#RhokAfrica

The time is now 2:00 am and seeing that i am here writing this means i am not yet asleep. Why, you may ask. Well see, i signed up for this event that us guys in the tech world like to call a 'Hackathon'. What that basically means is that we stay up all night and program or code a solution to given problem statements. Some of the attendees have already fallen prey to Mr. Sandman and they are looking for cleaver ways to get some shut eye. I see one under the tables, is that you +DANIEL KIHIA? LOL! So i pride myself in being one of the strongest individuals because as i am winning the battle when it comes to keeping my eyelids from cuddling with each other. But i must admit, it is really hard!

Poster

The hackathon in question this time round is the Random Hacks of Kindness. It is a rapidly growing global initiative which brings together a large community of innovators in over 30 countries. The aim of this event is to make the world a better place by developing practical, open source technology solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing humanity. Hence through the hackathon,  feasible projects are developed and deployed. Read more on this and the problem statements here or here.

The Red Court Hotel

This years #RhokAfrica event is being held at the Red Court Hotel here in South C. It is a 5 star restaurand so you can only guess the kind of nice treatment we are getting Almost makes one forget that we are there to code and not for a vaccay! I personally got here at around 10:00 am. I was welcomed by tea, that was a great start. After a couple of introductory speeches from the judges and the MC we formed our groups of 5 members. I had my usual suspects with me as my group members, +Kennedy Murimi, +DANIEL KIHIA, +njihia jeremy and +WILFRED MOMANYI. And right after an awesome lunch meal, the brainstorming session begun!

Main course

That's not my plate! +Kennedy Murimi defend yourself

Sweet desserts

We had an idea in mind and we had seen how it was going to come through. But we hit a snug later in the afternoon when the judges were going from group to group questioning the members about the feasibility of the projects. Men, didn't we get a lot of criticism. We decided to leave our idea altogether and start brainstorming a totally different idea. But this was not working for us. We were not feeling it. And everyone had lost their fire! This was up until we got some encouragement to push on with our previous idea but just defend it nicely when worse comes to worst. And that my friends is what we decided to do :)

LOL! It was that bad?? +David M.T 

And that is what we have been working on the entire time. We have had ups and downs. Mostly downs but we will hack it still. The time is now 4:00 am. Although i am not that sleepy, i am very tired. It is almost 24 sleepless hours for me, and counting. I would love to just fluff the floor and have someone tuck me in under the curtains. But aluta continua. I have to keep on keeping on. We will keep at it until tomorrow when we present to the judges. I will most definitely keep you updated on this part because i know you will be curious to know which lucky teams walked out of this a s winners.

So for now its goodbye and good morning Kenya!

#happydays