This has nothing to do with Credit Unions

.. but it is one of those things that I love to tell people but can never seem to work into a conversation. Perfect for a blog!

In 2001, Verity Credit Union supported a project called Business Week in Belarus, in which ten Seattle area business people and 5 students went to Minsk, Belarus and taught enterprise education to 135 students, business people and a handful of reporters. It was a combined effort between Washington State Business Week, Children for Chernobyl and a lyceum in Minsk.

At any rate, the man whose school hosted us and whom we have become friends with over the years is running for president! How cool would it be that I would know someone who is running for president of a foreign country? The only thing cooler would be if he won. Well, actually, it would be a little bit cooler if I personally knew the president of my own country, but that isn’t on the near horizon.

Running for president of Belarus is not the safest thing to do. Candidates have shown up dead in the past few elections (think Ukraine and you get a good perspective of what the government is like over there).

I do have to give a nod to Verity Credit Union who made it possible for me to participate in this extraordinary event that led me to meet the future potential president of a former Soviet Republic. Its cool.