Making a vision, a mission

Solomon Islands is unfortunate to be caught in a place it would hardly want to be found in. It is lagging behind the developed world while at the same time, it is not impoverished as some may be led to believe. It is a difficult position to be found in. In technology, specifically Information Technology, we are also in that position. Not technically advanced but not too wayward or backward either.

Solomon Islands introduced the first broadband services in the Pacific and we remain a viable case study for other Pacific Island countries wishing to head down that road. On a more serious note, the one glaring lack is the absence of a vision for the country and in IT, there is absolutely none. But a vision which fails to develop into a mission is worse then having none at all. A bunch of us IT geeks got together and said, lets start an IT Society, this is our story.

When another group of Solomon Islanders found themselves in Samoa in 2006, we all thought the same thing. We were attending the PacINET 06 in Apia and thought it would be a brilliant idea to take the conference back to the Solomon Islands. Incidentally, the geek who eventually got the ball rolling was a Papua New Guinean, Norman Kapun. But seeing he had been in the Solomon Islands for so long, we felt he was one of us. So we sat together one evening and discussed our bid for submission. At that meeting was Norman, Phillip Pukefenua, my wife Christina and me. My wife Christina was appointed chairlady, I was secretary and Phillip was vice chair.

Later that same evening, my wife and I headed back to our hotel and we started drafting the bid. The Solomon Islands delegation also included others who were expatriates, Bryan Scott and a gentlemen whose name I have since forgotten; bugger I can still picture his face though. So we heard from them too and eventually the bid document began to take shape.

Finally on the day we were to present our bid, a late withdrawal from Cook Islands and another country meant Solomon Islands was the only one ready to bid for hosting rights for PacINET 2007. We would be awarded the hosting rights unopposed but the chair, Rajnesh Singh, insisted that we must present our bid. So Christina stood in front of the audience and Dr. Vinton Cerf – who needs no introduction if you are a geek and presented. She stumbled and nearly choked from stage fright but in the end she delivered our bid perfectly and it was moved and accepted. The rest they say is history. PacINET 2007 turned out to be the biggest PacINET yet and attracted a record crowd of 300 delegates to the conference.

So why am I telling this story? Well, perhaps the one thing my wife and I share is our passion for IT, our dream to empower people, our vision to change Solomon Islands by using IT as a development tool. It was that vision that went on to become a mission that we successfully staged to bring PacINET to Honiara in 2007.

Today, we are embarking on another mission – one that is simple, has been attempted numerous times in the past and one that has also had its fair share of disappointments. The vision to establish an IT Society for Solomon Islands IT professionals. We have begun that mission. Along with Christina’s work colleague Colley Falasi, we have already steered a group of geeks to establish a national IT Society for IT professionals in the Solomon Islands. An interim committee has been set up, I was “elected” chairmen and we have gone to work.

I have started on writing a concept paper on what the IT Society would be and a draft was accepted in our most recent meeting. It will be developed further and I have on board John Wanefafia, a private IT businessmen, who will assist me in the coming drafts. Christina has gone on to establish a google group for the society along with a mailing list. Colley Falasi has embarked on designing a database to collate all information of IT professionals in the country. Tony Koraua will look at the constitution and securing a legal draftsmen to validate its usefulness. Suzanne Orudiana is starting the process on registering the IT Society as a non profit organization while Marlon Houkarawa has started a draft of our work program for the next 6 months. Other members of the interim committee will assist in utilizing their professional networks to identify IT professionals in the country. This includes George Kuaia, Gavin Bare, Noel Galasau and Bryan Mangi. Bryan and I will also collaborate on a logo for the society. We hope that in 6 months we will complete all the ground work and then present the IT concept paper along with all that we have prepared to the public. At that time, the society will be open for membership and I hope my time as interim chair will come to a close and an executive committee can be elected to take the IT Society forward.

I am hopeful that the mission that we have begun will fulfill a lifelong vision – that Solomon Islanders will champion this initiative and establish a home grown IT society for its IT professionals. A vision is great, making it into a successful mission takes a longer route one that will no doubt encounter its bumps and grinds along the way.