September 22nd 2009 saw the opening of ICT Africa in Harare. The show consisted of over 80 stands and ran until September 24th. Exhibitors included hardware suppliers, Internet service providers, the Computer Society of Zimbabwe, the Ministry of ICT and, of course, the Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team. The Ubuntu stand was sponsored by Yo!Africa, the same local ISP who hosts and sponsors our local repository.

Preparation and Equipment
A number of problems were encountered during the preparation of the exhibition, but foremost was the delay incurred due to the contractors not having many of the stands ready on time. As a result, we experienced first-hand the positive effects of team work since we had to bring in furniture, potted plants and decorative extras at the last minute, and had to run our own mains power to the Ubuntu exhibition. Power and lighting equipment was sponsored by Powerspeed, and included invertors and a large battery rack to ensure that the exhibition would continue to run in the event of mains power being lost (something common in Zimbabwe).

The LoCo Team worked well into the early hours of Tuesday morning to have the stand ready for the 9.00am opening. Once the furnishings, power and lighting were in place, the equipment was finally unpacked and networked. On exhibit were:

• A number of demo PCs and laptops, running both Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
• A demonstration on the use of GPRS and CDMA on Ubuntu.
• Zimbabwe’s first Freedom Toaster (making its debut appearance)
• An integrated Windows domain controller environment, with Ubuntu clients.
• A two-node Ubuntu Server 9.04 high-availability cluster with two-way replication, demonstrating automatic failover of mail, DHCP and dynamic DNS services.
• Presentations run on two screens and a projector.

Sponsors of equipment included PhoenixTech, Microman, Virtual Computers and Harvest International. Yo!Africa also sponsored the production of the Ubuntu banner, which was by far the largest on display outside the venue.

Although we were still tucking in cables and addressing minor power problems when the doors opened, the Ubuntu exhibition was ready on time!

The Event
One word to describe the three-day event would be “fantastic”. The Ubuntu stand was one of the most popular exhibitions, particularly due to the Freedom Toaster which had an unceasing queue of visitors for the duration of the expo. Of course, being the only exhibitors promoting an entirely free product, we were sure to attract considerable attention anyway. Of the 80+ stands at the show, Ubuntu was the only one specifically mentioned in the Herald, one of the local newspapers. The article was published on the last day of the event and was accompanied by a photograph of Kalpesh Thaker, one of our founding team members, with the Freedom Toaster. Coincidentally, Kalpesh was the driving force behind the project and lead creator of the Toaster. (See full article here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909240057.html).

The Ubuntu stand gained a lot of attention from businesses, students and a number of Government Ministries alike. Naturally, the demonstration desktops and laptops were one of the main focus areas for most visitors who were particularly impressed with desktop effect features, but a number of IT professionals also showed interest in the Windows domain integration and cluster server demonstrations. Many visitors were also very interested in the use of GPRS and CDMA on Ubuntu. An internal Web-based guest book allowed visitors to register and gave them the options of being subscribed to our mailing list and being notified of release parties and other future events.

We had also intended to provide a demonstration of OpenICDL testing on Ubuntu, in conjunction with the Computer Society of Zimbabwe, but unfortunately were unable to, due to problems with the test licenses. However, many discussions were had with school and college representatives regarding the possibilities of Ubuntu-based OpenICDL in Zimbabwe’s educational sector. Similarly, it became evident that there is a growing local demand for training in Ubuntu, and more generally in Linux, for both users and system administrators. This is something that the LoCo Team will need to consider in the future and hopefully be able to facilitate in conjunction with commercial trainers and the Computer Society of Zimbabwe.

All the Ubuntu brochures produced were handed out, and a number of quiz sessions were held for visitors at preset times. Questions were asked based mainly on the information included in the brochures and winners were presented with small prizes (kindly donated by Storegate). This contributed greatly to raising awareness and gaining attention. As can be seen in the photos, one of our members even paraded about the venue with prizes taped to his head, in order to lure in the crowd!

Definite highlights for the team were visits to the Ubuntu stand by the Zimbabwe Minister of ICT, Honorable Minister Nelson Chamisa (MP) and Honorable Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The team was well represented by Arthur Garande who showed the Freedom Toaster to the Prime Minister and provided him with a very quick summary of what Ubuntu is all about.

The Results
Although the team did identify a few areas that could be improved upon next time, the event was overall, a complete success.

• 500 Ubuntu brochures were handed out at the exhibit
• Over 250 Ubuntu CDs were distributed over the three-day period, most of which were churned out by the Freedom Toaster.
• Over 350 visitors to the exhibition signed our guest book.
• As a direct result of Ubuntu’s presence at ICT Africa 2009, our mailing list membership has risen from 63 to 375.

The team members who took part gained a great deal of satisfaction from their involvement and it was clear to everyone, from the noise emanating from the Ubuntu exhibit, that we certainly had the most fun! (Photographs available here: http://www.ubuntu.org.zw/node/23)

While the promotion of Ubuntu in our country is the LoCo Team’s primary goal at events such as this, what is possibly more important at the end of it all is the team work, cooperation and selfless sacrifice that goes into making it all happen. It is important to remember that Ubuntu is not just an operating system, but also a philosophy of sharing and community in all aspects of life. Our goals in promoting Ubuntu are tangible and measurable, unlike our greatest achievement which is experiencing the true “spirit of ubuntu” in action while reaching those goals.

The Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team