l had applied for a scholarships before and received regrets. It was like a dream when l got the email that l am going to be part of the Wiki Indaba participants in person. This opportunity was made possible by the Wikimedia Foundation and am really gratefully for the experience of a lifetime, the first of many opportunities for growth and empowerment. I could not hide my excitement so l shared with some of my mentors and one of them gave me the more reason to be more excited and willing to do all preparations so as not to miss this. She said, I quote, "That's the beginning. Please come out more. It helps in building your exposure and awareness as well as improving your knowledge and network. You won't regret it. Don't just go and sit and watch. Talk to people. Join projects. Know what they're doing. It will be great".
As a newbie in the Wikimedia contribution, l had very realistic and genuine expectations which some might think otherwise. These included:
To see my mentors and those that l have always seen on Zoom face to face. these included ladies from Wiki Loves Women Focus Group and my Teacher who introduced me to Wikimedia as a librarian.
To take my first flight ever
Networking with other Wikimedians.
Learning a lot for the benefit of my country Zimbabwe.
The traveling was very long, exciting and tiresome. l had three days of travelling from home on the 30th of October to Bulawayo by car, then proceeded to Harare by bus on the 31st and slept over. The 1st of November morning started my first flight to South Africa and connecting to Dubai, Casablanca then to Agadir on the 2nd of November. Along the way l met other colleagues from my neighboring countries and we continued the journey together.
We arrived at the conference venue very late and we were all tired but happy to see new faces and familiar faces. The Wiki-Indaba Conference was held in Agadir, Morocco, at the Les Dunes Resort.. The view of the hotel was spectacular, the beach, the swimming pool and the rooms were very nice.
The food at the hotel was all new to me but managed to enjoy the delicacies of Morocco. The mint tea was my favorite.
The registration was quite fast as they were scanning our name tags that had QR code in them. We received our bags with our conference shirt which is very lovely indeed. The day went by quite rapidly and there was a lot of learning and new experiences and as a newbie l was overwhelmed.
However l managed to listen and learn carefully from the presentations. These were the outstanding lessons learnt for the day.
The conference heartfelt welcome speech by Anusha Alikhan,
The highlights and results from Wiki Indaba 2022 held in Rwanda.
Participants sharing sweets from different countriesLearning more on Wikipedia in the classroom from Melissa
The second day of the Wiki-Indaba Conference was also exciting.
Strategic planning in the communities
Reading Wikipedia in the classroom presented by Mounir Neddi and Bile René. was the journey on how the Moroccan user group did the campaign.
Wiki women Lunch - women sat outside during lunch just to socialize and hangout. The History about this lunch is that they were once few women in Wiki gatherings when they started it.
There was a table where sweets from different countries were displayed and Everyone had a chance to taste all. l had bought 4 delicacies from Zimbabwe, Proton biscuits, Baobab fruit, many enjoyed the African chewing gum called UXakuxaku and Mnyii.
Art by FireThe Social Event - highlighted the rich culture of Morocco and all participants had a great time being entertained.
New Event Registration tool - led by Euphemia and Georges Fodouop on utilizing new campaign tools to enhance Wikimedia events. This session was relevant to me as l will continue having community events, such as edit-a-thons and training sessions.
Future African Audience - this discussion session was an eye opener knowing how different the future generation consume knowledge and information.
Taking Wiki to the University - My sister from the Wiki Loves women focus group Minette Lontsie and E82MAA.presented this great initiative which will surely love to implement in my country starting with Wiki clubs
Time allocations for most presentations was too small. As a newbie l was very much overwhelmed by most of the presentations l attended as most of them were new to me, however if only they were not just 15 - 30 mins l could have grasped the content.
The program was fully packed hence no breathing in between sessions for further discussions with presenters as they were rushing to other sessions.
Some sessions where l would have loved to attend happened simultaneously. The presentations or slides should be made available and sent to our emails that would make an impact as follow up is possible.
As a newbie would have appreciated an extra day in the conference to digest all the presentations attended.
Overall, l had the greatest experience any new editor would want. The people were loving and very receptive and tolerant to my many questions about almost everything. I am now looking forward to future Wikimedia events with excitement and possibly, l will have something to bring to the table as well.
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