A wonderful experience at the ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025 Manila

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I joined the ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025, held in Manila, Philippines from May 23 to 25, 2025. ESEAP is an affiliate organization of Wikimedia in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific region. I joined the ESEAP Conference 2024 held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia last year, and interacted with many Wikimedians in the region. Unlike last year’s conference, which anyone could attend, this Strategic Summit is positioned as a strategic conference to discuss and shape the future of the Wikimedia movement in the region. I joined as a member of the Wikimedians of Japan User Group.

ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025 Manila group photo (Venus Lui, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The three-day summit was attended by 87 Wikimedians from 21 countries, and 16 sessions were held to discuss issues in the ESEAP region from various angles. Regarding the governance of the ESEAP Hub, a detailed explanation was given of the newly proposed “Liaisons” representing specific communities, and many questions were asked. There were also reports on the actual collaboration and various activities in the region, and we were able to learn from each other about specific collaboration methods.

Round table discussion at ESEAP Strategy Summit (Suyash Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

As for sessions from regions other than ESEAP, Barbara Klen, a staff member of the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) Hub, gave an online talk on the history and overview of CEE. I was also able to talk with the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Macej Nadikiewicz from Poland and Lorenzo Rosa from Italy. I also had a lively talk with Jorge Vargas, a staff member of the Foundation from Colombia in South America.

Anthony (left) from the Let’s Connect Team with Japanese Wikimedians at ESEAP 2025 Manila(Kunokuno, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Among the participants were many people from ESEAP countries, including Malaysia, whom I had met last year, and I was able to renew friendships. It was also nice to meet participants from Myanmar for the first time. Several people called out to me, saying that they had seen the recent Let’s Connect Learning Clinic. A local Filipino young man said that he likes wearing Japanese kimonos and showed me his wearing photo. I found out that Johnny Alegre, who is about the same age as me, is a jazz guitarist, and when I told him about my musical experience, he gave me a CD of his own work. And Badette, who is also my roommate, is also about the same age, and when I gave her a postcard with a haiku by Masaoka Shiki on it, she sent me a haiku in English that she had written herself on SNS after returning home, which was a happy accident. It was an event where I enjoyed learning and meeting various people. I’m looking forward to the Conference 2026 in Taiwan.

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