Sidar Jornadas postponed due to inclement weather (Hurricane Jeanne)

Hi all,

Funadación Sidar is postponing its VIII annual "Jornadas del SIDAR"  
(conference) which was to have been in Puerto Rico at the end of November.  
The conference showcases accessibility work by and for the  
spanish-speaking world.

The effects of Hurricane Jeanne (and others) mean that Puerto Rico  
currently has a number of urgent things to deal with, like getting  
electricity and running water available to a majority of the population.  
(See below for how to help). The organisers of the Jornadas (Universidad  
Interamericana de Puerto Rico and the Programa de Asistencia Tecnológica  
de Puerto Rico) would still like to be the host, but understandably need  
time to deal with the effects of the hurricanes. We are therefore  
postponing the Jornadas until mid january 2005, and will confirm final  
dates as soon as possible.

This is the first time we have delayed the conference, and we hope that  
people understand the reasons. We are very pleased that we can still  
expect to host the Jornadas in Puerto Rico. when there has been enough  
time to recuperate and rise above the current problems. We look forward to  
meeting other spanish speakers working in the area of accessibility early  
in the New Year.

One of the opportunities that the delay offers is extra time to sponsor  
the Jornadas. If you would like to know more, please get in touch.

HOW TO HELP:
The Puerto Rican chapter of the Red Cross are looking for about 4 million  
US Dollars. Giving money to the Red Cross is not hard - they accept it  
over the phone, over the Web, and so on. In some places they (or other  
relief organisations) can also use material aid - blankets are often rare  
in these doona-dominated days, and a quick phone call or bit of research  
will give you information about what is and isn't helpful to your local  
folks. (There are some things that they just  don't need - for example a  
rare miniature elephant may be useful for an auction house that raises  
money, but not a food warehouse that stores peanuts :-)

Saludos,

Charles McCathieNevile, vice-president, Fundación Sidar

   for

Emmanuelle Gutiérrez y Restrepo   Fundación Sidar
Coordinadora del SIDAR   www.sidar.org
Email: coordina@sidar.org
Tel.: +34 - 91 725 71 47

Received on Monday, 20 September 2004 18:32:42 UTC