WSF comes to Nairobi

Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 1:16 PM

The World Social Forum is here. It is hard to believe that in the next two days 100,000 people will be descending on Nairobi. Some notable personalities are already here. Bloggers from around the world welcome and get in touch. Email me, let’s hook up and talk.

It is hard to write about this World Social Forum. I hear good news (the whole of Kasarani stadium has apparently been turned into a WIFI hotspot), I hear bad news (apparently the group that provides translators for these events was less than impressed with the way the organisers talked to them and nearly pulled out which would have been a disaster) but the main problem is that there is very little news. Like I said it is hard to believe that 100,000 people are descending on Nairobi in the next 24 hours. But they are coming. At the blogging Digital Indaba in South Africa and at the Global Voices Summit in Delhi at least two different people asked me about the WSF and told me they were coming.

This looks like its going to be a massive blog event. The head honcho for the meeting, Onyango Oloo, is a blogger and KBW member and there must be a large number of bloggers in that 100,000. Incidentally KenyaUnlimited offered to host a open blog for the WSF but they have not gotten back to us yet despite my calls and walking into the secretariat. It would have been brilliant to work together to put something like the Open Forum. Despite all that I hope the event is a success. This is another chance for Kenya to shine, and the sun is out playing its part. The programme also looks very interesting (do not try to print it, 54 pages long).

So welcome and get in touch or if you are a blogger based in Kenya let’s use this as another excuse to meet up!

One piece of advice for people travelling to Kenya, carry your mobile phone and once you get here buy a Celtel prepaid SIM card they cost between 1 USD – 7 USD depending on how touristy you look and where you buy. Immediately register onto the Uhuru Kwa Jamii Tariff by dialling *123*2#. Restrict your calls off peak times from 5.00 P.M to 5.00 A.M Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturday, Sunday and you should be fine. Celtel seem to be the official technology partner although as with everything else there is very little news. You can pay for conference registration fees and onetime USD 15.00 WIFI access fee through your phone though if you do have the Celtel SIM.

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