What if building with Django wasn’t just about code, but about changing lives in places with limited internet, few resources, and no fully established tech industry?

In Namibia, that’s exactly what happened.

As a founding member of the Python community in Namibia and the founder of Django Namibia, I’ve spent the past 10 years helping grow a grassroots open-source community. With minimal infrastructure but maximum commitment, we introduced Python and Django to schools, rural areas, and aspiring developers, many of whom had never written a single line of code.

In this talk, I’ll share how we built a thriving, inclusive community from the ground up. I’ll reflect on milestones like launching Django Day Namibia for the first time, mentoring over 50 women, and engaging 60 students through Education Day at PyCon Namibia this year. I’ll also discuss real-world projects where we applied Django to areas like wildlife conservation, healthcare, and tourism, many of which I contributed to directly.

This isn’t just a story about technology. It’s a story of resilience, creativity, and the power of open source in even the most unexpected places. I was driven by a desire to give back to my country, the continent and empower individuals in underserved areas, believing that technology can open doors where there were none. If you’ve ever wondered whether your work, or your community, can make a difference, this talk is proof that it can.