Scholarship, Hackathons, and Swahili Words: Wikimania 2025 Through My Eyes

It all started with that email.

“Congratulations! On behalf of the 2025 Wikimania Scholarship Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation… You have been awarded a full scholarship to cover your accommodation and travel for the event!”

I read it about three times before it sank in. I had just received a scholarship to attend Wikimania 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya. This wasn’t just any trip, it was my first Wikimania and also my first international trip. Let’s just say excitement levels were at an all-time high (somewhere between “can’t stop smiling” and “is this real life?”).

After the formalities, vaccinations, visa paperwork, and packing, I boarded my flight from Indira Gandhi International Airport to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a 7-hour flight that felt like the start of something big.

The Theme: Heart of Wikimania 2025

The theme this year was Wikimania@20: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability. It couldn’t have been more fitting as Wikimedia celebrated its 20th anniversary. To me, it felt like more than just a tagline, it set the tone for everything I saw, learned, and experienced throughout the event.

Day 0 – August 5

Wikimania officially began with a pre-conference day. After a light breakfast at Trademark Hotel, I headed straight to the Hackathon pre-conference.

The first session was “Onboarding to Wikimedia Codex.” It was hands-on and gave us a glimpse into the design system behind Wikimedia’s modern interface. I instantly thought, “This could be useful for tools I’m contributing to.”

Next came Language Tools at Wikimedia. Here’s where I translated my first ever sentence from English to Nepali using TranslateWiki. A small but proud moment.

Then, during the MediaWiki Environment setup session, the speaker Eugene233 mentioned about a project called the ISA Tool, a fun, multilingual, mobile-first tool to add structured data to images on Wikimedia Commons. It was hugely popular, especially among African communities. Something clicked. I knew right there this was going to be my hackathon project.

Day 0 ended with excitement bubbling. I had found “my” project.

Day 1 – August 6

We kicked off with a short orientation where I picked up a few Swahili words like mambo, jambo, asante sana, karibu, and kwaheri. (I used them every chance I got, probably overused them, but hey, enthusiasm counts.)

Then came the Hackathon kickoff and mentor-mentee matching. That’s when I officially joined the team working on the ISA Tool. The day was spent setting up the project locally and identifying the issue I would work on.

Later, I attended the Opening Ceremony, which featured the Wikimedian of the Year. Seeing the global community come together in that hall gave me goosebumps.

Day 2 – August 7

Hackathon mode: on. I got to work on my issue for the ISA Tool and brainstormed fixes with my mentor. (For the curious, you can check the issue and my fix here).

I also volunteered as a room manager for the session “Beyond barnstars – What learning recognition systems are meaningful for Wikimedians?” My job was simple but important: make sure everything ran smoothly, both in-person and virtually.

The highlight was the Wikimania@20 Keynote Panel on AI. The panel explored how Wikimedia has grown over two decades, and how AI can shape its future. They discussed inclusivity, bridging regional gaps, avoiding over-reliance on commercial platforms, and building sustainable community-driven solutions. It really puts into perspective how much responsibility lies in keeping knowledge free, open, and fair.

Oh, and we also had the group photo that day, imagine hundreds of Wikimedians squeezed into one frame.

Day 3 and 4 – August 8 & 9

By now, Nairobi felt like home. I visited the Masai Mara market, which was colorful, lively, and honestly, very tempting. The souvenirs were so beautiful that I wanted to buy them all. My heart said yes, but my wallet said, “Relax.” (smh, still hurts).

Hackathon work continued. Alongside ISA Tool, I picked up another project: revamping and refactoring the Ghana Supreme Court Cases website. It was a new challenge and kept things exciting.

Soon, it was time for the Hackathon showcase. Our team presented the improvements we had made to the ISA Tool, and I also shared the Ghana project updates. Presenting in front of the community was nerve-wracking but also incredibly rewarding.

The conference wrapped up with the Closing Ceremony, where we sang, danced, and celebrated together. I couldn’t believe four days had passed so quickly. Saying kwaheri (goodbye) felt bittersweet.

Meetup

I made it a point to attend a few meetups that brought people together by region and age.

• South Asian Meetup: A wonderful chance to meet fellow Wikimedians from South Asia, share updates, and even hear the exciting confirmation of Wiki Conference India. We ended, of course, with a group photo.
  
• Global Youth Meetup: Full of energy. We kicked off with introductions, broke into groups to discuss topics, and presented our ideas. It was also where I learned about the upcoming Wiki Youth Conference. Another group photo added to the memory bank.
  

What Wikimedia’s Movement Means to Me

For me, the Wikimedia movement is about freedom, inclusivity, and collective growth. It’s not just editing a page or writing code for a tool, it’s being part of a global family that believes in making knowledge free for all, no matter where they are from or what language they speak.

My Learnings from Wikimania 2025

• The future of Wikimedia is deeply tied to inclusivity, ensuring that underrepresented voices have a space
• AI can be a powerful ally in expanding access to knowledge, but only if handled responsibly
• Sustainability in this ecosystem comes from people and technology working together, not just one or the other
• And most importantly, collaboration across communities is what makes Wikimedia strong
  

Gratitude

This journey wouldn’t have been possible without the Wikimedia Foundation, the scholarship committee, and the core organizing team that worked tirelessly to make Wikimania 2025 a success.

A special thank you to amFOSS. It was through this community that I first got exposed to open source and began contributing to Wikimedia. Without that start, I wouldn’t have been standing in Nairobi, soaking in this experience.

And of course, to Nairobi itself, thank you for being so welcoming and for giving me memories I’ll carry forever.

I can say this with all honesty: Wikimania 2025 was the best event I’ve ever attended. From the hackathon to the keynotes, the meetups to the markets, every bit of it is marked into my memory. I return inspired, grateful, and more committed than ever to the movement of free knowledge.