[python-nigeria] News from PyCon Namibia

[Aisha Bello]

Dear Nigerian Pythonistas,

Warm greetings from the beautiful city of Windhoek. I sincerely apologize
for my silence and my tad bit late response in giving you guys feedback.

First of I would like to say PyCon Namibia was awesome, the entire
conference which held in the University of Namibia in collaboration with
Cardiff University among other things focused on educating the citizens of
Namibia in Python and other software development practices. It brought
Pythonistas from different places around the globe to collaborate: Zambia,
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Senegal, Germany, UK, US, Brazil to mention a few.
If you would like to know more you can check the hashtag #PyConNa on
twitter.

Secondly, my talk amidst my personal journey also centered on getting
support for our community was awesome. you can view the slides here
<https://speakerdeck.com/aishab/my-journey-through-python-1>. After the
presentation we got a truck load of support from the international
community. Pythonistas present first were asking for the date of the
conference and how they would love to attend a PyCon in Nigeria which might
turn out to be the first in West Africa. Presently over the last 5 years
the only PyCons recorded have been in Southern Africa with the first one
this year in Namibia and previous ones in South Africa.

Since we are still new I am of the opinion that before moving on to a PyCon
we could organize a 1-2 days Python Nigeria Conference for us local in
Nigeria and learn from the experience, and then move forward to organize a
PyCon next year (*My Opinion*). Hopefully we could all talk more about it
during the meetup or possibly start the conversation here.

<<Hi Lekan the Python Nigeria meetup is definitely happening on the 20th of
February. I am still working out the logistics and I would definitely be
posting on here the links to registration. >>
Please if anyone would like to volunteer to help in organizing the meetup
do get in touch.

Just on a final note after the conference some of us who attended the
conference talked about a Python Africa mailing list so all African
pythonistas could keep in touch, network, while providing a single platform
to collaborate and share ideas on projects et.al.., and also eventually the
possibility of a PyCon Africa *similar to a Euro Python :D *.  When the
mailing list  has been set up setup I'll inform everyone on here.

Until I come your way with more news, wishing you all a Pythonic week ahead
:D

Aisha