Milagros Simpson Email

from Milagros Simpson <milagros8@bigpond.com> to Cherry Withers <cwithers@ekindling.org>, raydmorales@gmail.com, "tessa.yuvienco" <tessa.yuvienco@gmail.com>, Tessa Yuvienco <tyuvienco@ekindling.org>, Ryan Onell Letada <rletada@ekindling.org>, Marife Mago <mmago@ekindling.org>, Mitchell Seaton <meaton.2v@gmail.com>, Adam Holt <holt@laptop.org> date Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 9:49 PM subject RE: PLEASE READ: Issue with OLPC Philippines Foundation mailed-by bigpond.com

hide details Jul 22 (4 days ago)

Hi Cherry and all,

Sorry this got lost in the hundreds of emails that I have not read.

Yes, Charles Chen’s statement is presumptuous and inaccurate.

There no agreement with Charles Chen, let alone OLPC Philippines Foundation, which as you have found out , does not exist. To set-up a foundation requires one million pesos, an amount which as we have experienced in our fund raising efforts , is not easy to come by.

I understand your frustrations, but this is only a little challenge compared to what we have already achieved.

Adam is in the right track emailing Charles . Adam can perhaps ask Charles to amend his statements. While I am not happy with Charles extending his association with me and his meetings with Mayor Sanchez and Susan Abaya into an ‘agreement’, I am happy to give him some recognition that he is perhaps seeking for his contribution to the Lubang project. I have outlined here the initial events that involved participation of Charles Chen.

1. When I wrote OLPC Headquarters to ask for information about the OLPC program, I was referred to OLPC Philippines. Charles Chen was the first one to answer my email. Ryan and Gerome also responded, but Charles being an Australian resident, got my attention.

2. When Charles went to the Phil in 2008, I requested him to contact Susan Abaya and Mayor JM Sanchez (JMS) to present to them the OLPC program. After the meeting JMS expressed strong interest to pursue the Lubang project.

3. The NCC group in Australia met with Charles Chen and Mitch Seaton to formulate initial plans. We presented the plan to the reunion of NCC employees in Sydney. All this time we were under the impression that Charles was a bonafide member of OLPC Philippines.

4. At some point in time I noticed that Charles did not have the support of what I thought was OLPC Phil. Later I found out from Ryan and Cherry that they prefer to work in the Lubang project under eKindling banner. Cherry made it very clear that if Charles is involved in the project, eKindling will be reluctant to participate. Charles himself volunteered to vow out .

The NCC group , with Mayor Sanchez, decided to set –up an organisation (not a foundation) for purposes of fundraising. The Mayor asked an ex NCC employee who is now an attorney to stablish this organisation.

Love ya all,

Meg