The first Africa Source was in Namibia in early 2004.  The second was in early 2006.  Both experiences really got me excited about open source all over again, and introduced me to people I remain in contact with today.

I guess the regular fix has created an expectation.  After becoming a bit jaded about the state of progress in open source (with a few exceptions, of course) in the country, it seems I need a pick-me-up of the sort of Africa Source.  (The only primarily-open source related event on my calendar in 2007 was UWC's Digital Freedom Exposition, which didn't evoke much excitement from me.  But there was also the iCommons Bring and Braai, which did.)

GeekDinner has been filling some of the gap, and StarCamp helped a little more.  One thing the Source events did was teach me that the surest way to make something happen is to make it happen - do something about it.  So, after StarCamp, I've been thinking of a few events for the coming two years.  Some are probably more likely than others, of course.

Most likely is StarCamp in July-or-so 2008 in Cape Town.  The group that attended StarCamp in December seemed to really enjoy it, and just coming together again for a day or two again will be worth it.  But I think it'll be bigger and better next time round, and I'll be starting preparations for it soon.

Next up is a South African web technology conference.  I want to get the guys who make IOL, Mail and Guardian (including Amatomu), CareerJunction, KnowledgeTree, SynthaSite, Tank, Afrigator, and more together in a room for one to three days (they can leave the room for a few hours to sleep, if they're good).  I want to see them sharing lessons learned and ideas and generally improving the state of the art in the country.  Oh, and there's obviousy the chance and hope that we'll have people from outside SA coming down to attend.

And then there's the possibility of getting international speakers on technologies to come for the conference,  give some public talks in collaboration with GeekDinner, and hopefully to give training before or after the conference.

Although I might not be there, I'm very interested in helping anyone wanting to try replicate the GeekDinner and StarCamp formula to other regions in Africa.  I'll probably be speaking about how to replicate the success we've had with these and transmit some lessons we've learned at a conference in Dakar next month, so there may actually be a good chance... 

The farthest out there is another national, regional, or continent-wide Source event like Africa Source.  Certainly the geographically larger the scope, the larger the requirement for experience with both event organisation and navigating the world of international non-profit funding.

It's malaria.

(My apologies to Bryn.  Obviously I vastly underestimated his ability to call up disease (a tropical one at that).  Especially since it has been 11 months since I visited Uganda.)

I've just arrived back from the hospital.  I was admitted to the Emergency Room on Tuesday around 3pm, and spent about 4 hours there while my temperature was brought down from 40.2 degrees (celcius) and my shivers were brought under control.

Kudos to the ultrasound operator who was the first person to suggest malaria, which was eventually backed up by blood tests later.  Apparently I have plasmodium ovale, which is one of the rarer form, and can recur up to five years later.  It sat around for 11 months after my Africa Source II (site not available at time of writing) trip and decided that last friday was a good time to make its gala entrance.

After the ER, I was packed off to a general ward, where I've been since then.  The malaria causes a every-two-days fever, and so my first day was actually quite boring, since I was basically fine.  Ran a lower (39.2 degrees) fever on Thursday, had the malaria diagnosis given, and was put onto quinine (not the nicest-tasting drug - without the gin, I mean), and didn't have the Saturday fever at all, so was discharged.

And here I am.  (Well, after collapsing into bed for a nap since the move out of the ward was quite strenuous relative to my energy levels.)