It was exciting to receive the email that I’ve become one of the 12 African women selected for the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group at the beginning of 2021. It was the start of a learning curve for me.
I learnt a lot of new things like: revamping my User page, writing a better report etc.
Fast forward to August, it was almost time for the #SheSaid Campaign. We started preparing our grant applications. Getting trainings on how to edit/create quotes on Wikiquote. The aspect of learning how to edit Wikiquote became the challenge. 😂 I couldn’t get a grasp of it.
Florence, our Mama Dinosaur tried her best to teach us but it just wasn’t getting into my head. So many links to check out on YouTube, it just wasn’t going. I was worried and frustrated. How was I going to teach something I had no proper knowledge of yet.
Fortunately/unknowingly for me, the lady I was mentoring (Goodness) edits Wikiquote, I complained to her about a project I was about to embark on and she made a step by step video on how to edit Wikiquote and sent to me. This was how I got a hold of it and was happy and ready to teach my participants.
Fast forward to October, I hosted the SheSaid Nigeria Campaign launch which took place on October 10th 2021 at CAVIC hub, Abuja. On that first day, we had over 9 participants who were happy to add quotes from notable women to Igbo WikiQuote. I organised food, drinks, free WiFi and branded souvenirs to encourage my participants.
At the Campaign, I announced that there would be Wiki Loves Women branded gift items for anyone who added up to 5 quotes and above. A total of 17 persons participated in the campaign, quotes from notable women and women biographies were added during the campaign.
Outcome
At the end of the Campaign, we had a total of:
- 17 participants
- 160+ Wikipedia articles
- 40 quotes
Winners of the branded gifts
- OtuNwachinemere – 5 quotes
- udehb – 6 quotes
- Akwugo – 10+ quotes
- Chinaza Chizzy
- Olugold – 10+ Wikipedia articles
- OnyiJacy – 3 quotes
Quotes added to Igbo WikiQuote = 40
A list of the quotes that were added can be found on this Redlist.
It was a great learning opportunity for me and I sincerely appreciate the Wiki Loves Women team for the opportunity. Because of the #SheSaid campaign, the Igbo Community found the Igbo Language Wikiquote in the incubator and have adopted it as part of our projects.
This year 2022, I hope to have the have the campaign in various parts of Nigeria.