SotM Africa 2019, held in Ivory Coast was my first ever SotM Africa conference attended. The conference lasted for three days from 21st November, 2019 to 23rd November, 2019. My journey started with a road trip that took ten hours by bus from Cape Coast in Ghana through to VITIB in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast. The journey although long, was fun and an exciting adventure.

Arriving there, I was quick to realize the importance of being a bilingual speaker which unfortunately I am not. With my little understanding, I could pick up little words in exchanging pleasantries to make an introduction and the word ‘mange’ when it came to food.

The first day of the conference which was held in conjunction with Understanding Risk Africa in Abidjan was a massive way to kick start the conference with more than 200 participants. This being that it provided a view into Africa’s use of OSM to understand how resilience is being built and the massive contributions being made in OSM in not just Africa but the world as a whole. A highlight of the first day for me would be the showcasing of the contributions of OSM contributors through a simulation video for a number of years. This made me happy because it showed that no matter how little the contributions are into OSM, they are counted significant.

I had my presentation on the first day, under the gender and local empowerment session. It provided me with the opportunity to share how through YouthMappers, perspective was being added to mapping in OSM as well as learn about the various ways people were using OSM for local empowerment across Africa. The session ended with a much needed discussion on how to address the issue of inclusion of diversity, what worked and what did not work.

The second day with me being a volunteer saw sessions beginning with an address by the founder of OpenStreetMap, Mr. Steve Coast, a group picture session with a drone, so many great sessions ranging from talks on WASH, using OpenStreetMap in preparing for community epidemics by the Red Cross, using machine learning tools for mapping resilience, a group discussion by Regional Ambassadors about YouthMappers in Africa, being a great time to meet YouthMappers across Africa as well as the co-founder of YouthMappers Dr. Nuala Cowan.

There were so many more great sessions including a mapathon where VITIB, the location of the conference was mapped. Later in the day the social events provided the opportunity to network with speakers and experience the Ivorian flavour of music, dance and food as well as practice a few picked up French words.

Great sessions continued as well on the third day with sessions ranging from drone mapping in Africa by Africa Bees, capturing street level imagery to look at waste management through Mapillary to name a few before being crowned with a football match between OSM Cote D’Ivoire and the Rest of the World with the Home team winning. An excellent case of host and win.

It was an exciting time to meet old and new friends, learn French and although with many guesses wrong, there were some correct which shows the aim of learning was achieved. My first experience at SotM Africa has left me with an awesome experience and knowledge of OSM from the African perspective.