02AUG07 Religion and Conflict; and Interfaith Dialogue - The Dalai Lama weighs in.

On Tuesday 12 June 2007, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and representatives of the Christian, Islamic and Jewish faiths met in a symposium at ANU, Australian National University in Canberra, exploring the role of religion in war and conflict. Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black, Most Reverend Bishop Christopher Prowse and Professor Abdullah Saeed joined His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a dialogue that addressed the pervasive view that religion is necessarily a cause of violent dissention and conflict. This dialogue encompassed the fundamental messages of peace, compassion and wisdom at the heart of each of the world's great religious traditions.

The entire event is available as an MP3 audio download, while a video of the Dalai Lama's speech is also available.

Link here to view the video.

Just click on the "Watch the Dalai-Lama's speech" link on this page.

01AUG07 Kiva.org - Loans that Change Lives

If you haven't yet heard of Kiva.org, a San Francisco non-profit that at just two years old is already the leading online microcredit site, you're about to... It's a remarkably simple system that highlights the power of online communities. The Kiva.org Web site provides information about entrepreneurs in poor countries their photos, loan proposals and credit history and allows individuals to make direct loans to them.

Normally, microfinancing happens on a larger scale. Banks and other financial outfits lend small amounts of money to people who are too poor to get a traditional loan. But several organizations - like Kiva.org - now allow you to become a microlender... New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about some loans that he's made through Kiva.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=FEEDROOM186917


Direct and straightforward lending to individuals in developing countries is finally here, and you don't have to be a Bill Gates to drastically change people's lives anymore. For those who wonder what they can do to help fight poverty, one option is to sit down at your computer and become a microfinancier. Now the only question is who to lend your support to, the owner of a TV repair shop in Afghanistan, a barber in Tajikistan, or a single mother running a clothing shop in the Dominican Republic??