[python-nigeria] Don't you think......It's about time?

[Aisha Bello]

Hola Pythonistas,

Hope everyone had a great weekend. The weekend is over so soon again :( So
being me I thought I pen a few words at the start of the week. Call it
#FoodforThought. this shouldn't take long....

So first of a warm welcome to Temitope Oyenuga. It's interesting to have a
diverse range of people using python for different awesome things. I just
coined a personal mantra "Wherever You Are, Whatever you need #Python is
always there for you with a framework :)" Looking forward to learning some
of the cool things Python avails the networking space from Temitope. Most
of our community conversations have centered on web and data......

So as regards our young and vibrant community, I was thinking and I thought
to myself we've come so far in these past few months (built an amazing
community, have DG workshops to our name, done a meetup, have a buzzing
slack team), so what's next? What happened to our plans of putting
PyNigeria on the map and registering as a not-for-profit in Nigeria? What
happened to having another meetup? what happened  to our projects? What
happened to the plans of PyNigeria Conference? While I am proud of what
we've been able to accomplish as a community I can't but wonder what's
next. While it may seem everything is perfect I honestly don't want us
stuck in the beginner phase of community, as tempted as I am to come up
with excuses and blame Nepa or fuel scarcity.
I am keen to write more but I would love to hear from you guys about how we
can move our community ahead. Proactive steps. I forsee a PyCon Nigeria in
the nearest future where we attract great minds from around the world into
our dear own.......
As a reference I am going to reference some of the advice Naomi gave us in
February. FYI we are not yet on the wiki page :(...someone please take it
up :-(

Join the Python-Africa mailing list to add your voice there -
>
      https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-africa
      - add a presence (even if it's a link to this mailing list's info
      page) for Nigeria on the Python wiki's user groups page -
      https://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups#Other_Africa
      - Become a member of the Python Software Foundation. Basic membership
      is free, just go to https://www.python.org/accounts/login/ and create
      an account and you are a basic member!
      - Join/post on the PSF-Community mailing list. All PSF members around
      the world are welcome to post and connect using that list. It would be
      great place to let the world of Python know what you are doing.
      - Become a voting member of the PSF - if you put in 5 hours a month
      (or 60 hours a year) doing Python community work (organizing, coding,
      documentation, etc) you are eligible to become a voting member. Voting
      members vote to elect the board members (like me), to accept sponsor
      companies, and on other issues of governance as they arise. The more
      diverse and widespread our voters are the more likely the board and
      governance will represent everyone and make better decisions, so
we really
      need you. The info on becoming a voting member this way is at
      http://pyfound.blogspot.de/2015/02/enroll-as-psf-voting-member.html
      - Working group. The PSF has a structure to create working groups for
      projects as needed. If you have a project or goal, we might be able to
      create a working group. Contact me for more advice on that.
      - Get funding. The PSF offers funding for meetups and conferences
      around the world. For more information on how to do this, go to
      https://www.python.org/psf/grants/ and I again would be happy to help

>       out.


I am really looking forward to reading from many of you......This is
Ours......Let's make this count. We already started we might as well give
it all we've got.

Wishing everyone a pythonic week ahead ;)

Aisha Bello