There are lots of things I like about the O-list list... but one of the very *best* things about this mailing list, for me, is that through it I have made friends with people all over the world. One such friend is Ali Bahmani, who some of you may recognize from his posts here, or from the delightful origami pieces he has submitted to various publications.
Ali and his colleague Kiumars, both residents of Iran, are attending the 6OSME conference and 20th Origami Tanteidan Convention in Tokyo, Japan, starting this weekend. The reason I'm writing this? Well, they are asking for any help the origami community can give them to support their trip. More details are below, but the bottom line is that they are both going into serious debt in order to fund their trip to Japan. Any amount, no matter how small, would help! They plan to document (and publish) both still and video imagery of their trip, interviews with origami community members, and more. They've set up a website to describe their trip/project, and facilitate the fundraising (they're even offering origami "perks" to contributors, much like projects at Kickstarter): http://www.youcaring.com/origamify Below is the introduction from the website talking about their trip plans. If anyone is interested in participating but wishes to remain (somewhat) anonymous, let me know - I'll be happy to lump contributions, and keep your secret. Looking forward to seeing Ali & Kiumars, and so many others of the O-list community shortly in Tokyo, Anne LaVin --------------------- Hello! We are Ali Bahmani and Kiumars Sharif, avid paperfolders, teachers, and students of Mathematics at the University of Tehran, Iran. Our paper, "Using Origami to Enrich Mathematical Understanding of Fractals", co-written with American paperfolder Andrew Hudson, has been accepted for presentation at the 6th International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education, to be held in August this year in Tokyo, Japan. The 20th Origami Tanteidan Convention will be held the following weekend, also in Tokyo. The combination of the two conferences represents an amazing opportunity for us to meet and study with many of the top artists of the Origami community, to learn about the current state of the art and its applications, and to bring that knowledge home to Iran to use in our own teaching, studies and in building and maintaining our own local origami community. We also hope to document our trip (see below, "In Japan...") and share our experiences online. You can follow our news on our Facebook page: Project Origamify. Unfortunately, the logistics and bureaucracy surrounding international travel from our country are making it extremely difficult for us to attend. In particular, we have had to set aside all of our personal savings as collateral for our return, leaving us very short on funds for the travel. We are very grateful for a generous gift from the 6OSME and Gabriella & Paul Rosenbaum Foundation, but by itself it is not enough for us to be able to attend. So we are appealing to the international origami community, and asking for any financial assistance you can give, to help us raise the necessary funds for airfare, conference fees and travel expenses - for the two of us, we estimate that minimum of US$2500 will be needed (and we are already using the Couchsurfing network to save money on housing!) Given the difficulties of moving money internationally, Ali's cousin, Hassan Fouroozesh, a student of Business Management at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, has agreed to collect and send on the donations. Thank you for any help you can provide, and we hope to meet many of you in Japan!
