How An Anonymous Person Helped Me to Attend The iCommons Summit in Croatia

Credit: Rebecca Kahn

This map shows the number of countries from where representatives attended the recently concluded iCommons Summit in Croatia. 58 countries, to be precise. That’s an amazing worldwide distribution. Click here to see a bigger map.

Now, that number would probably have been half had it not been for some really generous sponsors. In addition to big organizations, there are individuals who helped out. An anonymous person donated $100,000 specifically to help iCommoners worldwide who otherwise couldn’t have made it to the summit on their own.

I was one of the beneficiaries. My entire trip costed around Rs.1.5 lakhs. I don’t think I could have afforded that on my own. My trip and accomodation was paid for. But I don’t even know the name of the person who helped me out.

Its amazing that at a time when people crave for publicity and aim to get the ‘bang for the buck’, here is a person who refuses to take in credit.

Here is a lovely thank you note by Steve Foerster, an American who was my room mate at Dubrovnik.

Another amazing fact is that this huge conference was organized by a small team of about 10 members. Most of them are located in Johannesburg and Berlin but they pulled off the event brilliantly in distant Croatia.