The unforgettable experience at 2018 FOSS4G in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

## Introduction. Excitement started from the day I received an email that I had won the travel grant to the 2018 FOSS4G in Dar es salaam. It all began when I submitted my paper to be considered for the presentation at the 2018 FOSS4G. Clean Streets Kampala is a MapUganda project running in Kampala City with the major aim of creating open data to make the city clean. My paper was subjected to voting and it emerged as one of the accepted presentations at the conference with #374 as its identity. My presentation can be found here ## The journey to Dar es salaam. It was the best experience to cross my country for the first time to attend the first international conference. Me and a team of youth mappers left Kampala on Saturday August 25th using a bus for Dar and the journey was fun. We arrive in Dar es Salaam on the morning of August 27th. We checked in our hotel and then went to the conference center where we were welcomed to the conference, given tags, t-shirts and other stuff. ## The conference. The 2018 FOSS4G was my first ever FOSS4G conference to attend and my experience is unforgettable because of so many friends that I made, workshops I attended and presentations. The conference organization was on point and the most amazing part of the conference was the use of Attendify app that made the whole conference paperless. There was also a lot of new things to learn during workshops and presentations like how different geo-spatial practitioners are using open source tools in their daily work, Gender inclusiveness in OSM communities, new softwares and many more. I also got a chance to attend the HOT summit where the teams were presenting about their activities in Africa and beyond. My favorite presentations and workshops included; * An interactive understanding of free and open source geospatial ecosystems. * Modeling natural hazard in gvSIG * Missing maps year 4! * Esri Youth Mappers workshop at Ardhi University. ## The social events 2018 FOSS4G social events were amazing. 1. The first social event at The Badminton institute in made me meet new friends like Esau from Tanzania and David Williams from California. 2. The Gala at Golden Turip hotel was full of fun with alot of dance moves from almost every attendee of the conference and also perfomance from the local dance groups. 3. The Travel grant program event at High Spirit was also interesting. It gave us a chance to play cards that were given out by Geocat. ## About Dar es salaam It feels good to be in Dar es salaam. The cold breath of the coast of the Indian ocean. The people were so hospitable and welcoming. There was always good service in the hotel where we were staying. I liked the sea food and coconut in Dar es salaam. I got a chance to use the Mwendokasi public transport system that i found so interesting, very fast and so cheap. Also Uber, Taxify were available as transport sources in Dar.

Thanks.

I would like to Thank the organizers of the 2018 FOSS4G conference for their wonderful work, for the travel grant program. Special thanks also go to the HOT team and all other sponsors for making the conference happen. Asante sana

The 2018 FOSS4G left no one behind.