My greatest moments in Philippines #GV2015

Three weeks ago have passed after our trip in Cebu. I'm saying now that it's important for me to immortalise through my blog (unless it will be blocked or hacked, anyway) the wonderful sixth Summit of Global Voices which took place in Cebu; the second largest city in The Philippines from January 22 to 26. This summit coincided with the 10th anniversary of Global Voices. Of course, such big and enriching event remains unforgettable for me. As I have so many things to share, I write in this first blog the greatest moments I have had the opportunity to live during the summit. I insert some tweets #GV2015 after each paragraphs.

(the co-founders of Global Voices! Rebecca MacKinnon, Ethan Zuckerman )

So, let me now reveal you my feeling about this summit which the preparation was undoubtely impeccable, it's sure that most of us in Cebu were satisfied and experienced an enjoyable moments. Many wonderful and fantastic moments had happened during the event, I'm going to enumerate some of them.  

Gabriela, GV member tweeted: she had spent an incredible journey:

#GV2015 An incredible journey: http://t.co/feDxMJjqO3
— Gabriela GC (@GabrielaenLima) February 1, 2015

Welcoming party:

Upon our arrival at the airport of Cebu, we were very excited and delighted when we were received by a welcoming song saying "Welcome to Cebu Global Voices", the best moment has began there. Then, a shuttle took us to the luxurious hotel "Harolds" where the staffs were all professional and friendly. Yes, we felt like an important customers during our housing in the hotel.Without forgetting their delicious various foods :) 

RT @ivonotes Welcoming party in #Cebu Philippines for #GV2015, @globalvoices Summit! Very excited! pic.twitter.com/zLnl6kWR3p
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) January 19, 2015

(Welcoming party at Cebu airport)

Rewarding encounters:

The most important and the most awaited moment of GV members has been the encounters of the GVer fellows from all corners of the world. When arriving in airport of Manilla, we already met some GV members such Leila, Gershum, I fan Lin. The cool things were that we have been able to recognise the face of each other. Smile, excitement and happiness were seen in our face. Arriving in Harold Hotel, also very excited to meet the rest of  GVer ; most of the community met and had party time during Paula's birthday celebration. 

A meeting of different generations of people from across the wordl, said Rezwan in a tweet: 

A meeting of different cultures, different generations of people from across the world. #gv2015 http://t.co/wU9e8EXjvV
— Rezwan (@rezwan) January 22, 2015

(we had fun and solidarity could feel in our face and gesture)

(Lingua editors team)

Learning and sharing moments:

The main reason of the summit was the series of conference, panels, workshops and discussions where many topics were on the agenda, from Protecting the open internet to how people took on their governement in 2014; from social media and protest movements to Google tools for journalists; as well as how participatory media informs and origanizes during and after a natural disaster and so on. 

Global Voices Summit: Protecting the Open Internet (@ethanZ) http://t.co/jLKci5tMHw Video: #GV2015 session http://t.co/T1Si6BPyyb #Cebu
— Global Voices (@globalvoices) January 30, 2015

Ideas from many knowledgeable people had been emerging during these sessions, allowing the others to learn many things. Some of the attractive discussions I enjoyed the most where when the 2 co-founders of Global-Voices asked us to form a group and discuss about how the Global Voices will be if it has to begun now. And also the panel run by Eddie presenting some of the innovative projects of  Rising voices: Girls Activists of Kyrgyzstan

Lecture by @kofiemeritus on Lessons from #GV2015 pic.twitter.com/jMAaehBUos
— Efo Dela (@Amegaxi) February 19, 2015

.@risingvoices Spotlight: Our Voices, Ourselves – Girls’ Rights in Kyrgyzstan http://t.co/WjISh4iHBy #GV2015
— Mohamed ElGohary (@ircpresident) February 2, 2015

(Girls Activists of Kyrgyzstan)

(workshop)

 

(workshop)

Old Cebu:

During our free afternoon activity, some of the member choose to go to Old Cebu quarters in the downtown and do a walking tour to visit some famous and historic heritage monuments and churches of Cebu, an occasion to discover the Cathedral Museum with its architecture, Old Jesuit House, Cebu Metropolitan Catheral, Carbon Market, Basilica Minore Del Santo, Cathedral Museum of Cebu. It's better to notice that Philippines is one of two predominantly Catholic nations in Asia (the other being East Timor) and the third largest Catholic country in the world.

Monajem showing the bottle of water in the bus to Old Cebu:

.@monajem showed me the bottle of water in the bus to old #Cebu city tour and this was my expression #gv2015 pic.twitter.com/dOB7waEh4A
— Rai M. Azlan (@Mussanaf) January 23, 2015

(Magellan's Cross)

(Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral )

Secret Summiteer:

This is among the funny and lovely activity of the summit, you are assigned to give a gift to one person (a secret match ) you  didn't know in advance and you need to do some detective work before the Summit to know more about him/her. In the other hand; another person has also been assigned to you or you have no idea about who is he/she And it was really fun because

Pakistan meets Bolivia as part of the secret summiteer :

#gv2015 #Pakistan meets #Bolivia - my secret summiteer got me a warm cap, I am gonna need it in… http://t.co/2T6XBbOBmn
— QZ (@Natrani) January 22, 2015

 

(Me and Rami Al Hames from Brazil)

(Me and Sarah Myers West from California, she is my secret match)

10th anniversary of GV:

The last but not the least was the celebration of the 10 years of GV,  a big moment that many was waiting for after days of working and participating in panels. We held the party at a Museum where we had the occasion to admire a spectacle of songs and traditionnal dances. Everyone was dancing and eating after the cultural show perfomed by the Filipino students. It was a moment of  showing and building solidarity; we had really fun and it showed how great and convivial all GV member are.

Global Voices (@globalvoices) celebrates our 10th anniversary at the provincial capitol in #Cebu, Philippines #gv2015 pic.twitter.com/0lLVS7787w
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ) January 25, 2015

(10 anniversary of GV)

(tradionnal dancing of Cebu)

Once again, many thanks to all the organizers. And, I am totally grateful to the entire local team for the warm welcome we have received; it was undoubtedly a memorable stay.
 Always proud to be GVer, I wish long life to GlobalVoices and may we achieve our precious common goals.

Thank you all and hope to see you again :). Salamat (Misaotra @ teny gasy)

Global Voices Summit 2012: a success and an enriching event

It has already been one week since we're back home after attending the Global Voices Summit 2012. It seems a little strange for me to not saying and sharing my thoughts and feedback about this amazing and succes event.  

As I've already mentioned in my previous blog, our trip to Kenya (in french), and the travel back to our country (in french) were wonderful, I've also talked about the beautiful capital of Kenya, Nairobi.

First of all, I was totally satisfied by the organisation of the summit, it was really well organised. I remember, when we landed at the airport of Kenya, a taxi was waiting for GV's members to take us directly to the hotel. Arriving at the hotel, we were kindly received by the responsible Margaret Njeri  and all the team. I was even more happy when I greeted some GV member who were smiling and convivial.

(PrideInn Hotel, Global Voices Village)

(The taxi waiting for GV members at the airport)

Global Voices Summit was really an occasion for me to discover many interesting things and to meet a lots of marvelous people. The event gave me more ideas and enlightenment in the field of citizen journalism, how to use our ability to write online, a space for free speech, to raise awareness about important issues, to share information with the rest of the world,... Of course, the event was an opportunity, a moment of sharing, exchange and learning, it was a great experiment for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting with several interesting people from different countries with their own culture and own language, everyone was very friendly, sympathetic and sociable. It was a moment for me to get in touch with others attendees and to find out more about their stories, their countries...Talking with Boukary Konaté, Andrea Azarba, Julie Owono, and many more were a fantastic moment. 

(Boukary Konaté)

(Andrea Azerba)

During the internal meeting, the opening panel on  the  Global rise of citizen media moderated by Rebecca and Ethan Zuckerman (co-founders of GV)  had caught my attention. Among topics I really appreciated include: Global Voices animals (Claire Ulrich saying "because we love animals, so we should talk about it), freedom of expression, censorship, blogger safety, ...

(Claire Ulrich presenting the topic about GV animals)

At the time of plenary discussion, the discussion about how to keep endangered languages alive was also interesting, I remember Victoria from Bolivia sharing her experience of preserving their indigenous language and Bokary Konaté with his famous "Ségou village connection project". The workshop with friends from Sub Saharan Africa moderated by Ndesanjo Macha has aroused great interest in the idea of network building in Africa, and how to draw more attention on Africa? 

(Sub saharan Africa. Photo: Jullian C York)

Among the interesting activity I enjoyed was what we call the secret summiter, I gave a bag (an handicraft  from my country) to Samatha Deman (GV french), I was happy she liked it very much, on the other hand, I received a small notebook (not a laptop) from Rebekah Heacock, Cheers!, it was very useful for me, I used it to take note of some important things. 

(Rebekah Heacock)

(The nice notebook from Rebekah)

I don't forget the half-day activity of Sunday afternoon when we were going to Nairobi National Park. It was exciting, we had a lovely time there and were amazed at seeing the huge girafle, and lion. Thanks to GV for the free transport. 

(Going to Nairobi National Park)

(girafle at NNP)

The only bad things and souvenirs of mine was: since we still had one extra-night before leaving Kenya, we were staying in a expensive hotel, there was an handicraft merchant outside this hotel, and we did shopping there to bring home several souvenirs, the seller told us that he will give us a good price, so we decided to buy there, but the price was not good at all as some friends told us, the price at Maasai market is more cheaper if you know discussing the price. Unfortunately again, when arriving in our country, some of the handicrats were broken. How unlucky we are :(

(The broken handicraft )

The last but not the least was the dancing party on Monday evening, we had really fun, it showed how great and convivial  GV members are.  

(everyone had fun,...)

(Bijoy Majumdar with his flute)

Finally, in short, Global Voices Summit 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya  was an amazing, exciting, enriching and unforgettable event, it was a success. We are so grateful to all dynamics organizers. Thank you also to PrideInn Hotel for the warm welcome they have reserved to us, thanks for the delicious foods, thanks for the cake, ...

Long life, more success and prosperity to Global Voices, internet, bloggers, freedom and freedom of speech, human rights, etc... 


I'm not very good at writing english, but I've tried to do my best, so sorry for any mistake, I think you understand anyway :-)

Thank you all and hope to see you again :)

De retour à Tanà; Nairobi est une belle ville.

Cela fait quelques jours que nous sommes arrivés à Tanà après le sommet de Global Voices à Nairobi, le retour a été différent du voyage "aller" à Nairobi, car les chaises étaient bien remplies, et nombreux sont les malgaches à bord dont faisaient parties les jeunes femmes qui  vont rentrer apres avoir travaillé péniblement au Liban (certaines d'entre elles étaient presque frappée d'un déséquilibre mental). Si le vol vers Nairobi a duré 4 heures, celui du retour était seulement de 3 heures. Rappelons que le slogan de Kenya Airways est « The pride of Africa » « Fierté de l’Afrique ».

 Lors du vol vers Nairobi, les infos, le film étaient en langue officielle de Kenya (Swahilli : Asante sana, Karibu, mimi, Jambo,…;-) et aussi en leur 2^ème langue : Anglais. Mais lors du vol "retour" à Tanà, on était un peu surpris de l’utilisation du français pendant la courte séance d’information pour la sécurité, et le film était aussi disponible en français. 

(L'avion Kenya Airways)

Je continue sur Nairobi, une belle ville qui connaît un certain développement et que personnellement, j'admire beaucoup. Pendant  notre séjour à Nairobi durant une semaine, dans le cadre du somment de Global Voices, une de mes remarques constitue la densité des trottoirs et des routes. Dans le centre ville, les trottoirs sont plus larges et fluides car ne sont pas occupés par des commerçants, certaines autoroutes contiennent dix voies, dont 5 du côté droit, et 5 autres du côté gauche. 

Cependant, c’est seulement pendant le jour de marché « Maasai market » que quelques trottoirs sont occupés par les marchands des produits artisanaux uniquement. En  parlant de marché, comme d’habitude, les commerçant ont l’habitude d’augmenter jusqu’à 200 °/° le prix réel des produits artisanaux pour les clients étrangers, alors il faut vraiment savoir  débattre le prix, sinon on achète à un prix très élevé. 

(Les trottoirs sont plus larges et libres)

(Arts artisanaux kényans)

Comme dans d'autre pays, les voitures à Kenya ont le volant à droite, le contraire de chez nous (Madagascar). Avec l'habitude, Zo (Jentilisa, un malgache membre de GVO) n'a pas  du tout hesité à s'asseoir à droite au volant et sans apercevoir que le volant est juste devant lui, même nous qui étions assises derrière n'en avions pas aussi constaté, quant le chauffeur est venu et lui dit, c'est toi qui va conduire?, on était étonné et s'est mis à rigoler en découvrant que personne n'a pas remarqué le volant à droite.

Presque les commerçants acceptent le Dollar, même les simples vendeurs. Ils sont bien informés que les Dollars datés moins de 1999 ne sont plus acceptés. Alors que nous avions quelques billets environ 150 dollar de 1996 et 1999, nous n’étions pas au courant que les Dollar avant cette année n’est plus en vigueur, c’était lors de notre course à Nairobi qu’un simple marchand nous en a informé. C’est la honte ;) Mais en fait, je ne sais pas si c'est seulement là-bas que les dollars édités avant 1999 ne sont pas recevables ou partout ailleurs ?

(Kenya, volant à droite)

Enfin, à Nairobi, il y a ce qu'on appelle Kibera, un des plus grands bidonvilles avec une population évaluée à 1 million d'habitants sur une surface de 250ha, les jeunes habitants dans ce bidonville ont créé un projet de cartographie s'appuyant sur des logiciels et autres outils libres d'accès. La carte Kibera est aujourd'hui devenu un projet d'information de la communauté interactive complète. Un certain bidonville appelé Matharé existe aussi dans la périphérie, avec une population estimée à 500 000.


Bref, parmi les conversations avec les ami(e)s, je m'attendais logiquement sur  la question de l'évolution de la situation politique à Madagascar, je n'avais qu'à dire la vérité sur ce que je sache et constate concernant la conjoncture actuelle. J'étais également un peu surprise de découvrir que les Kenyans savent bien que notre président actuel, Andry Rajoelina est un DJ, je reste stupéfaite...:) Je suis certaine que pas seulement la population Kényane en est au courant mais presque le "monde entier". Mais oui hein! ça n'a rien de mal, un DJ devenu président! C'est ainsi, c'est la vie! :) 


Coucou Kenya, GVO, je vous adore ;) mouuaahhh!