Why I'm supporting Drupal Camp Karachi 2015

To help out Drupal Camp Karachi visit drupalcamps.pk/contact and Azmat will get back with you promptly!

If I tell you that Drupal is growing like crazy, that's not news. If I tell you that Drupal is growing all over the world at an amazing rate, that also is not news. But, what is news, is this. Sometimes these camps need a little help to keep things going. Unlike so many U.S. based camps where large Drupal shops are expected to sponsor every year after year, some non-US camps are victims of their own success. Many will come and many more want to come, but the per attendee price is too high for many.

DrupalCamp KARACHI is January 9-11 : http://www.drupalcamps.pk/drupal-camp-karachi/jan2015
The price is $50 US per attendee which covers the the two paid training days of the camp. Day 3 is the free Drupal Camp day.
The venue is the famous Institute of Business Administration in Karachi 
The deal with the venue is that all students get in free. THIS is a serious hit to the budget and THIS is why I'm helping out and blogging.
 
My buddy, Azmat Shah is one of the chief organizers. He has kept me up to date with the finances, and now I'm blogging to raise some support! :-) Below is some information he put together to wrap this story in some context.

------

Pakistan is 6th most populous country in the World with a population of more than 180 Million. In Pakistan’s largest City and World’s 7th Largest city by population(23 Millions) named Karachi, Drupak ,a Drupal based web Development and Training company  is spearheading a Drupal Camp on Jan 9,10 and 11 ,2015.  Karachi is home to one of the country’s oldest universities and one of them, Institute of Business Administration Karachi, established in 1955 which remains the oldest business school in South Asia, is the host for Drupal Camp Karachi. Drupak are stationed in Peshawar, a city 1400 miles away from Karachi. First two days of the Camp are full-fledged Drupal Trainings and the third day will be the main camp day with sessions from different speakers. This model is how Drupal Camps should be, as I mentioned them in my recent blogpost. Jibran Ijaz https://www.drupal.org/u/jibran , a favorite son of the Drupal Community in Pakistan is keynote speaker of the Camp. He has ample contributions in D8 and D7.

Drupak has dedicated website for Drupal Camps in Pakistan. They have arranged 4 separate Camps so far. On December 1,2013 in Islamabad, Drupak and Figover arranged Drupal Camp in Abasyn University Islamabad. https://groups.drupal.org/node/357553.

In Lahore, at Information Technology University Lahore, Drupak , YASGLOBAL and MughalTech arranged Drupal Camp on May 3rd 2014. Around 105 participants attended the one day Camp. http://www.drupalcamps.pk/drupal-camp-may3/lahore2014.

Drupal Camp Islamabad http://www.drupalcamps.pk/drupal-camp-may10/islamabad2014 was held on May 10,2014 participated by 120 plus participants. Figover , a Drupal based firm were partners with Drupak for the Camp. Drupal Association provided grant for these two camps.

Drupak also arranged Drupal Camp in Dubai on October 26,2013, at SZABIST,Dubai Campus, a Pakistani University in Dubai. The camp website is www.drupalcamps.ae . Drupal Association granted some amount for the Camp which helped some of the expenditures of the CAMP. There have been other camps in Pakistan spearheaded by other companies and we have been part of most of them.

Just recently, as a great move to promote Drupal Culture in Pakistan , Drupak has initiated Drupal Career Development Program in Peshawar Pakistan which will train outgoing students of Universities for free . The program http://www.drupak.com/dcdp2015 is a move to introduce Drupal to the talented students and increasing the number of Drupal Developers from Pakistan. The DCDP is a 4 months long Drupal Mastery Training program and then two months of paid internships which will be given to 12 Students of Computer Science of Universities. The program has been divided into phases of 3 universities each..Thus 36 students will get Drupal trainings in a span of 4 months absolutely free.

Countries like Pakistan, with so much of Drupal talent, the community must look forward to them and support them. But this is only possible, if these emerging  Drupal communities are sponsored and well backed. This upcoming camp in a hugely populated city will train 120 Students in Drupal and already some of them are narrating problems because of the very nominal fee put in i.e 50 Dollars for two days with Lunch.