My experience at 2018 FOSS4G in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

Introduction.

Excitement started from the day I received an email that I had won the travel grant to the 
2018 FOSS4G in Dar es salaam. It all began when I submitted my paper to be considered for 
the presentation at the 2018 FOSS4G. Clean Streets Kampala is a MapUganda project running in 
Kampala City with the major aim of creating open data to make the city clean. 
My paper was subjected to voting and it emerged as one of the accepted presentations at 
the conference with #374 as its identity.

The journey to Dar es salaam.

It was the best experience to cross my country for the first time to attend the first international 
conference. Me and a team of youth mappers left Kampala on Saturday August 25th using a bus for 
Dar and the journey was fun. We arrive in Dar es Salaam on the morning of August 27th. 
We checked in our hotel and then went to the conference center where we were welcomed to 
the conference, given tags, t-shirts and other stuff.

The conference.

The 2018 FOSS4G was my first ever FOSS4G conference to attend and my experience is 
unforgettable because of so many friends that I made, workshops I attended and presentations. 
Friends The conference organization was on point and the most amazing part of the conference 
was the use of Attendify app that made the whole conference paperless. 
There was also a lot of new things to learn during workshops and presentations like how different 
geo-spatial practitioners are using open source tools in their daily work, Gender inclusiveness in 
OSM communities, new softwares and many more. I also got a chance to attend the 
HOT summit where the teams were presenting about their activities in Africa and beyond. 
My favorite presentations and workshops included; 
* An interactive understanding of free and open source geospatial ecosystems. 
* Modeling natural hazard in gvSIG * Missing maps year 4! 
* Esri Youth Mappers workshop at Ardhi University.

The social events

2018 FOSS4G social events were amazing. 1. The first social event at The Badminton institute that
made me meet new friends like Esau from Tanzania and David Williams from California. 
2. The Gala at Golden Turip hotel was full of fun with alot of dance moves from almost every 
attendee of the conference and also performance from the local dance groups. Local dancers 
3. The Travel grant program event at High Spirit was also interesting. It gave us a chance to play 
cards that were given out by Geocat.

About Dar es salaam

It feels good to be in Dar es salaam. The cold breath of the coast of the Indian ocean. In Dar es salaam,
 the people were so hospitable and welcoming. There was always good service in the hotel where we 
were staying. I liked the seafood and coconut in Dar es salaam. I got a chance to use the Mwendokasi 
public transport system that I found so interesting, very fast and so cheap. Also Uber, Taxify 
were available as transport options in Dar.

Take back home.

There is a lot that was learnt from the conference and these included issues relating to gender, 
community service, open data, risk management among others.

There is an effort to extend chapters in universities like Kyambogo university and this will mainly 
target ladies to take part in the mapping, open data and risk management.

Also an advocate to sensitize the students about the use of open geospatial tools. 
This is mainly targeting Land surveying students and the wole engineering faculty at 
Kyambogo University.

Thanks.

I would like to Thank the organizers of the 2018 FOSS4G conference for their wonderful work, 
for the travel grant program. Special thanks also go to the HOT team and all other sponsors for 
making the conference happen. Asante sana.

The 2018 FOSS4G left no one behind.