Dear all, To everyone who has reached out on the maillists, and privately, thank you. I feel overwhelmed by the support, and deeply grateful and moved by the appreciation.
I would like to - and will - respond to each of you individually, but given my health, my apologies that I'm not able to respond to each of your incredible messages as immediately as I'd like to. ...so yes, more to come, and many more journeys to share together! Warmly, Anasuya On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 2:31 PM, Anasuya Sengupta <asengu...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Dear friends and colleagues, fellow adventurers on the Wikimedia journey - > > Goodbyes are overrated.[1] But since I’m sure this will be au revoir, I’ll > continue: I am leaving the Foundation as head of the Grantmaking > department, at the end of March. This was not an easy decision to make; > this is not an easy email to write. > > As some of you know, I have been battling health issues over the past few > months. I’ve learnt sharp and intimate truths about myself as I’ve worked > to get better, and what I’ve kept coming back to is the compassionate but > fierce feminist slogan around self-care and sustainability: ‘what’s the > point of the revolution if we can’t dance?’[2] To reassure you all, I will > be well,[3] but I need a little time and space to focus on getting my > dancing legs strong again. > > That said, I am pleased that we have a really solid plan in place as I > leave. As Lila’s email just announced, Luis Villa (our current Deputy > General Counsel) will be taking over the team effective immediately, and > leading the organisation further in our support of Wikimedia communities > worldwide. Luis brings with him a range of skills and qualities that I know > will stand him, the team, and the movement in wonderful stead through it > all. As a friend and colleague, I am so delighted to be supporting Luis > through the next few weeks of transition. > > I joined the Foundation in July 2012 to oversee and implement the FDC > process. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of creating and leading a > department of more than twenty remarkable and passionate people who care > about our mission, our communities, and the resources needed to match the > two. > > We went from Asaf managing a small grants portfolio on his own, ably > supported on occasion by Winifred, to a fully fledged grantmaking > department with a spectrum of monetary and non-monetary resources. We have > been able to offer these in different ways to different parts of our > movement: to individual volunteers with great ideas in need of project > management, to small groups experimenting with new initiatives, and to > established organisations who form critical content and policy partnerships > in their local contexts. We built an infrastructure for understanding our > collective impact. We learned together about what our different communities > are doing globally, about the successes and challenges we have, and above > all: about how we can, together, create a more powerful set of outcomes for > free knowledge. > > In doing so, I’ve had the joy of discovery,[4] of learning from and with > some of the most dedicated volunteers in the world, who believe that > knowledge matters. Most importantly, that it’s not only free knowledge > _for_ all that we seek, but even more critically, that we believe in > knowledge _from_ and _with_ all. > > And I’ve discovered that the nerdy, geeky, obsessed-with-data part of me > found a home in this extraordinary universe, where everybody’s “unimaginable, > magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds” can find expression.[5] I > look forward to the day when my worlds find more space on Wikipedia, when > 80% of the globe is represented by far more than 20% of the edits, when > much more than 15% of our contributors can self-identify as women. Till > then, I’ll keep fighting notability one article at a time...[6] > > So thank you for sharing your worlds with me, and no thanks for turning me > into an obsessive Wikimedian. :-) As I have learnt with you, I know I have > done so with trust, and as I have challenged you, I hope I have done so > with respect. I look forward to continuing our friendships and obsessions > on a wiki near you. > > With appreciation and gratitude, > > Anasuya > > p.s. You can find me in the future at my enWP user page (User:Anasuyas > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Anasuyas) or (dare I say it) on > Facebook. Longer diatribes on liff, the universe and everything can be sent > to anasuyaATsanmathi.org > > [1] Neil Gaiman, American Gods (Chapter 8) > > [2] Urgent Action Fund, a funder of women’s human rights defenders, has > this book on sustainability: > http://urgentactionfund.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/06/WTPR-Final-Book.pdf > > [3] And look forward to dancing together on the beaches of a future > Wikimania… > > [4] Sometimes frustrating, sometimes unbelievable, sometimes somewhat > insane; but yes mostly, generous beyond belief, and always, joyous. :-) > > [5] More Neil Gaiman, from The Sandman: > https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Sandman#A_Game_of_You > > [6] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Key_theme_-_Global_South,_WMF_Metrics_Meeting_February_2015.pdf&page=20 > Ask Florence (User:Anthere) for _that_ story! > > -- > > > *Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation* > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in > the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! > Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/> > > > > -- *Anasuya Sengupta* *Wikimedia Foundation* Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
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