The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Elizabeth Nyamayaro on "I Am a Girl from Africa" & HeForShe

Episode Date: April 25, 2021

Former U.N. senior advisor and "I Am a Girl from Africa" author Elizabeth Nyamayaro discusses her memoir, what inspired her to become a humanitarian, and her HeForShe campaign. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th. Elizabeth Niamayaro, welcome to the Daily Social

Distancing Show. I'm so happy to be here, Trevor. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. You have lived quite the life and now you have written a memoir about it. You know, many kids dream of becoming astronauts or firefighters or doctors. You had an interesting dream. Your dream growing up was to work at the United Nations. That means you either had a really enlightened childhood or you were one of the most boring children around. Which one was it? Maybe a combination of both, I don't know. But I think a lot has to do with where I come from, you know, where we come from. We come from a continent that is very much about the community. So I grew up in a small African village in Zimbabwe where I was raised

by my Gogo and my grandmother. And I had a beautiful childhood. And in Africa, we grew up as part of a community and we took care of each other. We shared our food together. We wanted for nothing in my village. But then, when I was eight years old, a severe drought hit our village and literally devastated us.

Our rivers dried up, our crops wilted, our livestock perished, and we're left with nothing to eat and nothing to drink. And one day, I was just so weak from hunger, Trevor, I collapsed on the ground, and in my young mind, I thought I was going to die. I'd not eaten for three days. But then a miracle happened. This aid worker with the United Nations found me, the girl in the blue uniform that's why she was wearing and she gave me a

bottle of porridge and literally served my life and I remember after I was able to speak I asked why she was there because she was African like me, but I'd never seen it before. She was not from my village, and she said to me, I'm here because this African's we must uplift each other. Again, I was 80 years old, didn't make a loss of sense to me at the time, but two years late, I found out that this girl in the blue uniform worked for the United Nations and it just became my dream. I just thought I want to be just like her so that maybe one day I can save just the lives of others in a similar way that my life had been saved.

And so that was the impetus and of course decades later I joined the UN and I became the girl girl in the blue uniform. Your memoir talks thoo thii, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, I tho, I tho, I tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th, tho, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, throooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, tho, journey and it takes us on a journey that you have lived. You know, the title of your book is I am a girl from Africa, you know, and what's great about it is it touches on so many girls and women's lives from Africa in Africa and really across the world. When we look at your story, there's one theme that I notice consistently throughout the book, and that is the theme of Ubuntu. You know, and so for some people in the US, they might think of Ubuntu as like an operating system, but Ubuntu where we're from has a very different meaning. Tell us a little bit about why Ubuntu was so important to you as a theme that you carry through your book and your life. Yeah, so so so so so so, so so, so the, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thu, so thi, so thi, so thi, so thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thuntu is this ancient African philosophy that is very powerful.

It literally means I am because we are. And it recognizes that we are all connected by our shared humanity. My first understanding of the word actually was through my goggle. So like you, I mean, I loved your book by the way, and your goggle is literally my goggle. And so she taught me about Ubuntu when I was six years old. We just come from a very, very long liberation struggle trying to liberate our country Zimbabwe from British colonial rule.

And we had a difficult choice because the country was a lot more divided because colonialism, as you said in your book, Trevor, it pitted us against each other, as Africans. And so we were so much more divided. And we had to find a way to heal as a country, and we evoked this Ubuntu spirit as a way to heal. And again, what was remarkable for me is ten years later, you did a similar thing in South Africa when Nelson Mandela became the first president, that once again at the end of anti-apartheid he evoked Ubuntu. So Ubuntu is this really powerful too that enables us to really see the humanity in each other, to practice compassion towards one another.

And it's also how I was raised. It's this belief that you're part of a community, and if you are part of a community, you also have to be part of uplifting that community. So that's what inspired the book that it's really, I'm literally the embodiment of what Ubuntu is, that I am because we are. You seem to have taken that theme to heart when you were part of founding the He for she campaign, which was lauded for what it stuffiuxt is st continues to to to to to to continue to continue to continues to continues to to standed to stand to stand to stand to stand to stand to to stand to to to to to heart when you were part of founding the He for She campaign, which was lauded for what it stood for and what it continues to stand for, but really came to prominence when people started hearing it started going viral online. People said, wow, what is this? And I think it was

actually Emma Watson, who gave it a shoutout on her platforms online. And people were like, what is this He for she campaign? A really interesting idea, because oftentimes when people talk about women's safety, you know, oftentimes the burden is put on women, people go, oh, why did you dress like that, ladies? Or should you have been out at that time? You know, these rape stories, I feel bad for you, but what responsibility do you bear? You came out with a completely different idea. He for She. Could you explain a little bit about that

and why you thought this approach could help? So before I get into that, the other moment for He for She was a certain Trevor Noah was part of an event at the MoMA on the second day anniversary. Then it became really, really cool. You know, it was like cool and then became like really, really cool when Trevor Noah supported. So thank you for doing that, Trevor. No, my pleasure. She was really inspired by this African philosopher of Ubuntu because I realized that there

was such a division in terms of how we look at gender inequality, right? It was seen as a woman, an issue for women led by women, and men were almost kind of not engaged as much as they should, because, but then they should, right? Because at the end of the day, as you rightly said, the men should be the ones not abusing women. We can't put the responsibility on women to say, don't abuse me. And so I saw an opportunity to bring men as part of the conversation and as part of the solution so that we as a collective, again, because of our shared humanity, we can actually work together to end this really,

really devastating issue. You're always looking to give back. You're always looking to contribute. You're trying to find ways to get governments involved, because I mean, I've talked to this, and I know you have as well, I always tell people, governments are the only ones who can fix it. Philanthropies a drop in the bucket that can help in the right direction, but really you need the scale of governments to fix a lot of the systemic and endemic issues that we face. You have a wonderful initiative that you are a part of with this book.

Tell me a little bit about it. When people are buying your books, they're going to be contributing to books going to children in Africa. Yes, so my book I'm a Girl from Africa is out next week on Tuesday, April the 20th, and it's part of the pre-order campaign we are donating for each pre-order a book to girls in Africa. And this was so important to me, Trevor, you know, the book is called I am a girl from Africa, not the girl, because I know that my story is one story, the story, the story, toe, the story, the story, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, their, thui, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, their, their, their, their, the, the, I I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their not the girl, because I know that my story is one of millions. And I wanted to make sure that girls who come from a humble background such as mine are able to read this story. And again, representation matters for them to see what's possible for the love.

And so this is what the campaign is about. So I hope that people can support it. And so we can all empower young girls in Africa, but also around the world, to see what's possible when we dare to dream big and we dare to make a difference in our world. Well I think you have done that and I'm sure that once people start reading the book, they'll become even more inspired. Thank you so much for joining me on the Daily Social Distancing Show and good luck. Thank you so much, Trevor for having me.

Bye. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show Weekn, at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change.

Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17.