Hello everybody :)I have tried very hard to read all the long and complex posts, but I am not able to respond in any detail to them all, sorry: my problem, nobody else's. Too difficult to think of so many words and type so much.
Before I go any further, I want to thank all the people who have written to me privately: I have learnt a lot from it, I appreciate your input and support enormously, and it leaves a very good feeling in my heart. :)
I was going to try continuing with the list, especially the translation mails, since we have a lot to address in our aims to translate the wiki and site, and possibly special information like releases, handouts at cons. I was excited about the possibilities, and by the enthusiasm of people offering to translate. I have always received a lot of support on the specialist translation lists, and it's encouraged me to do more, try and encourage others, especially other women, to participate.
However, I obviously do not have the skills and background necessary to do this on the D-W list. I apologize for that, it shames me and my family, but it really seemed important and worth the risk of failure. I have heard from many people who are still keen to contribute and
On 17/08/2005, at 12:39 AM, Julie Sloan wrote:
(an aside to Clytie, if she's reading: maybe there's room in linuxchixfor a women-translator's list. If you are still interested in forming one, IMO that'd be the place to ask)
yes, please, Julie, I will ask on the linuxchix volunteers list, of which I am a member. While I was trying to address the issue of encouraging more women to participate in D-W, and thus in Debian as a whole, I can see that I could do that usefully at linuxchix, and encourage people in whatever system or project suits them. I have worked in advocacy and empowerment for a long time, and it is worth it, _always_, to me, to see people taking that new step, gaining the skills to realize they _can_ take it. I hope to continue with that, and that my limitations will not prevent me being of some use there.
I am sorry that I have not been able to explain myself properly here. I have wanted to encourage people here, and my comment on the Gnome- Women list (of which I am also a member) was simply saying, while discussing what G-W might want to do, that "some things work for D-W and some things don't", IMHO. I have tried to talk about those things here, often. I am sorry I have not succeeded.
I wish I could do more, but my physical/mental/emotional limitations due to illness are too severe to allow me to continue. :( Being here, the way it is now, is making me sicker (my problem, nobody else's), and I have not achieved anything, so I don't think it's worth that. I think my cultural background also limits me in handling this type of communication. I simply have no experience in it.
I really want to encourage people, who possibly are not the people you are looking for. I would like to put my effort into removing barriers, helping people gain skills, encouraging them, helping them find the right ways and the right places to ask questions and find information. There is a lot of need for this in computing, and it is what I do best. I am not doing well here, so it is probably wasting your time. I certainly don't want to cause any bad feeling. I am extremely uncomfortable in any situation where there is bad feeling. :(
Thankyou very much to everyone who has listened to what I've said, and tried to help. I appreciate that so much. I have enjoyed working on the wiki, and I remain a committed Debian translator: I am working in many translation projects, but I think it's important to say here that I have met only encouragement and acceptance in debian-i18n, Christian and Frans are wonderful, among many others, and I will always do my best for Debian translation. I _am_ achieving something there, and I would like to leave you with the, for me, very exciting and heart-warming news that the Debian-Installer will be released in my language for the very first time, very soon. This is big news on all the Vietnamese OSS sites, and something of which I think we can feel very proud. :) Done, almost entirely, by a woman.
I had an email yesterday from another Vietnamese woman, who had found the D-W wiki, in Vietnamese, while searching for something for Vietnamese women, to help them with computing. She was so excited that something existed for her, that someone thought it important enough to translate information for her. She needed help, firstly, with setting up her browser to show our language correctly.
Maybe I have got it wrong in thinking this is a good place to do such things. Her English is very good, but she is an older woman, like myself, shy and inhibited in upbringing, looking for someone to hold out a hand in the long trail to some independence online. I want to do that. I _will_ do that, for her and for anybody else I can. :)
I wish all of you and your families happiness and good fortune throughout your lives. Thankyou. I go now.
from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN