“The beauty is never in a place of visit: rather the people whom one encounters there!” I’ve recalled saying this approximately seven years ago.

That poignant maxim rings true with one caveat of Kigali being aesthetically calming to the eyes, to add beauty of place as well. From the eavesdrops at dinner with other participants of the hackathon, it appears Rwandesse folk do possess that external appeal to sooth sore eyes. This I will go by Shanelle & Cindy’s account, since I barely got enough time to sleep while there, leave alone get entangled with its streets and inhabitants.

Llama 3 hack, was immaculately planned and the organisers alongside their financiers deserve solid pats of their backs. It will forever get etched in my mind and I hope also to all hackers, corporate kin, lawyers, data scientists, engineers, AI enthusiasts and students in attendance!

bimri

Shaka deserves praise on his own accord for the extreme exuberance he afforded each lonely query from attendees. It started by allocation of individuals into teams from onset of our on-boarding exercises; to pertinent due processes of travel itinerary; to allotment of time for last minute presentation dilemmas for demos! All these without losing zest nor fervor, so Kudos Shaka!

Our Kenya WhatsApp group had its clowns-in-residence, and I say that with the absolute comical tinge of humor, which they possessed:— with their commentaries on stuff; from the mundane, to the deals sourced. 😂 Ndegwa, you deserve your flowers for keeping it lively there from day one! Notwithstanding your apt prediction that our team will win a spot among the eight, right before breaking for lunch on day four. So, we’ll add the title seer to your rèsume.

Now to the mentors: Rachel & Stanslaus coached well, both pouring their expertise and passion without prejudice. They’re the ones that graced our tables and I got to listen to their nuggets. It will be delightful to interact with them some more one day.

To our group, Umunthu AI. We got seasoned veterans amongst our midst with starry gazed members like myself. Bundling heavyweights like that could spell doom, but it didn’t, we managed to incorporate ideas from each other and everyone did their part loyally with a tenacious spirit. We still haven’t scratched the surface of our potential, but, that will be a blog post for another day and season.

We had Chandi our high-octane energized spokesman & strategist: (Remy & Yonas the silent wizards in the backdrop): Tapiwa our serene queen monarch in charge of product: Dave the conscious counselor & team lead: then there’s me, an intuitive alien dealing with the technicalities & ideation synthesis. 👽

Umunthu AI seeks to change the narrative of Gender Based Violence — GBV. If ~99% of its victims are women and all solutions carter to them whereas ~99% of perpetrators are men: then it's not even a fair conversation to begin with.

Prevention is better than cure. Victims need all the assistance they could get to bounce back to their day to day activities, to the best of their abilities. But, that alone won’t stop 🛑 the menace that GBV is!

Umunthu AI

Prevention should start with men. Men who want to stop other men from having those salacious dialogues about women. Or men who know perpetrators and stay silent and look the other way! Or the perpetrators themselves. We all need to stop dancing or waltzing around the core problem — 99% of all perpetrators are men! Let that sink in. Therefore in a complete theorem proving exercise, 99% of all prevention solutions, should target men.

Be on guard everyone, for us to change the Zeitgeist by “teaching our sons to know better: and protecting our daughters to feel safer in their own communities.” This is the mountain 🏔️ we’ve identified, and it’s time to climb!

Consent is the word, and Umunthu AI will champion this Cause into Perpetuity.

bimri