I think the greatest opportunity you can give a mapper is put her/him in an environment of mappers. It is with great pleasure and honor to share my experience of sotm2019 in Heidelberg, Germany as a scholar. I will start by thanking the open street map foundation for giving me the opportunity to attend sotm2019 and Hot summit and also visit Germany for the first time. I will also like to thank Dorothea Kazazi for being there for us from the beginning to the end.

I promise the story start now! :)

It took me about 17hours from Banjul international Airport(Gambia) to Frankfurt airport (Germany). My journey started 2am Gambian time to 6:40pm German time. I flew from Banjul to Casablanca to Barcelona to Frankfurt. After the long flight I thought everything was over and all I needed was to lie down and rest. Suddenly! I realize I have two trains and two bus to board alone before I get to lie down, fortunately I was able to navigate and got to the hostel at one piece alone! Yay! This is the best experience ever. :).

I met and interact with lots of lovely people. I was so happy when I saw the youthmappers organization team Marcela, Patricia and Chad. I was thrilled to saw Geoffrey from Hot and Claire after exchanging calls and emails for long time. The best part was meeting Marco after silently stalking him online for his incredible job he does.

Everything was perfect and everybody was nice. I had the best roommates and Jo who took us around and translate for us. I learn so much from my fellow youthmappers and for that I am grateful.

Thank you!

Best,

Jaria