Central Asian youth at GLAM

From October 30 to November 2, 2025, the GLAM international conference was held in Lisbon, Portugal. For the first time, Wikimedia editors from Uzbekistan were invited to this international conference. I was the invited participant who received a grant. This was my first international experience within the GLAM framework.

Before the conference: expectations and doubts

I did not really believe that I would receive a grant to attend the conference, because until then no one from the Uzbek Wikipedia community had ever participated in this conference, and moreover, we had not yet fully understood the true essence of the GLAM project. When I first saw the conference page on Meta, I translated it into Uzbek and wrote posts about it in the Uzbek-language Telegram channel created for Wikimedia projects that I manage, as well as on other social media platforms. As a result, nearly ten Uzbek Wikipedia editors expressed interest in the project and submitted applications. I was one of them.

I work at the Islamic Encyclopedia Department of the International Islamic Academy of Tashkent. We are digitizing the encyclopedia, adding its articles to Wikipedia, and at the same time, articles created on Wikipedia are also included in the printed edition of the encyclopedia. In my application, I wrote specifically about this work and about how my activities are, in a certain sense, connected to GLAM.

After some time passed, rejection messages began to arrive for applicants from the Uzbek Wikipedia community. However, I received neither a rejection nor an acceptance. I waited for about ten days and then wrote to the organizers myself, asking why I had not received a rejection when everyone else had. The response explained that the selection process had not yet been finalized.

After another 5–10 days, I received a message from one of the conference organizers, Connor Benedict, asking whether I had written my email address correctly. In my haste, I had missed one “w” letter in my email address. After I provided the correct email address, I soon received the acceptance message. It is difficult to put into words the joy I felt at that moment. I almost screamed with excitement, I was near a river at the time and nearly fell into it. This was a great honor and an unexpected achievement for me. After that, I began preparing the documents; more precisely, I did this after my Wikimania trip.

Arrival and first impressions

This was my first trip to Europe, my first GLAM conference, and an opportunity to meet new people from different countries. Before the trip, I caught a cold, and I even flew with a fever, but I really liked the air of Lisbon. The organizers welcomed me, and there I saw Darafsh, a Wikimedian I had previously met at two international conferences Wikimania 2025 and Central Asia WikiCon. It felt like seeing a familiar dish on a table full of foods you have never tried before.

I checked into the hotel, and my roommate was Asem, a representative of a neighboring nation. I had also met her before at Central Asia WikiCon. Especially because I knew that our languages and national traditions are similar, I began to feel much more comfortable. Indeed, the Wikimedia Portugal community had prepared the conference very thoroughly.

Day 1: Feeling like an alien

From the first day of the conference, dressed in an unusual outfit and holding my camera, I went to the conference venue together with people who were familiar and dear to me Satdeep Gill, Darafsh, Bodhisattwa, and Asem. At first, I did not feel comfortable: everyone felt like a stranger, and because of my hijab, I thought I looked very exotic in others’ eyes. However, no one made any unnecessary comments about it. I constantly took photos and observed people, but I was very afraid to initiate conversations. The reason was an inner fear: “What if they do not accept me?”

During the day, I attended several sessions, photographed every participant, and had short conversations with people I already knew. I also met some members of the CEE Youth group. As I communicated more with Muslims like myself, I began to feel a bit freer. Nevertheless, on the first day I wrote a note on a whiteboard saying that I felt like an alien.

In response to this note, Érica Azzellini left a message saying that she wanted to talk to me, and I managed to meet her the next day.

Day 2: Stepping out of my introvert shell

On the second day, I slowly began to open up. Satdeep Gill, with whom I had been walking everywhere, left me alone so that I could meet people independently. I felt like an ugly duckling: no one said anything bad, everyone smiled and welcomed me, yet I still felt as if I could not break out of my introverted shell.

At that point, the sweets I had brought from my country, halva, helped me. By offering them to other Wikimedians, conversations began naturally. I realized that their attitude toward me was much better than I had imagined. I became closer with several Wikimedians and gave them fridge magnets I had brought from my country as souvenirs. Of course, I also invited them to visit Uzbekistan, because I would be very happy to meet them again. In the evening, we had dinner together with representatives of the Wikimedia Portugal community, which turned out to be a very pleasant and memorable evening.

Day 3: Finding connection and friendship

The third and final day was also special. On that day, too, I wanted to look different. In fact, I had different looks planned for each day, and this attracted a lot of attention. I think that some people remembered me and my nationality better precisely because of these looks, as I tried to dress in a national style.

The moments I remember from the last day include celebrating Satdeep Gill’s birthday, conversations with Klára Joklová, the organizer of the CEE Youth group, exchanging thoughts with Camelia Boban, the organizer of WikiLovesSport, conversations with CEE Youth participants I had not known before, and expressing my heartfelt gratitude, almost in tears, to Connor Benedict for inviting me to this conference (even though he was “only” the messenger), and him hugging me and saying that this was one big Wikimedia family.

I also remember the e-GLAM laboratory session, the informal gathering of WikiSource activists, a short conversation with Valerio Bozzolan, whom I had been photographing continuously for three days but had been too shy to talk to, as well as a wiki tour through the streets of Lisbon with Asem, Doron Prova, Anup Sadi, Irvin Sto Tomas, and dozens of other people. I saw the sea for the first time in my life. Wikimedia gave me such an opportunity. I uploaded photos of it to Wikimedia Commons.

The last day, as always, was both wonderful and painful, because I had to leave. The final dinner was Portuguese-style. Together with Darafsh, Sailesh, Satdeep Gill, Bodhisattwa, Lorenzo Losa, Liam Wyatt, and several other Wikimedians, we had dinner, it was an unforgettable moment. I truly did not want to leave Portugal anymore. Just when I had finally adapted to the conference, it was already over, and I felt a strange mix of emotions. At the same time, I also missed my family.

On my way back home, I felt proud of myself for traveling independently for the first time and for not relying on any companion or external help throughout the journey. Satdeep Gill said goodbye to me, and I headed to the airport. The driver who took me there was also very kind. I said “Obrigado” to him in his native language—the only word I knew in Portuguese.

After the conference: reflections and gratitude

After returning home, the cold that had been hiding worsened and turned into an illness that lasted several weeks. Yes, even illness retreated while I was within the Wikimedia family. Nevertheless, I was deeply grateful to the Wikimedia Portugal community for organizing the conference at such a high level, especially Carlos, Connor, Andre, and many other Wikimedians whose names I unfortunately do not remember (and I am very embarrassed about that).

Not long after my trip, I received an email from narayan98 (Lorenzo). He had heard the story, I told about him and had searched for my email, and he had even read the diff post I wrote about him. At that moment, once again, I became convinced that Wikimedia is not just a community, but a tremendous force that can turn people of different nationalities and countries into brothers and sisters, into one family. With this belief, I now intend to be more active in Wikimedia Foundation projects and, most importantly, to involve my compatriots, and Central Asian youth in general, in projects like GLAM.