a ray of sunshine

Mohammed Yunus was absolutely amazing as a speaker today, definitely ranking up there with Madeleine Albright for me. Finally, a feasible program that really does help the lives of the poorest people in the world that benefits so many people. Lend money to the poorest people without asking for anything in return, have them pay back in small weekly chunks, and voila! The people are able to become economically self-sufficient, pay back their loans, and help their families, especially the kids, have a better future. I thought it was great how women have priority in being given loans-96% of the Bank's customers, I believe, are women. And it's all working beautifully, and there don't seem to be any negative effects (none that he would mention, at least). Kate did a beautiful job in presenting him. His talk definitely restores your faith in humankind. Ah, microcredit is my new friend. Yunus kind of reminded me of my grandfather, which was quite cool.

Pity I didn't get a chance to ask him a question, though. Absolutely wonderful assembly overall, definitely the best so far this year.