ISSUE No. 5

1. Back on Line
2. Country Liaison
3. Chile
4. Bulgaria
5. Members Only Pages
6. Changing Email Addresses

 
1. Back on Line
It has been too long since I last produced a newsletter and my apologies to you all. Many of you will know that I left South Africa just before Christmas. After several months in England I moved to live in Spain in early March. Our little flat is located in a well established urban area surround by houses (new and old) with telephone connections - but to date Telefonica have failed to provide me with a telephone line. This of course has been devastating for me. Working with Internet Cafes I managed to stay on top of regular communication but found myself working at 50% efficiency. Hence, voluntary work regrettably had to move to the pending tray.
 
Finally I succumbed to working with a Cell phone and the GPRS system. Not an ideal solution for someone who transfers large documents by email on a regular basis as payment is on a megabyte of data transfer basis - but slowly I am catching up and returning to normal system of working.
 
2. Country Liaisons
We would like to welcome the following people as country liaisons and am sure all members look forward to hearing reports from the different regions.
 
BULGARIA: Dessi Daskalova
CANADA: Michael Sunderland
CHILE: Maria Isabel Silva
 
There were many applications received at the conference and thank you all for offering. Alan is busy processing these applications will publish the names as soon as all are confirmed.
 
Your Board of Directors are all well aware that most of you joined this Association to be in touch with activities of the global industry. As I have said before it is not possible to be everywhere, therefore the communication can only be as good as the information we receive from all of you, our members as well as our country liaisons. We look forward to regular reports from our country liaisons and thank them all for volunteering in our continuing efforts to keep the channels of communication open.
 
3. Chile
The conference in Chile was extremely successful and trust that all who attended returned home not only having made many new friends within the industry but also armed with greater knowledge. The papers are now available on the web site. The delay in getting them onto the web site regrettably was due to my communication difficulties and compounded by the fact that my laptop crashed. Fortunately a computer wizard in the UK managed to recover all my data and we finally were able to have access once more to the files. The written word is backing up presentations that included many photographs, practical demonstrations and opportunities to ask questions and of course does not replace being present
at these conferences.
 
The papers on the web site at http://www.world-ostrich.org/chilepap.htm are:

Commercial Ostrich Production
Economics of Ostrich Production
Ostrich Skin Removal
Chairman's Report
 
All of us present in Chile will remember Steve was very busy with his camera. The results of that effort are also available from that link.
 
My own presentations contained many charts and some delegates asked if they would be available. I believe most of the charts are contained in these papers or on past Nutritional Bulletins referenced in the papers. If there is any particular chart that is not found or any questions to ask, please email me privately at [email protected]. Most all of you know that I will answer as best I can.
 
4. Bulgaria
The 2nd WOA Congress - Bulgaria - 23 - 25 October 2003

The World Ostrich Association is proud to announce that the 2nd WOA Congress, "Commercialisation of the Ostrich" is being held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 23 - 25 October 2003.

Continuing on from the enormous success of the first Congress in Chile in March 2003, this conference is destined to be the most informative and progressive Ostrich congress Europe has ever seen and will maintain the emphasis of economics, marketing, sales and the overall Commercialisation of the Ostrich.

Please keep your diaries open for 23 - 25 October 2003 for a visit to the beautiful city of Sofia in Bulgaria.

All final booking, hotel and travel details will be available on the WOA web site towards the end of June 2003.

Don't miss this premiere Ostrich congress - we look forward to seeing you all in Bulgaria in October.
 
The AGM will be held during this conference.
 
5. Members Only Pages
These are now being developed and we will let you know when they are ready.
 
6. Members Email Address
When members have a change in email address, will they please notify craig at [email protected]. When notifying of a change in email address, please provide the old email address and the new email address as well as your name.
 
Any comments or contributions please send either to this list at [email protected] or privately to
[email protected]