HOW I MADE IT TO ISRAEL

My recent trip to Israel was truly a trip of a lifetime. Many of my friends have kept asking me how I got the chance to travel to Israel and to be honest; I really don’t have the answer to that myself. I guess it’s a miracle, part of the marvelous opportunities that Wikimedia Foundation has to offer.
It all started a year ago when I was browsing through the Wikipedia website and I saw a photo of Jimmy Wales by then I did not know was the founder. When I clicked on the Photo it directed me to a link about Donations . I must admit I was surprised by this because to me I thought Wikipedia like many other dominant internet giants must be making millions of profits from its activities, I decided to do a research about it and it opened up a world that I never knew existed.
I learned of the followings things
1. That Wikipedia was founded 10 years ago and is one of the Several Projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, others being commons , wiktionary ,meta, wiki species……you can find others by yourself
2. That Wikipedia is not for profit making and is supported by donors.
3. That anybody Can edit contribute to Wikipedia through editing,wikiprojects and spreading the word
4. That there are Wikimedia chapters in many countries in the world and Kenya are in the final stages of forming a chapter.
5. That there is an annual international conference of the Wikimedia community called Wikimania and is organized by a local Chapter.
From the moment I learned this information, my life was never been the same again, I wanted to be part of the team that is transforming lives in a positive way and I  started by visiting the site of Kenyan Chapter and I was instantly rewarded with an invite to attend the 10th Anniversary at Strathmore University which was attended by the Chairman of the Wikimedia Board of Trustees Mr. Ting Chen. It was a surprise to me because within 30 minutes of visiting their site I received a phone call from Abbas, the Team Leader of Wikimedia Kenya inviting me to the anniversary celebrations and also giving me a chance to come along with my friends.
On the day of the anniversary I learned quite a number of things from Mr. Ting Chen’s Speech, most notable being that you can come up with idea and Wikimedia can make it a reality.
Having worked on youth empowerment projects for the past couple of years I saw this as another big opportunity for me and without giving it a second thought I Joined Wikimedia Kenya. We met and held several meetings in February 2011 with chapter members and they had a project that they had planned to do Wikipedia for Schools Project which is installing the offline version of Wikipedia in Kenya High schools. This was so interesting to me and although they had planned to do the pilot in three regions, my friends and I (From Egerton University) went ahead and installed the version in the schools in Rift Valley Province even before the Pilot started.
It was during this time that I came up with the idea of Wikipedia chapters in Universities. I posted it on the Wikimania 2011 submissions page and I did not expect people to notice it because I was new to Wikimedia and had not even started editing.
A Days weeks after I posted my submission, I received an email from Haifa indicating that they had seen my submission and will get back to me, I was so excited that for once I will get a chance to be in a place I have so longed for-Jerusalem. I really wanted to know if what we have been reading in the bible actually exists. Jessie wild from the Foundation also saw my Submission and she really guided and inspired me to make my project a reality in Kenya, I felt so inspired that I had the support of someone from the foundation and I mobilized students from Egerton university to start up the Pilot chapter. Miracle
At around mid May I got a heart break, my submission was OK but unfortunately I had not been editing Wikipedia for long and so I did not qualify for a scholarship. I was so sad but I never gave up on the dream of going to Israel and I kept believing that somehow a miracle will happen and I will find myself in Israel. Indeed a miracle happened because I woke up one morning to find an Email from people I had not met or heard of before, The message was as follows.

Hi Isaac, how much will it cost to get you to Wikimania and back?

Wikimedia UK are willing to cover the costs of your flight, train and room in Haifa. Receipts will be required. I estimate the total cost would be 1,600 dollars. I must warn you that we may not able to return the money to you quickly. If it is very important then we may be able to arrange an advance of funds (but this would take time also).

I hope that is not too complex and will allow you to present your paper in Haifa.

Please confirm your acceptance.

I was so excited because just two days before that I had received a flight ticket to attend millennium Campus Conference at Harvard University. I had to hurriedly apply for my Passport and Visa because I had less than 30 days before my travel to Israel
In Summary, I must say a Big thank you to Wikimedia UK for sponsoring my travel to attend the Conference. It was the most awesome week of my life and I have learned a lot and made friends from all over the world.
To the African Youth, I wanna say that Wikimedia foundation offers you exciting opportunities that you never imagined before. You will get the chance to meet people you never imagined you could meet, learn things you never knew before and also get a chance to make your ideas a reality.


In my next post I will be sharing with you about my experiences from Israel.
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