Global Code 2020 cancelled
It is with regret, Global Code 2020 is cancelled due to COVID-19.
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July 2019, it was the end of the 3rd Global Code summer camp in Ghana and we had managed to expand from one university to five universities in under 2 years. Every one of our volunteers was looking to come back to Ghana to experience the food, the culture and most importantly volunteer with Global Code and contribute to the amazing efforts to help teach computer programming to students in our partner universities.
Fast forward a few months, plans for 2020 kickstart with a lot of excitement, meetings with universities are scheduled, past students have built a lot of buzz in schools, alumni are ready to get on board with preparations and volunteer hunts were on across the globe and everyone was very happy about the next camp.
That buzz and excitement was brought to a shocking end though; In March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Within a few weeks the world entered lockdown; borders closed, flights grounded, schools closed and social distancing enforced, the way we live was changing day-by-day, and it looks as though that is going to be the case until COVID-19 is under control worldwide.
We deliberated for a long time about what to do for Global Code 2020. Could it still go ahead, considering things are ok in Ghana? Could we run it in December? Global Code is about building a community and bringing people together, experiencing different cultures, meeting new people and interacting with people from all over the world, but if we can’t achieve that safely with everyone’s health in mind, then it would be irresponsible of us to go ahead with the event in 2020.
This is not a decision which was taken lightly, it was however unanimously agreed by the partner universities and all stakeholders involved. As a community we are united in our stance, and we are doing all we can to fight this. We don’t know exactly what the future holds, all we hope for is the world to recover from this as soon as possible so we can put our efforts back into giving back.
At this moment in time, we fully expect to be running Global Code 2021. As you know, there are measures outside of our control, but we will be doing everything in our power to make it happen and for it to be our most attended event yet. Stay safe and we hope to see you very soon.
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Ibrahim
On behalf of everyone at Global Code