Last year, I joined the State of the Map 2018 and shared about my then “young” project on mental health awareness. I was actually supposed to share about how we use OpenStreetMap and Open Data for social welfare and development, but then our Department did not allow me to do so because… reasons. And so I had to change my topic at the last minute. Guess it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to share my advocacy and how I apply my expertise and OSM to this personal project for something very close to my heart.

And so off I went to Milan complete with plans on how to save my money yet make the best out of my first trip to Europe. With no support from work, or from people I wrote to for support, I had to support and pay for everything myself. It’s been a year since I’ve came home from the trip and I am still paying for a portion of my fare up to now! 😂 Thank you and I hate you, credit cards. Lol

From that experience, I promised myself that should I join 2019’s SoTM, I’ll take all my chances to get support in promoting my project and encouraging people to use OSM, open data, and free and open source technologies for advancing their advocacies and promoting the welfare of underrepresented sectors and communities.

I have created the website and pages for the mental health project, organized workshops and mapathons for it, prepared all the necessary logistics, invited people to talk about mental health for free, collected data, gathered resources, and promoted the project ALL BY MYSELF, and I thought this should change and SoTM is a great venue to support that change.

As soon as the submission period for talks was opened, I took my chance. As soon as the application period for scholarships was opened, I took my chance.

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