Thanks, Abbas, for the update.

Knowing me, you will expect me to especially like points nos. 5 and 6 of the SA WMF chapter draft purposes:

·  To build/facilitate/disseminate/provide knowledge in all SAfrican languages

·  To contribute to the development of local languages (all South African languages)

Correspondingly, I’ve been looking at the Kikuyu wikipedia (http://ki.wikipedia.org) which could use some more support just like the Zulu one (http://zu.wikipedia.org) in SA.

Just to add one more development on our own chapter network:

We expect to meet with Dr. Martin Njoroge at Kenyatta University sometime between Sep 9 and 17 (date to be confirmed) in order to discuss collaboration and potential opportunities for mutual support (Dr. Njoroge is the Director of the Confucius Institute, organiser of last month’s international conference on multilingualism here in Nairobi, and a member of the Multilingual Education Network East Africa).

Wenu katika kujenga elimu,

Oliver (aka BT)

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From: wikimediake-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediake-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Abbas Mahmoud
Sent: 13 August 2010 11:24
To: Wikimedia Kenya
Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] Latest Updates

Hello folks,

It's been a while since I last communicated with you guys, but I have some updates regarding our chapter, the South African Chapter and Wikimedia in general.

WIKIMEDIA KENYA
I recently received intelligence from Wikimedia Foundation about Omidyar Network. Omidyar Network is an NGO that funds Wikimedia and also gives financial assistance to companies in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, etc. I was also told that there could be a high possibility that they could support our upcoming chapter get off the ground. I was given some connections and I have contacted one of them and I am yet to receive a reply.

Wimedia South Africa:
Also, Delphine was on holiday over the past couple of weeks so we weren't able to communicate regarding our chapter's progress. However, she recently went to a workshop held by the South African Chapter and came up with a report. Please see the report at the end of this email. I would also kindly urge you to subscribe to the South African mailing list so that we can receive up-to-date intel of what our counterparts are doing. Visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza to subscribe. Also see their meta page for more info: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_South_Africa.

On the news:
There has been an interesting saga where the FBI wants it's seal to be removed from Wikipedia. Read the full story on the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03fbi.html?_r=1. (This is a must-read article:-)).

It is also interesting to note that the Swahili Wikipedia, now having 18,000 articles is now the largest African-language Wikipedia beating the Africaans (South African) Wikipedia that has 15,000 articles!

That's all from me,

I am, yours,
Abbas Mahmoud.