After the Dubai conference, I am very wary of paying a lot for food since vegetarians are usually a second thought at best when planning a menu, even though there are many vegetarians among the attendees at thal conferences.
Ashish railed at the concept of charging patients registration fees and had planned on coming to Singapore without registering and not attending any talks but being at the conference center, nonetheless. TIF never listened to him but instead sent the Mumbai association a gigantic bill for membership. With Ashish now gone, much of my reason for going has vanished.
I am in a somewhat unique position being neither a patient nor a family member and not a medical professional. However, I have had more than one patient tell me I do more for thals than all of TIF combined. But I have no funding at all and every trip has been paid for out of my own pocket. Sponsorship by an org is unlikely as the patients come first, as they should. In the end, my desire to do what is right (Gandhi said “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” ) has to be tempered by what is financially viable for me. As much as I want to see a world where decisions are based on what should be and what is the right thing to do, regardless of one's own self-interest, I find what I can do is extremely limited by lack of funding. I have considered starting a foundation but time limitations make that unlikely, as between my store and the thal site, I spend over 100 hours working per week. If any lawyer wishes to donate time to help me set up a foundation, please speak up. Don't be shy now. hehe.