How did you become involved in HOT?

I got involved in HOT in March 2015 as a Regional OSM Trainer for the [Tanzania] (https://hotosm.org/projects/tanzania) project with Mr. Jeff Haack. This came after OpenStreetMap work done with [Mapping day Uganda] (http://www.mappingday.com/) organizing mapping events and training university students in different parts of the country on how to map and using the HOT tasking manager to help when disaster occurs elsewhere in the world.

In June 2015 I was lucky to be one of the scholarship winners for [State of the Map US 2015] (http://stateofthemap.us/) in New York. This gave me an opportunity to learn more about how HOT operates through attending HOT meetings at conference and sharing experiences with several people involved in HOT.

Could you tell us about your involvement in HOT, mapping and/or humanitarian response?

I am currently involved in HOT as the Lead Mapping Supervisor working on Community Mapping for Flood Resilience - [Ramani Huria] (http://ramanihuria.org/) in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. My work involves supervising and coordinating all mapping activities. We have trained over 150 university students who are all part of the HOT community in Tanzania now.

In June 2015, I was one of the participants who attended the HOT Activation Curriculum workshop in Dar es Salaam. At the workshop I was able to meet with other 13 HOT people from different parts of Africa where we were able to share experiences on what HOT means to everyone and what we would like to see happen in the future especially for Africa.

What does HOT mean to you?

For me HOT is one of the big inspirations for people to map. It is human nature to offer help to anyone who is affected by disaster, mapping and organising mapathons is the only way through which some of us can give the much needed help. But also being part of HOT gives very many OpenStreetMappers a sense of belonging to something special that is being done for the map that we all love.

Why do you want to be a voting member?

Becoming a HOT voting member will give me an opportunity to have a voice within the global community to be able to contribute to its growth. A lot of things happen behind doors to make what the rest of the world see as HOT, it will be an honor for me to be able to contribute to this process as a voting member.

As a voting member of HOT what do you see as your most important responsibility?

As a voting member, my most important responsibility will be to voice the opinions of the growing community in Eastern Africa in matters affecting the corporation and helping it grow by openly expressing my point of view on different issues whenever necessary. Also it will be my responsibility to be an ambassador of HOT in Africa by promoting the aims and objectives of the corporation in whichever way that I can.

How do you plan to be involved in HOT as a voting member?

As a voting my member my role will be to participate in the voting process by supporting initiatives that are important for the growth of the corporation. In addition I also hope to take part actively in future activations especially in Africa basing on lessons learned from the HOT activation workshop that was organized for us in June 2015 in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.

What do you see as HOT’s greatest challenge and how do you plan to help HOT meet that challenge?

The greatest challenge I can see for HOT is finding a reasonable balance between community development, technical projects and collaborative mapping. From my experience gained on working on community mapping for flood resilience in Dar es Salaam, I will be able to contribute by giving my opinion whenever required on the course of direction to take on any project that arises.