Conference Scholarship Fund Appeal

We are aware that some South Africans who would like to attend the conference are working in sectors that are poorly paid: in NGOs involved in early childhood development, the prevention of abuse, or the counseling or care of people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Making it possible for people such as this and also for students to attend the conference would, in our view, not only be of benefit to them but enrich the conference for everyone.

With this in mind we have set up a scholarship fund. Conference attendees at San Francisco spontaneously and generously donated to that, for which we thank them. Other individuals and institutions have since made a commitment to contributing.

Local NGOs that we know to be effective in their field and whose staff have already had some exposure to TA or are already using it will be the main recipients of scholarships. Application will, of course, be open to anyone who is interested.

If you would love to attend the conference but, for any reason, are not able to, please consider making it possible for a local delegate to attend. You can make it possible for more people to discover the wealth of TA theory, practice and community.

Donations can be made via Ken Fogelman at ITAA or directly to the SATAA conference committee.

For payment details, email:

Either:	skalinko@global.co.za
or:	dsalters@iafrica.com

The following is a letter from Kathy Laverty on sponsoring those who are disadvantaged

Dear Robyn

The ITAA conference in San Francisco on cooperation and power left me both inspired and challenged.

I attended the Women's Caucus, for the first time and found myself in a room of women from very different parts of the Globe. One of the women made an impassioned appeal to address the inequality of access to TA conferences.

It was here at the Women's Caucus that a new decision was made to form a working committee to support and empower people who have been disempowered due to socio political reasons and as a result are unable to attend Transactional Analysis conferences. I agreed to take the Chair.

The "Co-operation and Empowerment Committee" for social justice was born. Founding members are:

Kathy Laverty, Sydney, Australia (Chair) Viki Cole, Manchester, England Katherine Lakeman, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Karen Pratt, Cape Town, South Africa (Treasurer)

Our first meeting was held that day. We agreed that our first commitment is to support the South African Conference to be held in 2008.

At the plenary session Karen Pratt read out our appeal asking delegates to support the South African conference by providing seed funding (US $10.00) per person, basically the equivalent of three cups of coffee .People responded and gave generously and $620 dollars was raised. This money will be used to support local delegates so that they are able to attend the conference.

We would like to encourage the TA community to think about how we can empower delegates who do not have the funds to attend a conference in their own country.

It was proposed that a community we need to enter into dialogue about these issues. How can we empower without rescuing? How can we recognise and empower vulnerable people without interacting with them as victims? How can we empower people who due to social political circumstance cannot afford to attend TA conferences?

Let's continue responding to this appeal raised at the Women's Caucus and let us put our collective heads together, to think how this initiative can continue to develop.

Ethics, writes Moore (2002) is simply a facet of a radical sense of community. As we work with what it means to be part of the Global community, let us think about what not having three cups of coffee can do to empower others. Robyn, I am wondering if this is something you would consider getting into the wider community as an article in The Script.

Please contact me if you require any additional information.

Kind regards

Kathy Laverty