How adoption worked for me | Christopher Ategeka
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2018
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Talent is universal, but opportunity isn't, says TED Fellow Christopher Ategeka. In this charming, hopeful talk, Ategeka tells his story of being orphaned at a young age -- and how being adopted gave him the chance to experience a new culture, acquire an education and live up to his full potential. "We may not be able to solve the bigotry and the racism of this world today," Ategeka says, "But certainly we can raise children to create a positive, inclusive, connected world full of empathy, love and compassion."
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features entrepreneur and engineer Christopher Adageka, recorded live at TED Global 2017. |
| 0:10.0 | How many of you are tired of seeing celebrities adopting kids from the African continent? |
| 0:21.2 | Well, it's not that all bad. |
| 0:25.4 | I was adopted. |
| 0:28.6 | I grew up in rural Uganda, |
| 0:32.7 | lost both my parents when I was very, very young. |
| 0:37.1 | And when my parents passed, I experienced all the negative effects of poverty, from homelessness, |
| 0:48.2 | eating out of trash piles, you name it. |
| 0:53.1 | But my life changed when I got accepted into an orphanage. |
| 1:01.0 | Through one of those sponsored and orphan programs, |
| 1:04.1 | I was sponsored and given an opportunity to acquire an education. |
| 1:08.7 | I started off in Uganda. |
| 1:12.6 | I went through school, and the way this particular program worked, |
| 1:14.6 | you finished high school, and after high school, |
| 1:16.6 | you go learn a trade. |
| 1:18.6 | So you become a capenter, a mechanic, |
| 1:20.6 | or something along those lines. |
| 1:23.6 | My case was a little different. |
| 1:27.6 | The sponsor family that was sending these $25 a month to this orphanage to sponsor me, |
| 1:34.1 | which I've never met them, said, well, we would like to send you to college instead. |
| 1:43.6 | Oh, it gets better. |
| 1:45.9 | And they said, if you get the paperwork, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.