[ubuntu-za] Fwd: Ubuntu in Zimbabwe

[Morgan Collett]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Neil Coetzer <nit006.5 at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 16:57
Subject: Ubuntu in Zimbabwe
To: "Ubuntu local community team (LoCo) contacts"
<loco-contacts at lists.ubuntu.com>


It was with great pride and enthusiasm that we celebrated the first
ever Ubuntu Release Party in Zimbabwe, on 1st November 2008. To the
best of our knowledge, aside from South Africa, Zimbabwe was the only
other country in Africa to advertise a release party. The party was
held in the capital, Harare, and kicked off at 2.00pm with lots of
socialising, snacks and a few drinks. Attendance was not quite as high
as we had hoped, but we still had a good turn-out for our first
attempt. Among those who attended were representatives from the
Computer Society of Zimbabwe and a couple of young ladies from Linux
Chix, who travelled all the way from Mutare (on the Eastern border,
over 300Km away) for the event. Also in attendance was the IT Manager
for the Parliament of Zimbabwe, who is one of our team members. Since
this was primarily a social event, there was no fixed agenda.
Following the introductions and a bit of mingling, a short
demonstration was given, providing an overview of Ubuntu and a bit of
showing off with desktop effects and animations, which got a lot of
"oohs" and "aahs" from those who had never seen it before. This was
followed by a brief question and answer session and more general
conversation about Ubuntu and open source software. The event was
enjoyed by all present and a number of the attendees stayed on for a
braai (known elsewhere as a barbecue) in the evening.

The party was held at the premises of WebDev, who are also the kind
sponsors and host of our newly launched Web site (www.ubuntu.org.zw).
They also allowed us the use of their projector for the
demonstrations. Logical Solutions provided us with a number of demo
laptops which were loaded with the new release before the event kicked
off and Harvest International also kindly donated the snacks.

The month of November left us with a great sense of achievement and
satisfaction. In light of the political tension, violence and
collapsed economy in our country, it was refreshing to see that
Zimbabweans still have an active interest in Ubuntu and open source in
general. In a country where daily survival can be daunting on its own,
people still found the time to attend our release party. Our sincere
thanks to WebDev, Logical Solutions and Harvest International for
helping to make the event a success.

Photographs of the release party can be found here:
http://www.ubuntu.org.zw/node/11

Aside from the Release Party, November has also been a memorable month
because we have finally been able to launch our local Web site, which
will allow Zimbabwean users to download Ubuntu from local servers,
without needing to utilize international bandwidth which is rather
expensive here. The Web site also provides information on our local
repository (launched in August 2008) as well as links to our forum,
mailing list and team wiki site.

It is our hope that not only will Ubuntu become wide-spread in our
country, but also that Zimbabwe will help pave the way to an open
source frame of mind throughout the African region.
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