وما نيل المطالب بالتمني *** و لكن تؤخذ الدنيا غلابا
وما استعصى على قوم منال *** إذا الإقدام كان لهم ركابا
The desired goals are not attained through mere wishes
But rather the world is conquered through endeavour
No achievement is beyond the reach of those
Who take on the road with determination
أحمد شوقي - Ahmed Chawki
Since I joined the Indaba organisation in 2019, I started hearing about the amazing Indaba wave of positive energy that can fuel us for months. The global pandemic meant that I had to wait for three years to experience it for myself, and those accounts were by no means exaggerated.
The moment the Indaba participants start arriving at the venue brings an indescribable joy, and it only keeps growing over the week. Thinking about the reason for this special energy, I find myself often linking this to our amazing diversity and strong unity. We come to the Indaba with wonderfully different cultures, backgrounds, environments, challenges and aspirations, but with a common passion, thirst for knowledge, and generosity of acts and spirit. We come to learn together, share our knowledge with extreme kindness and openness of mind and to grow scientifically and humanly, as individuals and as a group. Our community is a wonderful illustration of how diversity is a strength, when we transcend our differences to focus on what brings us together. Our evolving network and the growing number of success stories that started with an Indaba conversation are testament of this strength.
While organising the Indaba, we are often reminded how hard it is to categorise it. It is more than a conference or a summer school, more than one event per year. The categorization that I like the most is "grassroots movement". It conveys two ideas that are central to what we do. The first is that people, you, are at the core of everything we do. Our annual gathering and our many other activities are organised by you, with you and for you. The second is the idea of constant change. Looking at the history of the Indabas, it seems that no two gatherings have been the same. Each year brings new experiments, visions and goals. Each year, we become more inclusive and kinder to each other, while we take the next step in our learning journey.
This year is a special one for our community. This month has witnessed the very first major International Conference for Machine Learning in our continent (ICLR). Many members of our Indaba family took part in the event, from organising to showcasing their research to participating and engaging with researchers from all over the world. It has been an occasion for the global community to better understand the opportunities and challenges related to machine learning and AI in our continent. This will be followed later in the year by the largest Indaba ever, taking us again to a new region, the West of the continent. It will be another opportunity for us to learn more about each other, strengthen our connections, and grow this wonderful diversity and binding unity. Our voices are more than ever loud and present, but there is still a lot to do. So as you read this newsletter, I would like to invite you to think with us about how we can grow our movement, so that together we can own and take our place in building this transformative technology and with it, shape our future and destiny.
-Amal Rannen-Triki, General Chair and Member of the Executive Board. May 2023.
