Washington, DC

I'm here for a week on business, and at long last someone else is funding my travel habit - not something that happens very often.

Translating isn't too bad as jobs go, but it ranks somewhere below Trappist monasticism in terms of the social skills and level of physical activity it demands of me. So I'm looking forward to some new horizons and the chance to work with a team of flesh-and-blood humans for a change. It looks like it might be an interesting project, so watch this space.

Anyway, being here reminds me of two very inspiring people I met when I arrived in New Orleans two years ago.

Zack Rosenburg and girlfriend Liz McCartney were two young, high-flying lawyers living on Washington's Capitol Hill until Katrina struck in August 2005.

Along with their fellow Americans, they watched the scenes of devastation unfold on their TV screen - but unlike most people, instead of just tut-tutting and reaching for another family pack of Doritos, they decided to go and help. Leaving behind their comfortable apartment and all the other trappings of success, they moved to New Orleans and founded the Saint Bernard Project.

From unpromising beginnings - neither of them knew anything about construction - Zack and Liz have now rebuilt 120 houses in flood-ravaged St Bernard Parish, with the help of 6,000 volunteers from all over the world - including, briefly, yours truly.

Liz has now been named a 2008 Top Ten Hero by CNN, and could win the title CNN Hero of the Year and a prize of $100,000. The winner will be chosen by the public, so please take a moment of your time to vote for her here, because it won't take a minute of your time and because she thoroughly deserves it.