In November last year, I attended the maiden PyLadies Ghana event in #HoCity hosted by PyLadies Ho at the Ho Node Hub. PyLadies Ghana is an initiative under the Python Software Community in Ghana with a focus on helping more women become active participants and leaders in the Python open-source community.

The Ho event was part of a series of meetups that was held in some cities in Ghana.

It was a day (a few hours) of events with a lightning talk from the PyLadies Ghana lead Abigail Dogbe, followed by an installation party session (led by me!), and later the tutorial session led by Kafui, the lead for Python Ho community.

The sessions were all fun and very exciting for me and the ladies. I had to take over Kafui’s team as a coach so he could lead the tutorial session. It was my first time coaching ladies through programming and the feeling was great! Especially since my team had #pyfun coding with kindness.

The event was not just filled with programming, far from it. We had occasional ‘social media sprints’, where participants and coaches took selfies and posted on Twitter with the hashtag #pyladiesho. It was really fun!!! Then we sang rhymes (I know!) in between sessions and danced to our hearts' content!

With the help of our amazing coaches who volunteered to guide the ladies in learning python, the event was very successful and impactful, and here’s what some participants and coaches have to say!

“PyLadies Ho was amazing. That was my first experience at coaching, and coincidentally my birthday (Yay!). I must say I even learnt more about the language being a coach than a participant. The Python community is one of a kind, very supportive, and encouraging. I feel that should be a priority for any organization.” – Martha (Coach)

“It was a great experience learning to code for the first time. My coach was helpful too.”

– Faustina (Participant)

Being part of the maiden PyLadies Ho has further fueled my zeal to encourage more women and girls into STEM just like what the community is doing.

Big thanks to the sponsors who made this possible; The Python Software Foundation (The PSF) and Ho Node Hub. Also, kudos to the amazing organizers, wonderful coaches who volunteered, the awesome participants of PyLadies Ho, and above all, the PyLadies Ghana team!!! Let’s grow together!

PyLadies Ho has come to stay and we look forward to more enlightening and fun events in the future!

PyLadies Ho to the world!!!

This post was written by Pamela Klutse