Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Activists Around the World: Segenet Kelemu

Transcript

Activists Around the World: Segenet Kelemu · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Smitha and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told your protection I heard you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And today
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: we wanted to feature an ethiopien scientist molecular plant pathologist,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: doctor SegaNet Kellamu.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Which she is fascinating. So.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Doctor Kellamu has described herself as a rebellious individual, someone
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: who pushed back and didn't take things just at face value,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: but would dig deeper.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: And ask questions.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: She says this was part of the reason she has
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: been able to accomplish as much as she has. She
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: tells stories about how her mother would put her in
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: charge of selling their farm goods because they knew a
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: she would bring back the money and she could be
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: trusted with it and be that she would drive a
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: good bargain like she was not going to back down.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: And she also asked a lot of questions at school.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: She said it might have been a little bit annoying,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: but a lot of the teachers really just encouraged her
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: want of learning and really pushed that for her. She
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: also says that she thinks that's why she didn't get
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: married at a young age, because no one wanted to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: marry her because she was so argumentative.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: I love that she's very self aware, she said.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Growing up in a rural area in Ethiopia, doctor Kellamu
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: became one of the first women. I think the first women,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: as they noted so, but you know.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: How we do here.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: We'd like to put quotes just in case because you
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: never know what first. But back to in her area
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: to attend and graduate from the university. I mean after
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: completing her degree at the Addis Ababa University, she would
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: move on to get her master's in plant pathology and
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: genetics and a PhD in molecular in plant pathology at
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Montana State University and Kansas State University. Then she would
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: move on to do more research at Cornell. So she's
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: been around and then some. When asked about what motivated
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: her to pursue science, she told Technologynetworks dot Com this
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: I realized when I was in my first year of
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: university that lifting people out of poverty first and foremost
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: begins with modernizing agriculture and providing access to nutritious and
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: adequate food to all. That is the basis in building
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: block for any development in progress. Without enough food, everything
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: else slides down.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: The priority list.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: This is why I chose to study agricultural sciences, and
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: her area specifically was very farm culture heavy, so she
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: thought that there was something that was very impactful in
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: something that she could do to help her community. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: she has talked about a very impactful memory for her
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: that she has carried and that has pushed her to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: go down this career path. So this is from Jpost
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: dot com. When I was young, she recalls, one day
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: we got up and a swarm of locusts came in
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and completely wiped out the grass and vegetation in the village.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: The villagers prayed, assuming that the locusts had been sent
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: as punishment from God. But young segond Net, however, reacted differently.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: That devastating episode provided her with the impetus to excel
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: in school, dedicate her life to science, and help her people.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I've always carried that with me in my mind, she says,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and she does talk about this on several occasions, about
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: how that moment really just changed her perspective of what
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: she needed to do for her community. After studying and
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: researching in the US, she went on to work at
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the International Center of Tropical Agriculture. Soon she started receiving
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: accolades for her work, including for her work in China,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: and she said this about that experience specifically, back to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: that Jpost dot com. I was happy to receive the award,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: but I was embarrassed at the same time HERA was
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a person from a poor country, and I was given
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: recognition in China for making a difference in China when China,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: in actuality didn't need my help. And I've seen a
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: couple of videos where she talks about this and just
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: how she realized that, yes, she's making a difference, but
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: she's not making a difference where she wanted to be specifically.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: And with that she soon traveled back to Africa and
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: it would soon become the director at the International Livestock
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Research Center for the Biosciences in the Eastern and Central
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Africa HUB, which is also known as BECCA. Here's a
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: bit from her Wikipedia page. Under her leadership, the Becca
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Initiative was transformed from a contentious idea into a driving
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: force that is changing the face of African biosciences. Beca's
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: research capacity, staff facilities, funding partners, and training programs have
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: expanded at an ever accelerating pace. She has assembled and
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: inspired a scientific and technical team bound by common passion
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: for using science to enhance Africa's biosciences development. So very cool,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: like she's the one who's kind of pushed all this
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: catalysts in her area. Later, she would go on to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: become the director of the International Center of Insect Physiology
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and Ecology or ICIPE in Kenya, where she held a
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: position from twenty thirteen till twenty twenty three. This was
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: the only African institute dedicated to the research on insects
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: and other arthropods. So back to her interview with Technologynetworks
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: dot com, she explains some of her work there. I'm
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: trained as a molecular plant pathologist, specializing in plant microbial
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: interactions at a molecular level. However, I'm currently running an
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: impactful research for development R four D organization specializing in
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: insect related sciences, the International Center of inc Sex Physiology
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: and Ecology ICIPE. This is the only R four D
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: organization in the world that combines plant, animal, human and
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: environmental help using insects as entry points. ICIPE is a
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: knowledge dense, impactful, and highly relevant organization whose mission is
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: to help alleviate poverty, ensure food security, and improve the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: overall health status of people in the tropics. We develop
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: and extend management tools and strategies for harmful and useful
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: arthropods while preserving the natural resource base through research and
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: capacity building. ICIPE was founded in nineteen seventy. I am
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the fourth Director General and CEO and the first woman
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: to lead It. So very cool work that she has done.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And she goes on to explain a bit about how
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: this specific research is helping to fight against poverty, hunger,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: and disease. She says, our interdisciplinary research on insects science
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: is geared towards social and environmental justice through nature based solutions.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: ICIPE has well developed mechanisms and global partnerships for conducting
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: and managing world class collaborative research and for translating research
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: outputs and technologies into innovations for societal use. The center
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: has been harnessing innovations in insects science, facilitating high level
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: policy discussion, cultivating major partnerships, and implementing transformational projects to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: achieve greater impact towards sustainable development in Africa. This is
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: achieve to the transformation of continental food, nutrition and health
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: systems in the face of a climate crisis. We generate
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: knowledge that's translated into nature based, environmentally friendly, inclusive, innovative, accessible,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: and affordable solutions, which are consolidated into integrated vector management
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: packages for the control of human and animal disease vectors,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: integrated pest management packages for crop pests, and comprehensive approaches
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: for sustainable insect based enterprises. So a lot of stuff,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: and some of the videos they show the amount of
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: bugs that they work with.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: There's a lot. There's a lot of bugs. Any feeling okay, Well,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: I had to take abatos like, oh oh no.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: And she goes into a bit of more detail in
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: her Jpost dot com article. Insects, she explains, are the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: most abundant animals on the planet. Of the one point
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: four million animal species, a little over one million are insects.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: The vast majority are very helpful to us. Introducing insects
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: based protein to food and animal feed is an important
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: road to reducing the environmental effects of traditional livestock farming.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: She adds that two billion people consume insects, which are
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: a source of protein and other nutrients. Klimu and her
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: team designed methods to allow for efficient year round harvesting
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: of insects, which are not only eaten, but are made
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: into nutritious oils as well. Again, this is very fascinating
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: to me because as the climate change is happening, as
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: food scarcity is also increasing, this is important things that
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: she's working on. And she's even talked about how the
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: growing population by twenty fifty, they're gonna have to have
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: seventy percent more food in order to help the humans survive.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: So again fascinating and also very important. With all this
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: amazing amount of work and research, she's been able to
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: navigate this while also having to deal with gender and
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: racial discrimination. So from another article written in twenty eighteen
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: for The New Humanitarian, she writes, as a woman and
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: a woman of color, I have encountered challenges along the way.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Sexism and racism are all alive across the globe in
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: subtle and more blatant ways. On a daily basis. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: science world is dominated by men. Sometimes when I receive visitors,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: they actually tell me they expected to see a white
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: man in the position.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: I hold.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, sorry to disappoint you, I tell them, and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: she continues. The key thing I believe is to never
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: take personally any other prejudice I face The source of
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: bigotry and ignorance has nothing to do with me. Why
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: should I waste my time and energy on things that
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: are irrelevant to me? Why should I sweat the small
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: stuff that can be a distraction to achieving my goals.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Demonstrating excellence can eventually help destroy sexism and racism. That
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: is what has kept me going in my career. The
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: fact that I am given the responsibility to lead important
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and high profile research for the center is a good
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: example of being judged by viability rather than by my gender.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: So back to that Technologynetworks dot Com interview, she says
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: this about its slowly improving I think there have been
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: improvements over the years, while being deliberate in certain instances
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: to target an increase in female scientists. Other avenues for
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: equalizations should include provisions of a balanced work environment. We
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: need to boost women's participation in graduate programs at master's
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: and PhD levels and provide support and well planned strategies
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: for career path and growth. Yes, more women, and let's
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: normalize more women in science.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And when she was asked by them about advice for
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: young women interested in a career in science, she said this,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I give advice all the time, including to my own daughter,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: who is currently a PhD candidate at Princeton University. Some
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: of the advice includes not to despair when the experiments
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: don't work. That is why you do the experiment, to
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: figure out how to do it and to find answers.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The science is very rewarding, that you can create a
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: fulfilling career in science and do the things you love
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: to do and contribute to society. That science knowledge is
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: empowering and uplifting. That women are meticulous scientists, that you
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: can balance work, family demands, believe in yourself and in
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: your capacity to be brilliant scientists, be assertive, etc.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I love that it is.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: It is empowering. Science is empowering. I just wasn't good
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: at it, Annie.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: She worried.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Are you've told me some experiments, some science fairs.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: That just fell into my lab? I still don't understand
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: what I did. I'm not gonna lie. You were good
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: at science and math.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I was, But I think I think you had a
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: niche that maybe you never quite homed in on.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: We'll see my tomato plans are doing better.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Of course, she has several accolades under the heart Belt,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: including this year, being in an Elected Fellow by the
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Royal Society, Presidential Awards from the French Republic in twenty
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: twenty three, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in twenty
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: twenty two, Women of the Decade in Natural and Sustainable
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Ecosystems by Women Economic Forum, and being Bill Gate's Heroes
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: in the Field in twenty eighteen, the lorel Unesco for
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Women in Science or in twenty fourteen, and of course
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: so much more.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: There's so many things on that list. I was like, oh,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: I can't keep going.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: But she has done some amazing work. You could definitely
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: see different videos of our talking about her work as
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: well as YouTube videos featuring her work.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: You should definitely check her out.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, you know I love learning more about insects, so.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and she can tell you less about it.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: I'm excited.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I'm excited. Well, listeners, if you would like to contact us,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you can. You can email us at Hello at Stuffhenever
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Told You dot com. You can find us on Blue
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Sky at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: at stuff When Never Told You rosso on YouTube. We
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: have some merchandise to coomp hero and we have a
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: buck you can get where you get your bucks. Thanks
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Rimat and our executive
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: priuser Maya, thank you and thanks to you for listening.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Stuff on Her Told You is production by Heart Radio.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: out your Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts wherever you listen
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: The Knowing Me Something