Over the last few months I have been working hard to get an internship programme going here at Linfiniti Consulting. Part of our mission is to build up local skills in FOSS GIS. The internship programme is an adjunct to other initiatives like providing free training courses, open days and so on.

We have hired Anne Ghisla (Italian QGIS and GRASS geek) to come over to South Africa and spend two months mentoring our interns.

The interns were offered a two month period during which they would receive a monthly stipend to cover their living expenses, and receive on-the-job experience in the practical use of FOSS GIS to solve real world problems.

Robert Makondo studied computer science in Pretoria and worked for a year as an intern at the State IT Agency (SITA). Robert is a relatively newcomer to FOSS and FOSSGIS but is already showing great enthusiasm in learning the new tools of the trade!

Samantha Pan is from Cape Town where she studied GIS at UCT. Samantha has used GIS during her studies but is new to the world of FOSSGIS (which she is adapting to extremely well!). Unfortunately Samantha is only staying with us for one month but we hope she will use the skills she learns here in her future place of work.

Having the mixture of CS and GIS disciplines in our interns is really nice since they complement each other well and can problem solve together. I think Anne is really enjoying her stay here in South Africa and mentoring our interns. We will be sad to see her go at the end of March .

If any readers out there are interested in coming to South Africa for a few months to help with mentoring interns please let me know! We will cover your costs and provide accommodation. In return you get to help bridge the digitial divide between Africa and the western world, while at the same time having a great experience in a different country!