[OZ_341]

I just wanted to make the point that this trip did not come easily to us. This is far from the case. It almost fell apart in the late Spring and moving forward was not an easy decision.
We are doing a substantial amount of risk taking. to make this happen. Like most successes that we have had over the years, we are gambling that things will be OK into the future.
We are not getting any direct corporate support and we are borrowing against our future fund raising to lower the costs for the kids. Also coaches are paying directly "out of pocket" for this trip.

So why are we taking such great risks to do this then? Because we believe in this effort and we believe in our partners in Singapore. They have been to the USA 3 times and we want to travel to their land and understand their perspectives and challenges. We want partnership to grow into friendship.

So I guess my point is that if a team wants this type of initiative to grow, they are going to have to make it happen with deep belief and pure effort. We have been scrapping and planning for over a year to get this right.