In reply to James Harvill.

@James, what is your solution then? Just let the people in Zim suffer further?

There was no political agenda whatsoever in WordCamp Harare. I saw a lot of enthusiastic WordPress users who are keen to get involved with open source, while at the same time trying to make a living.

Economic constraints are inflicted on national governments, or because of those governments, but ignoring the people living under those constraints in non-governmental settings is just not a nice thing to do.

Open source software is one of the best tools for empowering people in difficult situations. I'm thrilled that WordCamp Central chose a country with a challenging economic context. The fact that the international WordPress community acknowledges the Harare community and is willing to invest in it, was received as a sign of hope.