The Answer? Soap: Erin Zaikis at TEDxLafayetteCollege

One moment of meeting teenaged refugees in Thailand who didn't know what soap was spurred Erin Zaikis to start a global movement to prioritize this simple product that so many of us take for granted. In a time of intense focus on clean water initiatives, activist and Sundara founder Erin Zaikis brings attention to the other side of the hygiene equation: soap. In this talk she explains one way to solve our world's biggest hygiene crisis - by taking the gently used bars of soap from hotels that are usually discarded and teaching local women in these communities how to recycle them and distribute them amongst the world's poor.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)