I had been hearing about hackathons outside the Wikimedia movement and quietly longing to experience one, but I was skeptical. I wasn’t sure if it was something I could navigate or contribute meaningfully to. That changed between March, 2025 when I participated in the Wiki Mentor Africa Hackathon 2025, my first-ever hackathon. It turned out to be incredibly fulfilling.
When I heard about the project, I reached out to a few Wikimedia volunteers in my community. Due to frequent power outages, I rented a space where we could all come together and be fully engaged in the hackathon activities.
I joined TEAM 9 PHABRICATOR, and our focus was on translating the CampaignEvents Extension into major African languages. This tool helps organize Wikimedia campaigns, and our goal was to make it more accessible to contributors across the continent by localizing it. We were splited into sub-groups based on the languages we could speak and write. I worked on Ibibio, my native language, alongside Orokbest1. We started from 0% translation and made significant progress throughout the hackathon. I also created the Phabricator Task to track and document our work.
By localizing this extension, we’re helping to bridge language gaps in the movement, making it easier for African communities to participate in Wikimedia campaigns in their native languages. It’s a meaningful step toward inclusion and sustainable participation.
What stood out most was the teamwork. Even though many of us had never met before, we worked together, shared knowledge, and supported one another, especially those who were new to documentation and translation processes.
This experience opened my eyes to the collaborative spirit within the Wikimedia movement. I’m grateful I took the leap. I’ve learned a lot and look forward to contributing even more in the future. I’m also open to learning new things about how to contribute to more Phabricator tasks and becoming more active on the platform.
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