Dear
World Open Space friends,
First
of all let me apologize for being late in communicating
with you on our forthcoming World Open Space on Open Space
in Serbia. Let me assure however you that everything is
fine and we are ready to warmly welcome you to the
University of Belgrade on 18-21 September 2014.
Let
me explain why I am late. Something happened that I did
not expect when I offered to host WOSonOS 2014. Earlier
this year, I made a major life decision, which was to get
involved in politics taking a very lead role with others
to establish a new political party. The election took
place in March, and it consumed a lot of my time. It still
does.
I
must say that if Open Space had not been part of my life,
I would not have had the courage to get involved like
this. I realized how much my country means to me and I
felt we needed people to become more involved. We needed
to open space, to invite more democracy and transparency
in the decision-making.
As
a new party, we did not expect to win against the
established party that was leading the country. It was a
massive job and I am very proud that in 10 days of very
hard work we got from 5 to 8% of the vote in the big
cities, and became the most promising opposition party.
Yes as we all know, Open Space can have a life changing
effect.
WOSonOS2014
Now
let me get to the main message of this email! Just about
everything is ready with all the details you need to know.
There is only one problem that was holding us back to
publish our website and that was to establish the payment
procedures with the bank. This can be complicated. As I
continue to work with the banks, I decided to publish the
website within the next week and as a last resort,
participants can always pay us when they arrive (meals,
materials costs, etc.). I assure you that we are doing
everything we can to keep the costs as low as possible.
The University of Belgrade where I teach has generously
offered their facilities to us at no cost. They are very
excited to be hosting this event following in the
footsteps of Florida who partnered with the University of
South Florida, St. Petersburg last year.
In
terms of basic information:
Dates:
WOSonOS will start on Thursday September 18th at 6.30 pm
(registration and welcome) and will end on Sunday
September 21st at 4.30 pm.
Venue:
University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 1, 11000 Belgrade,
Serbia, in the very city center.
Hotels:
We
have contacted local hotels for preferred rates which will
provide you with many options and choices at affordable
costs. You can also choose your own as Belgrade has many
lovely hotels and rooms for tourists and visitors, all
within walking distance or a short bus ride to the
University.
.
Team:
We
are a team of 10 people with many others who are excited
to support us though as you all know, Open Space is quite
simple and we want to keep this spirit of simplicity and
welcome. We are very fortunate that in the last few years,
many here have experienced Open Space. We have been in
touch with other people in the Balkans and they too are
looking forward to being part of this..
Visas,
Transportation: The
airport “Nikola Tesla” (website: ttp://www.beg.aero/welcome.54.html)
s a short distance away. Don’t forget to check AirSerbia
flights http://www.airserbia.com/.
There is public transportation and cabs from the airport.
Regarding
the visas, here is the link: http://www.mfa.gov.rs/en/consular-affairs/entry-serbia/visa-requirements
In
case you need a visa, let me know, and we will send you an
invitation letter you need in order to submit your
application.
Access
Queen: I
will be in touch with Lisa Heft to to see how we can
assist in supporting anyone travelling to Serbia as is
traditionally done and much appreciated at WOSonOS events.
Website:
Coming very soon with all the basic information you need!
If
you have any immediate questions until we launch our
website in the next week, please contact me directly and I
promise we will get back to you quickly.
Again
my apologies for this delay and please know that we are
welcoming you with Open Arms in Open Space to Serbia. You
will love the people and our country!
Thank
you also to everyone who has offered to help. We will let
you know in the weeks and months to come if there is
anything specific we need.
With
love,
Jasmina
