Coming back!

It has been a long while since I last posted something here. It is not that I forgot about the blog (or about you, our readers) but basically lots of things have been keeping me busy.

On the other hand, I know that some of the other contributors got discouraged by the lack of feedback from our readers. Not my case. Why? Because I see that there are a lot of people visiting this blog and that is a good enough reason for me to keep writting! Do not get me wrong: it is not that I wouldn't like to see more comments, suggestions, etc from you, of course I would like to see more of those! However, the fact of being read by over a thousand visitors already is very encouraging. One of the things I have told the other contributors has been that there might not be lots of written comments but lots of persons have told me they like the blog, and that they have found those posts useful or interesting. Anyway, if you feel like encouraging the other contributors to keep writing you know how to do it ;)

Among the things that I was doing while I wasn't blogging, one was attending a Social Business Lab on October 14th here in Prague. What is a Social Business you might wonder? It is a concept coined by Prof. Muhammad Yunus and that eventually made him win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. In a nutshell, think of it as an approach to eradicate poverty where poor people are given the economic means (and support) to set up a business by themselves. You are reading correctly, it means helping poor people becoming business men and women. To quote Prof. Yunus:

Essentially it is a non-loss, non-dividend business aimed at social objectives – education, health, environment, whatever is needed to address the problems faced by society. The profits here remain with the business and help it to grow further.

Interesting, right? If you would like to take a look at the whole explanation of the concept go here.

Well, that Social Business Lab was one thing (a wonderful one, because besides getting more familiarized with the concept we met wonderful people there with which we hope to work closely in the future).

Then we had an event called Together 2010, sponsored by the Youth in Action Programme, (at the same venue where SBL was held... it is called The Hub, which I highly recommend for such events) to expand the Harmonic World network in Europe and to get to know our current partners. We had charming visitors from Estonia, Italy, Norway, Poland and Slovakia. The experience was truly enriching for everyone and we look forward to work together again!

Last but not least, I was invited by a friend working for AFS in the Czech Republic to make a presentation about Mexico. I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about a different side of Mexico, that it is frequently overlooked: poverty. I presented how Fondo Para La Paz, a Mexican private institution, works in some of the poorest states in Mexico. The presentation went very well and at the end a couple of ladies showed real interest. Hopefully they will be able to help somehow.

Anyway, now things are a bit more quiet but we still have a long way to go. We have many things to do, many meetings to attend (or organize) and many programs to develop for the year to come.

In the meantime I would like to thank our readers and our contributors for sticking with us. I assure you will find posts more regularly. At least one per week from Sergio and myself. So please keep in touch, stay positive and help your neighbor (or a stranger) whenever possible (it won't hurt and would certainly make a difference).

By the way, happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates it!