My experience organising django girls Ogbomoso on 7th May, 2016
This blog post was written by Opetunde Adepoju. Thank you Opetunde!❤️
“It always seems impossible until it is done.“ —Nelson Mandela
The quote above summarises my experience when I organised Django girls in my city, It was the first of its kind which made it strange. First, people had issues with the fact that it was gender-based and tagged me as a feminist because I was organising an event for just girls, and in Nigeria, a feminist is scorned and called names. So, for organising an event that is "gender-biased” in my community, my image was at stake but I did not give up. Having attended the first edition of Django girls in my country, I knew how it helped me a lot and I just wanted to help other people succeed, so their stories and scorns did not make me back down, instead I went on. I knew so well that I could not do it alone then I got my co-organisers (Ruth Obe and Temiloluwa Afape) with a huge support from the organiser of the first edition, Aisha Bello.
The first challenge was how to get girls to register. Most girls feel that tech (as it is fondly called in my country) is a man’s world and don’t want to be a part of it. So my first assignment was to convince them that tech is for everybody and not for just men. I had to enlighten them about the prospects in the tech industry, free food at the event and a lot of souvenirs they would get if they registered. So they did, although some registered out of passion, others registered out of compulsion, and that alone was enough to discourage me, but no, I was not.
The day of the event finally came and it was so amazing. Coaches from far and wide came to support and teach the girls and they were really great. Many of the attendees were so impressed that they got all that they did for free. They were like ‘Oh my God! this is so unbelievable’. After the event, they were telling their friends who did not come how they really missed the fun of coding and eating that some people came to ask if we would organise another one any time soon. After the event, my image was no longer at stake, instead its bars were raised higher.
Getting the feedback from the girls inspired us to start a group for girls who want to learn how to code and we hope to kick-start next month. Many girls were inspired to pursue their career in tech and some of them have even started utilising their GitHub tools. The success of the event inspired one of the attendees to replicate such at Minna, Niger state (Django girls Minna) and that really inspired me to do more.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to be an organiser of such an event that opened my eyes and made me gain experience. Although, I made some errors as it was the very first event I ever organised, it was yet a life-changing experience and I will do it over and over again if I had the chance to.
Finally my appreciation goes to Github, PSF, Budgit Nigeria and Lautech. It was such an amazing experience with their support. All thanks to Hamdalah Adetunji, Aisha Bello, Eyitemi Egbejule, Chukwudi Nwachukwu, Mercy Akintuotu, Lekan Wahab, Mujahid Raji, Yusuf and Iyanu Adams who coached the girls and made them have a wonderful time. There could not have been django girl Ogbomoso without the support I got from the coaches. Some of them left their work and primary assignments to help us. #codingisfun #girlcodersrock