Word Camp Kenya 2012: Reflections
I have a song in my head and I blame it on being in Kenya. Its an old school song I remember when I was around 14 or 15 and the one line I can sing confidently without shame goes, ” It’s a Friday night and everything is alright!” Ok, maybe not a line, so let me end there before I butcher the rest of the words! But yes, everything is alright cause I am at Word camp Kenya 2012.
One of the speakers from the conference
My brain has been taken on a mental marathon as it’s being fed everything from tech information on wordpress mobile applications, to leadership and service, to responsible blogging, down to Kenya’s ICT industry, and somehow I was able to fit my talk on Pan Africanism somewhere there. Phew! That is just the surface and it’s only been one day.
Input from the audience
I am so thoroughly impressed to see where Kenya’s ICT industry stands and believe Tanzania can pick a leaf from our neighbor’s in progressing our IT industry and I say this with the best intentions for my country and in the spirit of Pan Africanism. I am by no means a techie, though I love the sector, so if I am learning this much from this conference in a span of one day then how much more can our techies in Tanzania garner from this conference?
A part of the beautiful lodge where we are staying
I have to say though, that one of my favourite segments during the conference, apart from the networking of course, was the reflections of the post election violence that happened In Kenya in 2008. I sat there blown away by the stories I heard from people who saw atrocities first hand. People who had lost close personal friends, others seeing dead bodies laying on the streets scaring their souls and forever changing the way they view life, politics and politicians. The session was moderated by a trained psychologist and pastor who carefully directed the conversation so people were not left with a bitter taste in their mouth, but were left with a sense of hope for the upcoming elections happening in March 14.
The theme for this year’s second Wordcamp Kenya is, “Responsible Blogging and Positive Social Media Influence” and I applaud David Mugo and the other partners, organizers and sponsors for making this a central part of the conference, ensuring that the room full of influential personalities, writers and bloggers were left with a sense of urgency so that in whatever platform they used they would be a voice of hope for their fellow brothers and sister’s in making sure that what happened in 2008 won’t repeat in the upcoming elections happening in March. I am now ingesting day 2 of the conference. More to come my good people, more to come……
Gloria Mangi's Blog 
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