The Lost Boys of Sudan changing the World

I got to see this documentary "Rebuilding Hope" about the Lost Boys of Sudan on August 1st, at a San Francisco screening hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Safe Darfur Coalition. I cried through most of the film. Here's the trailer:



Following the screening I got to meet one of the co-founders of New Scholars, Garang Akau, a former Sudanese refugee and a Stanford grad. Check out the great stuff that New Scholars is doing:



I have been talking a lot about the Lost Boys of Sudan, the film, and New Scholars. So I was excited to see that the Commonwealth Club is planning to hold an event honoring John Bul Dau, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who will receive INFORUM's 21st Century Visionary Award for opening the world’s eyes to the Sudanese health-care crisis. The event has been postponed, so watch the Commonwealth Club calendar for more info.

John was featured in this documentary, which I have not yet seen, "God Grew Tired of Us." Here's the trailer:

Social Enterprise Series @ the Commonwealth Club

The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco is hosting a special series "Social Entrepreneurship in America" this year, continuing on into 2011. The series features leading innovators and pioneers who are utilizing entrepreneurial passion and rigor to solve societal problems.

Upcoming Social Entrepreneurship in America Events:

JUNE 22, 2010
Conchy Bretos
CEO, MIA Consulting Group, Ashoka Fellow

JULY 27, 2010
Sally Osberg
President & CEO, The Skoll Foundation

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Christopher Gergen
Director, Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative, Duke University

OCTOBER 7, 2010
Mary Houghton
President, ShoreBank Corporation

OCTOBER 26, 2010
Bill Drayton
Founder & Chairman, Ashoka

NOVEMBER 17, 2010
William Foote*
Founder & CEO, Root Capital, Ashoka Global Fellow

DECEMBER 8, 2010
Premal Shah*
Co-Founder & President, Kiva

JANUARY 12, 2011
Jacqueline Novogratz
CEO, The Acumen Fund

FEBRUARY 9, 2011
Matt Bannick
Managing Partner, Omidyar Network

FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Jed Emerson
Author, Blended Value

MARCH 8, 2011
Louise Burnham Packard
Executive Director, Trinity Boston Foundation

MARCH 29, 2011
Kriss Dieglmeier
Executive Director, Center for Social Innovation, Stanford University

More info - including how to purchase tickets - here.

If you cannot attend the events (held at the Club's Nob Hill San Francisco location) then I believe that you can listen to a live stream of the event here.

I attended the first event of the series on May 24th. It featured Muhammad Yunus,
Founder, Grameen Bank and Grameen America, Nobel Laureate.

"Whenever I see a problem that I want to address, that I want to solve, I create a business." - Muhammad Yunus

Watch excerpts from his lecture here.


photo: Muhammad Yunus speaking on May 24. I snapped this one from my seat!

The Yes Men @ the Commonwealth Club - great interview

Check out the video recording from the April 27 Commonwealth Club event that I'd mentioned in this previous blog post, with The Yes Men. Awesome!

It's a Muhammad Yunus Monday in San Francisco!

Again, I could have posted this earlier, but I just found out on Friday:

Today: Monday, May 24 @ 12noon:

For the last stop of his US tour, Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and the author of "Banker to the Poor" will speak at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club. Professor Yunus will discuss his new book, "BUILDING SOCIAL BUSINESS: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs" (PublicAffairs, May 11, 2010), and sign copies. Tickets and more information is available at www.commonwealthclub.org
Tickets are $30


photo: Muhammad Yunus


Today: Monday, May 24 @ 2:45pm:

Screening of the film "To Catch A Dollar" - same place as the 12noon lecture!
Tickets are $20



Trailer:

"The Yes Men" are coming to San Francisco - April 27

Ha! If you're in San Francisco ... I bet this is going to be a good one! I've previously blogged about The Yes Men here.

TUESDAY 4.27 @ the Commonwealth Club - THE YES MEN

Andy Bichlbaum, Leading Member of The Yes Men
Mike Bonanno, Leading Member of The Yes Men

Bichlbaum and Bonanno pose as top-notch representatives for large corporations and nations…yes, nations. At the Copenhagen Climate Conference last December, The Yes Men delivered a faux press release claiming Canada was reversing its position on climate change. And how can one forget the jaw-dropping statements made by "spokesperson for Dow Chemical" accepting full responsibility for the Bhopal disaster on worldwide news station BBC? Needless to say, they have a knack for striking chords of condemnation and admiration, stimulating polar perspectives simultaneously. Their latest documentary, The Yes Men Fix the World, has been hailed as "a riotous reminder that patriotism is often misconstrued as troublemaking." Get a load of The Yes Men.

Time: 7 p.m. check-in and networking reception, 7:30 p.m. program

Cost: $12 members, $20 non-members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Purchase your advance tickets here.

Check out the trailer for "The Yes Men Fix the World" here -