TED

Tonight I went to a TED event--a series of short talks from interesting people doing interesting work in India. The theme was social entrepreneurship. If anyone hasn't heard of TED, do yourself a favor and go to the website. My favorite organization that was profiled was Milaap, which does microfinance throughout India. It works similarly to other microfinance organizations, in that you loan an amount, the recipient pays you back once they can, and then you can choose to reinvest in another person. It's all done online and with just one seed amount you can aid several different people through the repayment and reinvestment cycle. It's also nice because you can read about and choose the people you are giving loans to. http://www.milaap.org/

This event was at a center that's affiliated with the American embassy, which means displaying the presdent and vice president's pictures is required. It made me happy when I saw these tonight and remembered the days when I had to cringe at Bush and Cheney's faces as I entered American buildings abroad!

Having leaders I'm proud of representing America...priceless.