WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.262 align:middle line:90% 00:00:08.262 --> 00:00:11.320 align:middle line:90% - I was born three days ago. 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:17.080 align:middle line:84% Muffled sounds become clearer, dim lights become brighter. 00:00:17.080 --> 00:00:24.100 align:middle line:84% I feel warm breath and touch, I feel hungry and cry. 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:28.120 align:middle line:84% I see faces but I don't know what they are yet. 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:32.380 align:middle line:84% In the next 12 months, my brain will make 700 new connections 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:34.545 align:middle line:90% every single second. 00:00:34.545 --> 00:00:35.045 align:middle line:90% Learning. 00:00:35.045 --> 00:00:39.780 align:middle line:90% 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:43.580 align:middle line:84% My name will be Gabriela Fernandez. 00:00:43.580 --> 00:00:46.640 align:middle line:84% I will soon be taken home to a place where hundreds of little 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:50.990 align:middle line:84% buildings huddle close together, of people and colours 00:00:50.990 --> 00:00:55.420 align:middle line:84% and noises and smells, to a place I will learn is called 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.570 align:middle line:90% Rocinha. 00:00:57.570 --> 00:01:03.190 align:middle line:84% I will not know my father but my mama will teach me about Jesus. 00:01:03.190 --> 00:01:06.550 align:middle line:84% I will look up at his white statue on the far hill 00:01:06.550 --> 00:01:08.770 align:middle line:84% and imagine him watching me, and I 00:01:08.770 --> 00:01:10.780 align:middle line:84% will play with the shiny silver cross 00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:13.798 align:middle line:90% Mama wears around her neck. 00:01:13.798 --> 00:01:16.940 align:middle line:84% Twice a week she will take me to a small building 00:01:16.940 --> 00:01:19.250 align:middle line:84% three minutes walk from home where we'll 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:21.980 align:middle line:90% be met with smiles and hugs. 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:24.530 align:middle line:90% I will know that I am loved. 00:01:24.530 --> 00:01:28.200 align:middle line:84% When I am eight, I will have my First Communion. 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:32.300 align:middle line:84% I will wear an itchy white dress and Mama will cry 00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:34.400 align:middle line:84% and it will be the happiest day of my life. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.970 align:middle line:90% 00:01:36.970 --> 00:01:39.490 align:middle line:84% When I'm 12, my best friend will be 00:01:39.490 --> 00:01:44.960 align:middle line:84% killed by a stray bullet in a police raid. 00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:48.630 align:middle line:84% By the time I am 16 I will want to be a priest, 00:01:48.630 --> 00:01:51.920 align:middle line:84% but I will be told this is impossible for a girl 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.830 align:middle line:84% and I will join the struggle to change that. 00:01:54.830 --> 00:01:57.680 align:middle line:84% And I will never travel further from my home than the hospital 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:58.560 align:middle line:90% where I was born. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.140 align:middle line:90% 00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:04.240 align:middle line:84% Or maybe I will know none of this. 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:08.820 align:middle line:90% 00:02:08.820 --> 00:02:11.640 align:middle line:84% Maybe I was born three days ago in Whipps Cross Hospital 00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:15.660 align:middle line:84% in East London, and tomorrow I will be taken home to a council 00:02:15.660 --> 00:02:18.180 align:middle line:84% estate where my parents have lived ever 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:20.270 align:middle line:90% since they were married. 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:24.960 align:middle line:90% Dave and Jack, my two dads. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.850 align:middle line:90% They will name me Stephanie. 00:02:26.850 --> 00:02:30.120 align:middle line:84% My earliest memory will be my Auntie Carole taking me out 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:33.240 align:middle line:84% into the back garden on a cold, clear night 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:36.900 align:middle line:84% and pointing out Jupiter in the starry sky. 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:39.030 align:middle line:84% I will sing hymns at school but I 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:43.710 align:middle line:84% won't believe in God because I will have space and science. 00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:45.500 align:middle line:84% I will learn that our planet floats 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:50.310 align:middle line:84% in a galaxy of 300 billion stars and that a phone 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:52.710 align:middle line:84% signal from the nearest one would take over 00:02:52.710 --> 00:02:55.230 align:middle line:90% four years to reach me. 00:02:55.230 --> 00:02:58.800 align:middle line:84% I will feel so small but so special 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.870 align:middle line:84% because my auntie will tell me that I already 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:04.230 align:middle line:84% know more than most humans have ever known. 00:03:04.230 --> 00:03:10.150 align:middle line:84% By the time I am eight, I will want to become an astronomer. 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:14.370 align:middle line:84% But when I am 12, Daddy Jack will become very ill 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:17.700 align:middle line:84% and I will decide to become a doctor. 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:23.480 align:middle line:84% Or maybe, maybe I'm lying on a bed in a hospital in a city I 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:27.620 align:middle line:84% cannot name, because after tomorrow I will never see it 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:28.120 align:middle line:90% again. 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:32.420 align:middle line:90% 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:34.090 align:middle line:84% I was born three days ago to the sound 00:03:34.090 --> 00:03:37.360 align:middle line:90% of explosions and gunfire. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.390 align:middle line:84% My name will be Yana and I will learn very quickly 00:03:40.390 --> 00:03:42.730 align:middle line:90% that life is not safe. 00:03:42.730 --> 00:03:44.560 align:middle line:84% When I am nine years old the explosions 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.270 align:middle line:84% will stop but the rules will begin. 00:03:48.270 --> 00:03:50.590 align:middle line:84% My uncles will catch me playing in the street 00:03:50.590 --> 00:03:54.480 align:middle line:84% and tell me that I must cover my head and body in black cloth, 00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:56.520 align:middle line:84% that I must not leave the house unless I 00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:59.190 align:middle line:90% am with a man from my family. 00:03:59.190 --> 00:04:01.530 align:middle line:84% When I am 11, my mama will tell me 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:05.879 align:middle line:84% that I must be obedient to all men. 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:09.220 align:middle line:84% When I'm 15 and two months pregnant, 00:04:09.220 --> 00:04:14.452 align:middle line:84% I will use the internet for the first time and I will realise 00:04:14.452 --> 00:04:16.550 align:middle line:90% how little I know. 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:19.680 align:middle line:84% I will find out that women in other countries, 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.460 align:middle line:84% including women like me, have opportunities 00:04:23.460 --> 00:04:25.223 align:middle line:90% that I have been denied. 00:04:25.223 --> 00:04:31.270 align:middle line:84% I will realise that my life does not have to be like it is. 00:04:31.270 --> 00:04:32.912 align:middle line:90% I will question God. 00:04:32.912 --> 00:04:36.050 align:middle line:90% I will question everything. 00:04:36.050 --> 00:04:38.410 align:middle line:90% I will not know what to do. 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:42.280 align:middle line:84% I will feel alone, I will be afraid, 00:04:42.280 --> 00:04:46.310 align:middle line:84% but I will keep learning, I will keep thinking, 00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:50.140 align:middle line:90% and I will give myself a choice. 00:04:50.140 --> 00:05:02.682 align:middle line:90%