WordCamp Kenya: Tales From Naivasha

I’m a sucker for free stuff, especially free wifi. That’s one of the reasons I turned up for WordCamp Kenya that’s happening at Naivasha. It’s not the reason I’m currently having the time of my (blogging) life though *because I’m still waiting for that free wifi, it’s like chasing the wind trying to connect to that Crayfish Wifi*

First of all, Crayfish is a beautiful place at this time of the year. The grass has never been greener. The people, never friendlier. The presentations, never deeper. The sessions have been engaging.

The conference opened with a presentation from the ICT board of Kenya; the board is tasked with transforming Kenya into an ICT hub, inline with Vision 2030. I remember someone once tweeting, do we have to wait until 2030 to see the results of this vision?

Moses Kemibaro then talked about his blogging journey, a very interesting one at that! I don’t want to go into details because those who missed his talk need to feel they missed 🙂 He concluded with the statement, BLOG what you love, LOVE what you blog. Need I say more?

The questions flowed freely, the talks got more thought provoking and I realized we were not here just to have fun (hey it’s Naivasha!) we’re here to make a difference. We can be the change we’re looking for.

Francis Waithaka talked about S.E.O. , Social Media, WordPress & Blogging; I was impressed by, dukaPress who started a shopping cart on the WordPress platform and now have a number of themes under their belt.

Njeri Rionge (you had better Google her) then led an open session on realistic revenue models around African Blogging and one thing came out clear, if we need to be taken seriously as bloggers, we need to change our tone to a more serious one. Oh boy there was a lot discussed, this post would not do it justice! If you can find Njeri talk to her. I must warn you, she charges by the hour: 225. Dollars. 🙂

Angela Oduor of Ushahidi talked about how they’ve integrated WordPress into their ecosystem. I tried getting her to notice my Ushaidi tshirt that I had on to no avail 😦

Day one came to a close, conference-wise. The night only just begun, we had excellent meals throughout the day, interacted (and flirted he he) with one another, walked to the lake, listened to poetry, indulged in eabl products, discussed some more, settled into our tents and hoped mosquitoes would not drain our blood, if it did not freeze from the cold!

Day Two is here with us, the sun is shining brilliantly and I wish this wasn’t the last day of the conference!

P.S. Pictures later, I’m blogging from my phone!

P.P.S.

I’m still running operationsmile 🙂 Day 11. I’m running a social media campaign to help a young man get jaw surgery. The aim is Kshs. 150,000. About Kshs. 100,000 more to go. Will you help? It’s simple, if 500 people MPESA (to 0727832685) 200 each? Are you among them? 🙂