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What if you suddenly became a luxury travel reviewer for a famous publication—asked to evaluate Aquitaine caviar, Black Pearl cognac, and gold-plated bathrooms from Dubai to Malaysia to Bali—all while Michelin-rated chefs and hotel managers watched your every move?
And what if -- even as you bluffed and bumbled your way through the fancy stuff -- you found yourself forced to confront the difficult living conditions for most people in most of the places you visited? What if the Platinum Lounge supplying your cocktails had been built by near-slave laborers still working nearby in 105-degree heat, constructing the next swank hotel right next door?
Wouldn't you want to use your 5-star hotel money to make these other people's lives better? But how?
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Bob Harris's answer: plowing every penny of his luxury paychecks (a total of about $20,000) into thousands of tiny loans to small entrepreneurs in more than 65 countries, then following his money around the globe, from Peru to Bosnia to Rwanda to Cambodia and onward, visiting online lending platforms — especially Kiva.org — local microfinance institutions, and ultimately some of the recipients themselves.
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The International Bank of Bob is Bob's fast-paced and surprisingly funny live presentation—now also a Bloomsbury book—on where, why, and how it's all working out—and how audience members can feel deeply connected to helping good people all over our incredibly interconnected world, too.
About Bob
Bob Harris is an author, comedian, TV writer (Bones, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), travel writer, and quiz show champ (Jeopardy!, Greed) who was hired in 2008 by Forbes Traveler to help compile their annual list of the world's finest accommodations—but was often overwhelmed by the brutal contrast between the world's rich and poor. His original $20K has now been loaned and repaid through Kiva.org more than six times over, generating more than $135,000 and helping to fund more than 5200 businesses, all with a better than 99 percent repayment rate.
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| His new book and live presentation, The International Bank of Bob (Walker/Bloomsbury), are meant to bring you personally closer to the challenges, hard work, and creativity of the recipients as you share Bob's travels and the joyous, wrenching, and hopeful adventures along the way. |
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"Funny, tender, and incisive… filled with astonishing anecdotes and indelible characters… no book this important should be this delightful."
— Joss Whedon, filmmaker, Hollywood's (and the world's) top-grossing director of 2012
"Leaves you feeling stronger, more connected to the world, and full of hope… joyous, humane, and inspiring."
— Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief, Huffington Post Media Group
"Shows us how to save the world without being an insufferable prig… enlightening, inspiring, and entertaining."
— Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
"Bob Harris goes literally (and literarily) to the ends of the earth in order to see first-hand the effects of his microfinancing loans. A writer with a big heart and a keen eye, [his work] will make you feel optimistic, inadequate, informed, fortunate, awful, and edified. It may also inspire you to help change the world.”
— Hart Hanson, creator, executive producer, and writer, Bones
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