Preparations!

The fundraising is moving along slowly but surely. I thank you all who have donated for your support. For those of you who haven't, it's not too late! Send me a check or click one of the paypal links on the right (if you donate to FSD's paypal acct directly, be sure to let me know so they can mark your funds as dedicated to my project).

Today the article I wrote for my town newspaper, the Madison Eagle, was published. I am very appreciative of the editor for giving me this opportunity to spread the news to my hometown.

I also went for my immunizations this afternoon. Luckily, most of my Africa vaccinations from a few years ago are still good. In fact, all I needed was my final Hepatitis A shot and malaria pills. I decided to get Larium given the much cheaper cost over Malarone. Which means I could be having some interesting dreams over the summer. I already occassionally sleepwalk so this could be interesting.

Finally, I was more than thrilled last week when I saw a press release on the Morgan Stanley Today page talking about microfinance. Morgan Stanley is beginning to get their feet week in the microcredit world as they just issued a collateralized loan obligation (CLO) to be facilitated through BlueOrchard, one of the biggest funds that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs). In this special deal, mainstream investors can purchase the debt and the total deal size is $100 mm. The money will be leant to 22 selected MFIs around the world. Pretty cool! I've actually been in touch with the people behind this deal at Morgan Stanley and I hope to remain in contact with them as they further pursue endeavors in the microcredit world. Click this link to read more about the deal.

That's all for now....