MOZILLA AFRICA REPS MEET-UP

Mozilla African reps in Nairobi

The long awaited Mozilla African reps meet-up finally came to life, and guess what, it happened, it was fun and it was simply great. A lot can be said to complement the organizers, the participants, the facilitators and all those who were involved because, they were all awesome and indeed the event was a success.  

Courtesy of the Mozilla Kenyan community, on the 16^th of May, Mozilla representatives all across Sub- Saharan Africa assembled in Nairobi for a 2 day meet-up during which they had a thrilling discussion of Mozilla Africa now and in the future.

Following the lead of two brilliant individuals on the Mozilla Participation team i.e. Brian King @brianking and William Quiviger @wquiviger, the reps dived into a series of sessions that focused discussions around community work. Key to these discussions was a thorough SWOT analysis of the Mozilla African communities. Fundamentally, every single individual had a chance to point out at least a thing or two concerning Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within their respective communities as they were represented. Thereafter, a quick brainstorm around the opportunities and viable solutions to challenges was conducted in small groups of 5.
mozilla africa now and the future.

As day One came to a close, Brain and  

William and Brian

William (the facilitators) ran us through quite a lot about, the goals, the participation plan, the initiatives and the new approaches Mozilla has set as benchmarks for the year. 

Day Two was all about learning and sharing with one another, it all began with William’s illustration of the Reverse engineered Impact chain model [Impact-Outcome-Output-Activities-Input]. Right after, in groups of five, we applied the model to a case study about digital literacy in the Philippine. This was later then translated in the Opportunities within the African communities that we had gathered on  day One.

Till this point as you read along, you might wonder what was really exciting about the meet-up, We did not just spend 48 hours discussing Mozilla Africa now and its’ future but we had ample time to interact, adventure, eat, laugh and play together. There were times when fun was at its’ climax.

Mozillians dining

Reps on the dance floor

It was great to finally have the Mozilla African leaders who champion the mission of turning the internet into a global resource accessible to all meet, interact, share and learn from one another. And most importantly, the meet played a significant role in uniting us as Mozillians and re-igniting the common goal of an Open and free web that we all wish to attain. #mozafrica

One more touch

Mark 8:22-26,

"ONE MORE TOUCH"

The book of Mark, shows us how the blind man that Jesus met in Bethesida needed an extra touch for his vision to be completely restored. After Jesus had spat on his eye's, he looked up and said "I see men like trees, walking" which was simply an indication to Jesus, that he had to touch the man again for him to completely HEAL.

Some times, there are segments of our lives that lack a blessing, The Lord could have moved us from point A to point B, but we feel we are supposed to be at point F. We ought to ask the Lord for just that EXTRA TOUCH for total healing or complete intervention of his blessing in those segments, therefore Let's ask the Lord for ONE MORE TOUCH in everything for our respective shortages or points of need, health, careers, confusion, provision, marriages, hopelessness, family Bond-ages, friendships, relationships name it. He'll surely restore it completely like he did for the Blind man.

STUMBLING ON LABOR DAY

At around 11:00 am on 1^st May 2015, A group of people that constituted mozillians and other random people gathered for a 3 hour session of the stumbling in a box event that was held in Makerere University Kampala Uganda.

Like anyone does, I welcomed all the participants and thanked them for honoring my invite. As part of our culture (mozillians), I led the customary intro about Mozilla, Talked about Mozilla as an NGO, the products, the contributors and the activities/projects it runs, and obviously not leaving behind our very own Community in the country (Mozilla Uganda Communty). Narrated the activities that the Community runs within the country, how it operates, the values and responsibilities of the representatives’ within the country and as well the achievements.

Straight after freshening everyone up as far as what Mozilla is all about, We dived into the business of the day. Why we were all gathered. I geared into the core purpose of the gathering i.e. Stumbling.  Oriented everyone about the Mozilla location Services. Having chosen the most ideal way for us to contribute to the service, STUMBLING session took center stage. 

During this session, I demoed the Mozilla stumbler application, for the readers out there interested in finding out about the app, you can get it onto your smart phone here. After which, I asked all the participants to download the application onto their phones.

   

Particpants downloading the Mozilla Stumbler

Shortly after every one was up to speed with the application, In groups of four, At about 12:30, we rolled out to the streets to stumble, each group took their own direction, we stumbled for about 2 hours, at about 2:30, we were all back to the venue.

Stumbler's in action within Makerere University Kampala.

At around 2:30p.m, we gathered to sum up our afternoon, As people uploaded the gathered wifi and cell reports on the stumbler, they took bites, drinks and interacted. And of course, for the inquisitive participants, we dialed into debates and conversations of why exactly would i have the mozilla stumbler installed on my phone. By 3 p.m, My throat had run out ....hahahaha...., .The bye's and "we meet again's" followed as people departed from the venue.