To support the Kenya idea, here’s the e-visa site: evisa.go.ke | Republic of Kenya Electronic Visa System, and for information on LGBTQ rights and resources in Kenya, see the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission or the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (galck+).
I’m going to Nairobi for peacebuilding work at the end of this month and would love to meet any GOSHers in the area.
That would be great to get connections!
Hon
Just wanted to put in a plug for Bali Fablab. I am sort of affiliated with them in that I know the organizers and I will help out with the gathering if it happens there! They meet all the bullet point requirements, and are really keen to host open source community and are already growing an amazing community within their first year of existing. Happy to share more if you have any questions for the Bali Fablab (Elaine, my main contact there and I can start setting up biweekly conversations and can be in contact with any of the working group members.)
We’ve already pre-loaded your awesome information for Bali fablab into our form and we are about to send our follow-up email! Super awesome thanks so much!
+1 for Kenya, and my apologies, I’m new around here, but are the global GOSH gatherings hybrid events, so that anyone anywhere can participate without the ($ + CO2) cost of flights & hotels?
I have some contacts in media/broadcast services in Nairobi, and I’d be delighted to help try to make the gathering of equal value to those who can’t make it in person.
In general the gosh community does a whole bunch of online events and basically tries to keep the gathering going on in a “virtual way” constantly. And then the physical gatherings have been about trying to get people together and do things in a way that is much more difficult online, So there’s been much more emphasis on the physical gathering and little to no hybrid part of the event.
But there’s some people in the working group who are discussing these concepts as we speak for the next one.
Also fyi in general a little more than half of the budget for the event goes towards helping people who need it with the cost to get there and attend 
That sounds excellent, how do you address the CO2 cost?
nobody has yet figured that out except making sure the time people spend together in an area is maximized to connect them with local groups and things that they wouldn’t have done/been able to otherwise
Not sure if this is of interest because of ability to bring in folks from certain countries to the US, but I’d love to host here in Ann Arbor MI in the US.
We have some great stuff here:
I would love to play that role this year (rather than a primary organizer role), and would be happy to spend time finding local partners at U of M, or in our pretty extensive tech community.
Greg
The next IMCC7 will be held Oct 13-18 2024 in Cape Town South Africa. There’s an opportunity here for synergy.
Hello everyone,
This is Sachet Manandhar from Nepal representing Karkhana Samuha, an institution working on promoting hands on learning. We’ve been tinkering and experimenting for over a decade and a number of team members have be part of the GOSH events in the past.
Karkhana Samuha would be happy to host the upcoming event in Kathmandu, Nepal. Karkhana Samuha is very active with the community of educators, makers, engineers and. artists and have hosted similar events in the past.
It’d be an absolute experience to bringing members from all these diverse communities. Over the years, a number of makerspace have been set up to promote a maker culture and schools have also started having its own making spaces that allow children to tinker and build prototypes.
The Visa for Nepal is fairly accessible to citizens from different countries and in case of need we can facilitate and help our with the process.
Great i just wrote to them!
Hi, Everyone
Tsinghua OpenFIESTA is willing to host future GOSH events. We are at Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, China. We have hosted GOSH 2018 before and are willing to contribute to the community after the COVID. Shenzhen is also the biggest market for electronics and parts in China if you wish to purchase some during your visit. Also, our partner seeedstudio has restarted organizing MakerFaireSZ during November this year.
Quick report back – In Kenya I met Dr Kamau Gachigi and many other staff from https://www.gearbox.co.ke/, the nonprofit who has the contract to make all Raspberry pis for the African market and for further export. Notably this organization employs >60% women. I also met the 5 staff of TandaNet in Kibera, a meshnetwork nonprofit organization. These groups could be partners in a future GOSH Gathering.
I found Nairobi to be extremely accessible, English widely spoken. For additional activities, a half-day ride to the City’s National Park allows you see the giraffes, rhinos, lions, etc.
Awesome, do you happen to have any good contact with with them to reach out to?
FYI I just noticed that apparently Kenya will allow visa-free access to everyone for short visits starting in 2024:
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenya-scrap-visas-all-visitors-president-says-2023-12-12/
I do have a contact who is now expecting to hear from you after January 8 when Gearbox resumes work, i’ll send it to you on WhatsApp for sharing with the organizing group.