It was a joyful moment, having been selected and given a scholarship to attend the hybrid conference, SOTM 2022 in Firenzi Italy, first time to board a plane so it was a whole lot of new experience and excitement, I arrived in Firenzi on the 18th of Thursday evening just in time for the event. The historical city of Firenzi is a beautiful city with a whole lot of sculpture, just like what I see in the movies.

I was ready for the conference on friday and looking forward to presenting my talk in the HOT unSummit humanitarian sessions. This was an amazing moment for me, sharing not only my experience but also listening to the great works of various OSM contributors. The conference was very interactive, engaging and enlightening. I managed to build friendships and relationships with fellow OSM contributors. The speakers were inspiring with their works, developments and research findings that they are carrying out.

Sessions that I enjoyed included a talk on humanitarian focus. First, “Entry Level Mobile Mapping” by Kristen Tonga, her findings from the experiences of mappers from the different mapper communities, the core problems were insightful, and true, I thank her for addressing Africa concerns. The second talk was “How to Kill OSM? Above all, Change nothing” by Florian Lainez, it is a good sustainable approach, lastly the Academic Lightning Talks and Lightning talks were also informative. It was joyful to listen to some happy statements like “ I was ranked top mapper of Nepal. That day was one of the happiest days of my life” said one of the virtual presenters from Nepal. Indeed the OSM communities are building mappers.

From the interactions at the SOTM I am propelled to better my professional life and thankful to the OSM community for equipping and improving my digital abilities.