I will be home in a month!

I am overflowing with ideas I want to share with people, and I’m
planning to go to different places in the Philippines in order to do
open source and computer science advocacy.

• I want to show people that you can be passionate and enthusiastic
  about computing, and you can share what you know even if you’re just
  talking about simple things.
• I want to help start geek communities so that people know who’s
  working on what. It’s important for people to know whom they can ask
  for help.
• I want to find out what issues teachers face in other schools and
  how teachers deal with those issues. I hope to share thoughts on
  teaching introductory computer science and making computer science
  fun and interesting for university students as well as elementary
  students.
• I want teams from the provinces to perform better in national
  programming competitions.
• I want to help show people that they can do funky computing stuff in
  the provinces so that they’re not always envious of Metro Manila and
  its high concentration of geeks. ;) I want students to be able to
  consider their local colleges seriously. I want to encourage people
  to hold their own technical sessions and regular meetings.
• I want to show people that computer science isn’t just about money.
  It helps you learn how to think, and that makes it really useful.

I don’t need to speak to large audiences, although I can do that if
I’m part of a larger event. If I spoke in front of a large audience
all day, I’d bore them—better to reserve that for smaller audiences
so that I can adapt to people better. I don’t need a grand event. I
just need to be there, meeting people, asking questions, exchanging
ideas…

I can start with a small thing. I can talk about computing on XTs if
that’s all they have. I can assume zero background on Linux or even
computing if necessary. It’s just that I’m mobile (aka unemployed) in
a position to do something cool, and I can’t let the opportunity pass.

Summertime would be best. That would mean I’d have to raise PHP 10k
for airfare or so. There’s a Cebu Pacific Air thing running until
March 15, but I won’t get to talk to teachers and students then, so it
might be better to spend that time with my family, use all March to
prepare really good presentations, and head off during April so that I
can talk to lots of people.