[IAEP] [SLOBS] URGENT action needed

James Cameron quozl at laptop.org
Sun Aug 13 16:40:00 EDT 2017


I'm also very disappointed.

I don't see a conflict of interest because of friendship; a board can
always pay members of the board for costs if they choose, even by an
advance if necessary.  If friendship created a conflict of interest,
board members could never be friends.

On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 04:01:07PM +0100, Samson Goddy wrote:
> 
> I am want to say that i am very very disappointed of what this community is
> turning into. I am certainly confuse of how some decisions are been made for
> reasons that are not just worth it.  
> 
> I remember asking for $2K+ as to support i and Ibiam's travel to the scratch
> conference that would benefit the community. It was obviously refused for
> reasons that make me laugh sometimes. We debated about it and then decided to
> cost ibiam out the conference and reducing the support to $500. With all the
> arguments, i eventually didn't prepare very well for the schengen visa and i
> got rejected with no time to appeal because of the confusion from Sugar Labs
> board. I lost over $600 from my personal funds trying to get Sugar Labs stories
> and project down to bordeaux. Because i believe that is the responsibility as a
> member of this community. 
> 
> Can someone remind me again what is the "Mission and Vision" statement of Sugar
> Labs?
> 
> Now, i was chosen based on the work i put into by helping as a mentor on the
> new website to attend the mentor summit which i believe Google is paying for
> not Sugar Labs, which has been over 6 years now. Not attending the summit
> create a bad name from Sugar Labs because pay you to attend. Now this motion is
> delayed because 3 in favour, 1 not-in-favour, 2 abstain confirmed.
> 
>  I need to book appointment for an interview this week and it takes up to (15
> working days) for the US embassy to approve the appointment and according to
> Google i need to have a visa on or before 5th of September.
> 
> So i am asking politely, if the community is not comfortable with me going to
> the mentor summit in SFO, i will appreciate if i will be told today or
> tomorrow. So that i can stop working on my DS-160 form and so that someone can
> go instead of me, especially if that person will be needing a visa. Because i
> don't buy or understand this excuses. 
> 
> I am very open minded, i don't get angry alot but i hate politics.
> 
> Samson 
> 
> On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 3:11 PM, Laura Vargas <[1]laura at somosazucar.org> wrote:
> 
>     2017-08-13 8:44 GMT-05:00 Walter Bender <[2]walter.bender at gmail.com>:
>    
>         Really???
> 
>         I have to agree with Samson here. What is the existential risk here?
>         How does the risk of a travel advance to a well established community
>         member (and oversight board member) for a trip sponsored by a reliable
>         funding source with whom we have been working for years represent some
>         "dangerous precedent"? Regarding your suggestion that we loan the money
>         as individuals, the fact that I out almost $2K for money I have loaned
>         to community members for travel advances...
> 
>     For everyone's reference, I believe here it is imperative to clear that:
> 
>     Sugar labs board has never approved or endorse any personal loans among
>     members. This practice would potentially produce long-term distortions in 
>     democratic decision making.
>    
>     Regards
> 
>     Laura V
> 
>         makes me much more wary of that approach. It seemingly introduces an
>         additional layer of confusion that makes travel reimbursement all the
>         more mired within the opaque operations of our parent org.
>        
>         -walter
>        
>         On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 9:28 AM, Samson Goddy <[3]samsongoddy at gmail.com
>         > wrote:
> 
>             Thank you Adam for the wonderful reply.
> 
>             On Aug 13, 2017 2:10 PM, "Adam Holt" <[4]holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> 
>                 Because Samson Goddy is our close friend and clearly should go
>                 to San Francisco for GSoC, it is tempting to send him a
>                 personal loan.
> 
>                 But for Sugar Labs to provide loans to our personal friends is
>                 a dangerous precedent frought with moral and ethical hazards.
> 
>                 As such, personally my conscience forces me to abstain from all
>                 such matters.
> 
>             A quick question.. I am trying to undertsand some comments on this
>             motion. 
> 
>             I believe this is not the first time Google is giving money to
>             Sugar Labs and i am pretty sure i am not the first person from
>             Sugar Labs to attend GSOC summit.
> 
>             Why is this an issue, for SL to approve so SFC can give me travel
>             advance? 
> 
>             Dont Google pay for the travels? 
> 
>             Why i am asking these questions is because i haven't seen such
>              comments on previous travels and i certainly dont understand why
>             it is happening now, at least eating up time when i should be
>             scheduling for interview with the US embassy. 
>            
> 
>                 I strongly encourage others to provide Samson the $627.05
>                  personal loan he in fact does need, if Sugar Labs cannot.
> 
>                 It will make a gigantic difference, and you will have a friend
>                 for life in Samson Goddy, who is likely to move forward
>                 accomplishing truly incredible things in his life.
> 
>             Thanks for this note.
> 
>                 On Aug 13, 2017 2:54 AM, "Lionel Laské" <[5]
>                 lionel.laske at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>                     Because Adam is our Financial contact, I would like to hear
>                     from him before voting.
>                     In the meantime my vote could be considering as "Abstain".
> 
>                                  Lionel.
> 
>                     2017-08-12 15:27 GMT-07:00 Tabitha Roder <[6]
>                     tabitha at tabitha.net.nz>:
> 
>                         I think Sugar Labs should approve the $US 627.05 travel
>                         advance for Samson Goddy.
>                         Tabitha
> 
>                        
>                         On Aug 11, 2017 8:44 AM, "Walter Bender" <[7]
>                         walter.bender at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>                             I presume we need a motion and a vote on this. Time
>                             is of the essence, so please respond ASAP.
> 
>                             Motion: Samson Goddy has been selected as a Sugar
>                             Labs representative to the Google Summer of Code
>                             mentor summit. He has requested a travel advance to
>                             cover the costs of his visa application. The
>                             advance, including wire fees comes to $US 627.05.
>                             This motion is to approve the travel advance. (As
>                             additional background, Google will be covering up
>                             to $2200 in travel expenses for two representatives
>                             to attend the summit. Since our other
>                             representative is local to the SF area, the bulk of
>                             that money would be available to cover Samson's
>                             travel, so the net impact on SL funds will be
>                             negligible.
> 
>                             regards.
> 
>                             -walter
> 
>                             ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>                             From: Accounting at Software Freedom Conservancy <
>                             [8]accounting at sfconservancy.org>
>                             Date: Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 4:16 PM
>                             Subject: URGENT request for Sugar Labs to approve
>                             of US$627.05 advance for Goddy for GSoC Mentor
>                             Summit (was: Is Goddy actually requesting $160 ?)
>                             To: [9]sugar at sfconservancy.org
>                             Cc: Martin Michlmayr <[10]gsoc at sfconservancy.org>,
>                             Samson Goddy <[11]samsongoddy at gmail.com>
> 
>                             Sugar Labs PLC,  please urgently page down to the
>                             all caps section below.
> 
>                             Samson,
> 
>                             Samson Goddy wrote at 08:52 (EDT) on Wednesday:
>                             > it has been 5 days, i already made request to 
>                             [12]sugar at sfconservancy.org for
>                             > funding. Since it takes up to 15 working days(3
>                             weeks) for the embassy to
>                             > accept appointment for interview.
>                             >
>                             > I haven't heard anything from both parties.
> 
>                             Unfortunately, We are waiting for someone from
>                             Sugar Labs to reply to
>                             approve the expense.  I don't know why they haven't
>                             replied.
> 
>                             SUGAR LABS PLC: By my calculation, Samson is asking
>                             for this:
> 
>                               FOR TRAVEL TO GET A VISA, AND FOR THE VISA FEES
>                             ITSELF, SAMSON GODDY ASKS
>                               FOR A CASH ADVANCE OF TRAVEL EXPENSES (TO COME TO
>                             GSOC MENTOR SUMMIT
>                               2017).  The totals are as follows:
> 
>                               If we use western union, N202,350 = $570 (rate
>                             set by WU)
> 
>                               If we use wire, he's asking for 561+(561*.05)
>                             +13+25 = US$627.05 to be wired.
>                                                                    wire fees
> 
>                             If Sugar Labs PLC replies with approval before
>                             Sunday night US/Eastern, we
>                             can likely process a payment by wire on Monday.
> 
>                             We don't typically use Western Union, and it would
>                             be substantial effort for
>                             us to do that, so we'd like Sugar to approve the
>                             additional wire fees as
>                             it will make payment more rapid for Samson and
>                             easier for Conservancy.
> 
>                             Samson, your request was a bit ramble-y, so if I
>                             gleaned the wrong totals
>                             above, please correct them.
> 
>                             Samson, in preparation for Sugar Labs PLC hopefully
>                             approving this request,
>                             could you let me know if the wire instructions I
>                             used for you before are
>                             still correct, and if not, send me new ones?
>                            
>                             --
>                             Bradley M. Kuhn
>                             Distinguished Technologist of Software Freedom
>                             Conservancy
>                              |------> & also, de-facto Bookkeeper for the
>                             moment
>                             Pls support Conservancy!: [13]https://
>                             sfconservancy.org/supporter/
>                            
> 
>                             --
>                             Walter Bender
>                             Sugar Labs
>                             [14]http://www.sugarlabs.org
>                             [15]
> 
>                             _______________________________________________
>                             IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop
>                             project!)
>                             [16]IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>                             [17]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>                        
> 
>                         _______________________________________________
>                         SLOBs mailing list
>                         [18]SLOBs at lists.sugarlabs.org
>                         [19]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/slobs
> 
>                     _______________________________________________
>                     IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>                     [20]IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>                     [21]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> 
>                 _______________________________________________
>                 IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>                 [22]IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>                 [23]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> 
>             _______________________________________________
>             SLOBs mailing list
>             [24]SLOBs at lists.sugarlabs.org
>             [25]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/slobs
> 
>         --
>         Walter Bender
>         Sugar Labs
>         [26]http://www.sugarlabs.org
>         [27]
> 
>         _______________________________________________
>         IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>         [28]IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>         [29]http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> 
>    
>     --
>     Laura V.
>     I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org
>    
>     “Solo la tecnología libre nos hará libres.” 
>     ~ Laura Victoria
> 
>     Happy Learning!
>     #LearningByDoing
>     #Projects4good
>     #IDesignATSugarLabs
>     #WeCanDoBetter
> 
> References:
> 
> [1] mailto:laura at somosazucar.org
> [2] mailto:walter.bender at gmail.com
> [3] mailto:samsongoddy at gmail.com
> [4] mailto:holt at laptop.org
> [5] mailto:lionel.laske at gmail.com
> [6] mailto:tabitha at tabitha.net.nz
> [7] mailto:walter.bender at gmail.com
> [8] mailto:accounting at sfconservancy.org
> [9] mailto:sugar at sfconservancy.org
> [10] mailto:gsoc at sfconservancy.org
> [11] mailto:samsongoddy at gmail.com
> [12] mailto:sugar at sfconservancy.org
> [13] https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/
> [14] http://www.sugarlabs.org/
> [15] http://www.sugarlabs.org/
> [16] mailto:IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [17] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> [18] mailto:SLOBs at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [19] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/slobs
> [20] mailto:IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [21] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> [22] mailto:IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [23] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> [24] mailto:SLOBs at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [25] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/slobs
> [26] http://www.sugarlabs.org/
> [27] http://www.sugarlabs.org/
> [28] mailto:IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> [29] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
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-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/


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