I was raised in a mountainous, remote area of the great Kunene region in Namibia and had no idea what technology was; my parents never had access to technology, never used tech gadgets, and had never heard of anything called an "open source project," such as Ubuntu, Python programming language, etc. As an African child, I rode my beloved donkey cart to Prague, Czech Republic, to attend the Ubuntu Summit 2022 so I could touch the gadgets on my parents and community's behalf.
Visa and my journey to Prague
I needed a visa to travel to Prague, and therefore the closest centre was in South Africa for visa appointments. I travelled to Durban, South Africa, to submit my visa application. The visa process was great; I never experienced any problems dealing with the Czech embassy in South Africa. The Embassy staff helped me, and they responded to every email I sent them in the expected time. The only part I found difficult was going to South Africa for a visa appointment and flying back to Namibia, and then I had to send back my passport to South Africa for them to process my visa.
Thanks to Daniele Procida, Mauro Gaspari, Sarah Craddock and Claire Newman from Canonical who helped me throughout the journey to, in, and during the visa process. You’re such an amazing team.
I took three flights to get to Prague: one to Johannesburg (South Africa), the next to Dubai, and the last one to cold and beautiful Prague, Czech Republic.
The summit
The summit was held in Hilton Prague, from 7-9 November 2022. We were accommodated at the same hotel. The summit was 3-day long. We had great talks with different people; most of these tracks were about the community, data science, infrastructure, ubuntu-desktop, application ecosystem, content & design. You can find the talk schedule here.
My talk was on the first day of the summit. I talked about the "Every programmer needs a donkey cart". My confidence is always top-notch, I go by all weapons. The stage was big, but the man from the semi-arid desert of great Kunene decided to be brave. While I was on stage, I could feel the connection of the Ubuntu community; the venue connected me to different faces and people from different parts of the world. I enjoyed my talk, and I was happy to hear that it was one of the best on Day 1.
I attended great talks at the summit. I can't say which talk was the most inspiring because all of them drew my attention. I couldn't attend some great talks from good speakers. Some talks were scheduled at the same time, and this made it difficult for me to divide myself into pieces. Here are some talks, I attended from Daniele Procida who taught us how to build a pen plotter from parts only priced at 12.50 EUR. It was great and fun. Daniele uses a pen plotter, Mini Pupper robots, CutiePi tablet and Raspberry Pi to drive us crazy. Yes, I also attended a talk by Paolo Melchiorre "Make the most of Open Source", this was a great presentation about his involvement in the OpenSource community. I am a big fan of Raspberry PI, therefore Vuyisile Ndlovu's talk was the best for me to attend, he talks about how to clone the Python package index and make it available offline using a Raspberry Pi.
The community, diversity and Inclusion
One thing I liked about the summit was the diversity. People from over 38 countries worldwide attended the summit, and this allowed me to meet and talk to people from different cultures and backgrounds. They gave platforms to people living with disabilities to express themselves, and all of the conference rooms were accessible to everyone. These are some of the things conference organizers should look at. The venue should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their culture, background, mobility, race, tribe, etc. Having all these in place, the Ubuntu community will grow, and everyone will be able to freely share their journey with open-source software. Special thanks to Canonical and Ubuntu Summit organizers for bringing these amazing people together. A great combo of participants and organizers is below. I met an amazing person Laysa Uchoa, we had a good chat; please remember that we have a deal, my friend.
Boat Party
The closing party was on a privately rented boat with a full buffet dinner, an open bar, and live music performed by Lorenzo’s Music. We cruised along the Vltava river, and I got the opportunity to see many of Prague’s famous monuments along the way. It was a cold night though but warm inside the boat.
I explore the beautiful and cold city of Prague with friends.
Sometimes it's all about who you know if you want to know more about a new country. The city of Prague wasn't going to be fun without the amazing friends I met in Namibia a few years ago. I met Ondrej Auer and Honza Javorek in Namibia at PyCon, and we had a great time together in the Namib Desert after the conference. These amazing friends took us through the city and they showed us different monuments. I wasn't the only one; the two brothers of Zorin, Artyom Zorin and Kyrill Zorin, joined us. These are the people behind Zorin OS, an open-source operating system that was designed to make computers faster, more powerful, and more secure. My African cousins joined us too: Jessica Upani, Noah Alorwu, Vuyisile Ndlovu, Anna Makarudze, and Abigail Mesrenyame Dogbe. I felt sorry that Marlene Mhangami missed this night out, but I know she had a great night too. We had a great time together, and we explored the city during the cold nights. It is a night to remember. The following is a list of sites or locations that we visited.
I decided to spend one extra day in Prague so I could explore the city. we go out with friends and we visited some sites (listed above) and restaurants, and I can tell you, the local food was amazing. It was cold and I had two put on two jackets, imagine a person from hot Namibia to the cold Czech Republic. Good experience.
Overall
The conference was well-planned, indicating that the team spent months planning the event to ensure its success. The workshops and talks from various speakers were relevant and extremely beneficial and I had a great time in the city. I particularly liked the choice of plenary speakers.
Great credit go to Canonical Group for the invitation
I am so grateful for the support I got from Ondrej Auer, Eliška Auer, and Honza Javorek during and after the summit. They cover my accommodation after the summit and I am so grateful.
I appreciate the organising team's hard work and support; I know you had a sleepless night, but you handled the summit well. I can't thank you enough for your help on my journey to, in, and during the summit. Your support has helped me understand the Ubuntu community much better and meet new people in my life. You’re such an amazing team. You make the whole summit more welcoming. Best wishes.
I am very grateful for all the speakers and participants that contributed to a successful event.
I will continue to expand my mission to contribute to the Ubuntu community by providing the resources and education they need to thrive.
Finally,
Through the summit, I discovered amazing people from different part of the world that has become part of my life today.
Until next time.
Some pictures credit: Organising team, Paolo Melchiorre, Artyom Zorin and Kyrill Zorin, Noah Alorwu, Vuyisile Ndlovu, Honza Javorek