How I built a tech community in Kagera, Tanzania from scratch.
I have been a tech enthusiast since my childhood. My brother brought home a computer in 2004, when I was still in primary school. In those days, computers resembled CRT TVs. All I had to do was play games installed on a floppy disk.
I was amazed at how the such instrument was multitasking accurately, the journey in the IT world started there.
In 2019 the same brother who was doing his master’s degree in Italy sent me a WhatsApp message. The message was containing a link to apply for Google Africa Developer Scholarship. I applied the same day and waited for the feedback.
It started with ALC.
Andela Learning Community(ALC) is the largest tech community in Africa that focuses on training aspiring African software developers to become world-class software developers. They are doing this in partnership with Google; The technology company based in the US.
The Andela Learning Community (ALC) leverages Andela’s learning science with Pluralsight’s online curriculum and Google’s developer scholarships to provide the platform you need to become professional developers.
After applying and getting accepted to ALC4 under mobile web track It was those days when I was introduced to meetups and tech communities. The first meetup happened at seedspace building in Dar es salaam. I got to meet my old friend James Moshi and amazing people like Joshua Mabina and Georgia Rwechugura. I also met a young lady known as Vero who later became my friend.
The name Muhammad Auwal Samu was hitting my mailbox recently since he was the main engine at ALC. I was eager to learn everything, so whenever there were meetups I was registering so quickly. I attended Kotlin everywhere by GDG Dar es salaam at Buni Innovation Hub whereby Yesaya Athumani was sharing knowledge like crazy. I attended the developer circle Dar es Salaam launch event at Buni while learning everything that was happening there.
My journey to Bukoba
During ALC4 I was posting on social media every step of my learning journey. My brother Dr. Mdashiru sent me a DM, he was looking for someone to participate in his ambitious project of building an e-commerce website that will be linking farmers and buyers, hence eliminating middlemen. And that person was me. He knew me very well since he taught me secondary school physics during my secondary school eras. So I have to travel all the way from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba to participate in that ambitious project. By the way, Bukoba is my hometown, so I had nothing to worry about. To keep the story short, the project never succeeded.
When I was in Bukoba I missed tech communities and meetups, then I started thinking about why not create a tech community in Kagera from scratch.
Testing water before diving in.
In December 2019 I started researching the nitty-gritty of building a tech community from scratch. Then I met the apply button on Google developer Groups (GDG) website and then I applied. I prepared a meetup in partnership with youths at cathedral Church in Bukoba. During the meetup, we discussed technology entrepreneurship and getting started in IT.
The photos may be found here
The first meetup gave me the energy to proceed with the application process. To keep the story short, our tech community was fully incubated in March 2020 as the official GDG Kagera Chapter.
What is GDG Kagera?
GDG Kagera (Google Developers Group) is a local meetup for developers in Kagera interested in developer technologies.
It is a global community and provides a place for developers to connect on and off the screen. Members meet other local developers with similar interests in technology, attend talks, workshops, and code labs on a wide range of technical topics, and learn new skills through hands-on workshops.
We pride ourselves on being an inclusive environment. Everyone and anyone interested in tech — from beginner developers, and experienced professionals to nontechnical guys are welcome to join.
GDG is a program supported by Google Developers.
To learn more about the GDG program, visit this link.
Our community was founded during the pandemic period, so we are about 39 members. We are waiting for the pandemic to disappear fully so that we can rock with physical events. Everyone is welcome to join despite their background.
Joining GDG Kagera is simple, all you need to do is to click this button
Are you interested to be a speaker, partner, or sponsor at our event? You are warmly welcomed, just do reach out at rechungura1[ at] gmail [dot] com.
My takeaway;
If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.- African Proverb.
Thank you for reading my article. Lets us connect on social media.
