The Zambian “Suitcase o’ Swag”

For the past three years the User Group I run, the Inland Empire .NET User's Group has been mentoring a sister group in Zambia, Africa. When I run across extra swag, or things that look like they would be interesting or useful to the group, I keep it aside until I have a nice suitcase sized bit of stuff. The group has been around for 3 years, meeting on a regular, monthly basis, with some attendees driving sometimes up to 5 hours, one way, to get to a meeting. Internet access is "iffy" at best, although Skype seems to work pretty well, do downloading mass bits of information isn't all that efficient. So, I usually record a bunch of videos and stuff and put them on CD's in the suitcase.

Getting items into Zambia is an experience in of itself. Because of the various "taxes" the different "groups" at the borders assess to goods coming into the country, it is easier to ship an extra suitcase along with someone who is going in country. This time, the lucky person is Lynn Langit, who volunteers her summer vacations to go to Zambia and work on the SmartCare project. The high point of all of this for me is going to the thrift store and picking out the rattiest looking bag I can find. But today, all I could find were pretty nice ones. Go figure.

Many, many thanks to all the sponsors and people who come together to make this happen. ComponentOne, O'Reilly Publishing, Wrox/Wiley Publishing, Tech Smith Software, Grape City, Telerik, and Infragistics. What we are doing is really making a difference in the lives of the developers in Zambia

I give you the "Suitcase o' Swag" heading for Zambia on September 22, 2010.

James