My name is Ezekiel Edgar Kiariro from the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) found in Morogoro, Tanzania. I am a second year student pursuing a BSc. Environmental Science and Management. When I reported to University (first year) I did not know anything about YouthMappers. A few days later, I heard about YouthMappers and what work it does. The first time I heard about YouthMappers was from the former YouthMappers leaders here at our college, Mr. Emil Mbwiga and Mr. Marthad Khojama. They came to our class and briefly explained about YouthMappers and all its activities.
From that day onward I became curious to know more about YouthMappers and their work. So I took the initiative to join the YouthMappers chapter here at our college which is called SMCoSE YouthMappers. After joining the chapter, I got a chance to learn more about YouthMappers. Thou, I faced some difficulties during that training period since I did not have a computer (laptop) at that time. This led me to despair, but I am grateful to my friend Edson Kabaitilaki for his willingness to assist me with his laptop, which helped me to catch up with the trainings. After a period of time, elections were done and I was chosen as the vice president of the SMCoSE YouthMappers.
The chapter provides various training in collaboration with other organizations such as GeoTe -Tanzania. Through those trainings, I gained more knowledge about YouthMappers, as well as how to open an OSM Account and how to perform mapping using ID Editor and JavaOpenSreetMap(JOSM). I also learned many things through the GeoTe Tanzania YouTube Channel. So after getting knowledge about YouthMappers, now we as a chapter are able to interact with other students and teach them various things about YouthMappers, OSM and how to use it, how important it is in the community and so on.
Despite all this, we are facing various challenges such as a lack of strong internet and the awakening of other students to join YouthMappers, especially recruiting women to join. But in cooperation with my chapter officers and chapter members, we continue to provide education, especially to our fellow students on the importance of joining the world's largest YouthMappers network. Thanks to SMCoSE YouthMappers for molding a generation of YouthMappers. It's a wonderful experience for the chapter officers and chapter members.
My name is Ezekiel Edgar Kiariro, I was born in February 2000 in the same district found in the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania. I am a student at the Sokoine University of Agriculture pursuing a BSc. Environmental Science and Management second year. Also, I am an active member of YouthMappers, specifically SMCoSE YouthMappers, in the chapter currently I am a Vice President.
CONTACTS
*Instagram: ezekiel_kiariro
*LinkedIn: Ezekiel Kiariro
*Twitter: Ezekiel Kiariro
*E - Mail: ezekielkiariro313@gmail.com