This past Saturday I hosted a meetup on Moi Avenue, Nairobi with a friend. It was my first time ever hosting any event associated with Local Guides. In the past, I have assisted hosting multiple Google Developer Festivals but this was the first time I was taking lead and honestly, I was terrified! However, it was a major success and I’m so happy it worked out.
We had scheduled the meeting time to be 10 am but Nairobi traffic had other plans. We waited for a number of participants to arrive then the rest would join us along the way.
We split up into two groups with one group covering the left side of Moi Avenue and the other group the right side. The plan was to first check if a business exists on Google Maps. If it did not, we would add it with all the required information. If it did, we would verify that the location was correct, check if they had working hours and contact information and if the information was correct. We would also take photos of the business if the owner approved since we didn’t want to cause any problems or offend anyone.
Nairobi is known to be filled with pickpockets and con men who take advantage of unsuspecting Kenyans. Because of this, we experienced a lot of problems getting information from business owners and employees. In their defense, we did not have anything official to prove that we were really just after improving Google Maps and not out to scam them. On top of that, a majority of them have no awareness of who or what a Local Guide is which made it hard to convince them even after showing your profile and explaining what you were there to do. Most of them claimed that they were not allowed to divulge information as simple as their working hours and contact information. Others blatantly refused to be added as businesses or photos of their businesses being taken. When we received hesitation, we tried to explain a bit further the benefits of being on Maps and how it would improve their businesses. However, if the business owners still refused, we would let it go and move on to the next one.
Another challenge is that we couldn’t use any other camera other than our phone cameras due to Nairobi City County laws. We required a permit to use professional cameras in Nairobi central business district from the Nairobi City County which is a tedious and expensive process. So we all agreed to use our phone cameras to avoid getting into trouble with the law.
Moi Avenue from Kenya National Archives to Jevanjee Gardens is among one of the most packed streets in Nairobi central business district. Thus in two hours instead of the planned 3 hours, we were only able to cover half of what we had anticipated. However, being our first Geo walk in Nairobi, we counted it as a success and agreed to plan another meetup.
At about 1:30 pm, we reconvened at Jevanjee Gardens where we sat and had a picnic lunch as we got to connect as Nairobi Local Guides. We shared food, experiences for the day and got to know each other past being a local guide. Our day ended at about 3 pm after taking countless photos and sharing contact information.
Even though only 8 people turned up for the meetup (including me), I was very excited that people showed up and participated in improving Google Maps for the benefit of others. We had participants who were just starting out as local guides and they were pretty excited for their upcoming journey. I counted it as a win as it was my first time organizing a local guide meetup and more than one person showed up! It was a thrilling experience working as a team and meeting other people with a similar interest. I will definitely host one again and I am definitely looking forward to it!
