<div dir="ltr">1) Lionel is correct to suggest that some-or-most of the $2800 could disappear, if France rejects visas (every reasonably-priced flight is non-refundable in 2017; these funds would be lost). Not at all an abstract hypothetical: France's visa approval process may require the flight be purchased in advance, and Samson's expenses traveling around Nigeria (flights, hotels etc) just to get a visa potentially be lost as well.<br><br>In any case, I cannot count the number of times this has happened to good people with the *Very Best of Intentions*, people I've known to be the purest souls, whose visa AND flight funds completely disappeared as a result of their overseas visas/entry being rejected, based on one mysterious technicality or another.<br><br>Worse yet: the (presumed, but not quite!) attendee generally has to pay for all lost funds themselves in such situations, as compensation is not possible when the conference/event was not in fact attended.<br><br>2) $2800 is far too high of a sum for Sugar Labs to gamble on such an uncertain outcome. Some of the most productive hackers I know in Haiti live on $1000 per year total (or less). I have flown to work with them and similar/such people on other continents over the past year, where the grand total cost was less than $500 (Asia and Europe) in all cases, by staying in other hackers/contributors homes.<br><br>Conversely, flying to the EU mid-summer in the height of tourist season, is about as expensive as it gets.<br><br>As such, a more financially judicious gamble might involve a carefully thought-out proposal for one single individual to attend. Likely an individual who has the strongest track record of getting EU visas approved? Or perhaps an individual who has established contacts / diplomatic connections within the French government, a high-level contact who cares about children and free software etc, to guarantee the visa will be approved?<br><br>3) Laura Vargas is correct SFC cannot generally provide funds in advance, so the mechanics of this entire proposal remain unclear. Not reassuring when flight prices are already rising less than 2 months before the event. But possibly a (presumed) attendee can arrange a personal loan from a friend, to cover all funds in advance, to be reimbursed by SFC later if nothing goes wrong with the visa?<br><br>4) If an improved proposal is indeed appropriate at this late stage, what community deliverables/artifacts will the attendee(s) publish and/or contribute in the end, preferably on the public record for all to share?<br><br>ASIDE: What is the exact/estimated total that Scratch itself has offered to contribute?<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, May 20, 2017 at 12:13 PM, Sameer Verma <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sverma@sfsu.edu" target="_blank">sverma@sfsu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">+1<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Sameer</div></font></span></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On May 19, 2017 9:01 AM, "Walter Bender" <<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">+1</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Sameer Verma <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sverma@sfsu.edu" target="_blank">sverma@sfsu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">I second.<span class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Sameer</div></font></span></div><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951HOEnZb"><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On May 19, 2017 5:50 AM, "Walter Bender" <<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Perhaps someone can second the motion so we can begin voting?</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239elided-text">On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 4:28 AM, Samson Goddy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:samsongoddy@sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">samsongoddy@sugarlabs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239elided-text"><div dir="ltr">Thank you all for the positive comments. But i am little sad that since wednesday, only one vote has been made. Where we have 7 SLOBs member in this community. I am pleading to other SLOBs member to come and vote, so that i and Ibiam can have idea what to do next if this motion passes or not. Because if this motion pass, we will have to wait for SFC 30 days policy.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regards</div><span class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>Samson Goddy</div></font></span></div><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729HOEnZb"><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 18, 2017 at 1:49 AM, Ignacio Rodríguez <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ignacio@sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">ignacio@sugarlabs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hi everyone<div><br></div><div>It's +1 from me :)<br>I've seen some pictures on Facebok and I love what you both are doing, awesome work, Samson and Ibiam.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>Ignacio.-</div></div><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729m_6080264892381352715HOEnZb"><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729m_6080264892381352715h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 8:27 PM, Avni Khatri <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:avni@kidsoncomputers.org" target="_blank">avni@kidsoncomputers.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div></div><div>Same. Not a member of SLOB but agree it's a well written proposal. +1</div><div><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729m_6080264892381352715m_960208875067049078h5"><div><br>On May 17, 2017, at 7:23 PM, Caryl Bigenho <<a href="mailto:cbigenho@hotmail.com" target="_blank">cbigenho@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
<div>This is a well thought out proposal for a worthy project. I am not a member of the SLOB so I can't vote. But I do hope it is approved.</div>
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<div id="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729m_6080264892381352715m_960208875067049078m_-1283473396141410555AppleMailSignature">Caryl <br>
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Sent from my iPhone</div>
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On May 17, 2017, at 11:31 AM, Walter Bender <<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Samson and Ibiam are seeking funds to cover part of the cost to attend the Scratch Conference in Bordeaux France in July to promote Sugar. The detailed proposal is here [1].
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<div>Motion: Sugar Labs agrees to cover up to US$2800 for expenses related to traveling to the Scratch2017BDX, 17th to 22nd of July, 2017 for Samson Goddy and Ibiam <span style="font-size:12.8px">Chihurumnaya.</span></div>
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<div>[1] <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/152VDfUcdcGOHOFBLT3lG15sUFpzBeuBCGiNAGCSOLj4/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/do<wbr>cument/d/152VDfUcdcGOHOFBLT3lG<wbr>15sUFpzBeuBCGiNAGCSOLj4/edit?u<wbr>sp=sharing</a><br>
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<div>regards.</div>
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<div>-walter</div>
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<div dir="ltr">
<div><font><font>Walter Bender</font></font><br>
<font><font>Sugar Labs</font></font></div>
<div><font><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font>http://www.sugarlabs.org</font></a></font><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239quoted-text"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951m_-8631537384720306239m_-92557402255327729gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><font><font>Walter Bender</font></font><br><font><font>Sugar Labs</font></font></div><div><font><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font>http://www.sugarlabs.org</font></a></font><br><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font></font></a><br></div></div></div>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="m_-3537467328906528218m_-3038926657652787951gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><font><font>Walter Bender</font></font><br><font><font>Sugar Labs</font></font></div><div><font><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font>http://www.sugarlabs.org</font></a></font><br><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font></font></a><br></div></div></div>
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