Hi
A brief introduction from my side. I'm Ian Gilfillan, living in Observatory, Cape Town. I first came across the idea of a free resource of all the world's knowledge in a book by Ursula Le Guin, and when I first encountered Wikipedia fell in love with the vision. I've been involved in the English Wikipedia from very early on, and tinker in a number of the other Wikimedia projects as well.
I have a background in Free and Open Source software, wrote a book on MySQL, and currently am director of an online organic and ethical food co-operative, the Ethical Co-op.
I participated in the first African Wikipedia Academy a few years ago and co-ordinated the Cape Town bid to host Wikimania (it eventually went to Alexandria).
I keep fairly close track on the progress of the various Wikimedia projects in African languages, and write regularly on the topic on my blog - you can see the latest at http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?p=715
I look forward to meeting a lot more of you in person soon :)