my friend abigail is missing. She is gone and nowhere to be found. When i called her name, no one knows her. Her Community Tells me that shes spanish. Her country says that its not good for their reputation. My country tells me its not polite to talk about her. Here she is, the blame of a corrupt government and people that know nothing about. Heres shes just another abstract thought that would never cross someones mind on a line to purchase a cup of coffee they cost more than she would make selling herself for one day. Here she is just another facebook cause of people might check that they like because its trendy or because its easy. She is the bottom of the earth to a world that has been brutal to her, that is beat her up and raised her and people that could never pronounce. This small child is gone. I promised her that i would come and find her. I cant. So, im up again on this bathroom floor and its the middle of the night again and i need to free her name. Abigail, where are you . I am trying to find you. I have not forgotten you. People here are offended by you, disturbed by you. I am too. You keep me up at night. I hope that you always do. You are my doubt, i promise. Im coming to get you. I moved to liberia almost 12 years ago, i was 23 with my first job out of college. It was almost like a peace corps situation. They said you are going to liberia and when i got there i lived in a remote village. I was in charge of running Adult Literacy program. I come to the citys, to be honest with you, because i wanted to get a visa. I didnt like the food. Now i love the liberian food. I would meet kids like agnes and abigail and we became friends. Im a big kid myself siding out with these children and we would draw donkeys in the sand and spin and spin until we fell down. Id ask these kids if they can have anything in the world and what would it be. They said we just really want to go to school. One kid turned 230 and they kept coming. I was using myspace to help color stories and people from my hometown, church where i grew up, send me money and this new York City Tax attorney said you need to make this an organization. I remember feeling like i am not qualified, i dont have a masters degree. Im not smart enough and not a celebrity or a superhero. I cant do it. I got the best advice of my life. My friend said get over yourself, its not about you. So i made the organization. I played it over and over in my head again. Get over yourself. Its not about you. Thats where the name more than me came from. I fig