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My name is Mary Allegra, Associate Professor at University of Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela TESOL (VenTESOL) President 2017-2019. Every year since 1982, Venezuela TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Speakers) celebrates its National Convention. This year, VenTESOL National Convention will take place on May 26 and 27, 2018. As the international community may know, the political, economical and social crisis in Venezuela is affecting all the population including professionals. English teachers and students do not escape from this reality.

Although it might be unbelievable, the inflation is increasing weekly. In fact, the inflation rate is expected to hit five-digit levels in 2018. See article: Venezuela's Economic Crisis Keeps Getting Worse.

Despite the difficulties, the Venezuelan association of English teachers (VenTESOL) is resilient and keeps finding ways to improve professional development. It is impossible for any Venezuelan to have access to any foreign currency. Apart from this, the wage for a teacher in Venezuela is almost equivalent to the minimum wage in Venezuela, which is around $6 per month. See article: Venezuela hikes its minimum wage again -- to just over $6.

For all these reasons, it is inviable for any English teacher or student to pay the real registration fee to attend Venezuela TESOL National Convention. Those already registered for this convention are paying less than $1 dollar for the registration fee since the objective of our organization is to help our ELT Community. However, this registration fee does not allow the organizer (VenTESOL) to pay the expenses for this convention.

Therefore, I would really appreciate all your contributions to help VenTESOL organize its National Convention 2018. I promise to thank all donors publicly while in the convention. Their names will be in a presentation and I will record a video where I would read the names of all of them. The video thanking you all will be publicly published and could be seen by anyone.

Many thanks in advance,

Prof. Mary Allegra

VenTESOL President