Experience, It's All About Experience
My first step...
I was totally blind to the "Internet Governance" until I first participated Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand back in 2017. I went there to learn something and during the whole forum, I was just a good listener and an observer. The most exciting thing I've learnt there was the "Multi-stakeholder Model" of Internet Governance. Simply I was surprised by the idea that policy and rules are not someone else's business or ICANN's work and we too have a voice in this global arena and we too can shape the Internet as we want it to have a better Internet. The interest made me read a bit on IG and give awareness to my local community especially to share the idea with my students.
APrIGF 2018
Meeting new people and talking with them is always an exciting experience. But if you get a chance to meet a whole lot of people from all over the world with a common interest? Superb exciting, Isn't it?
Travelling to an unknown destination for a conference is wonderful. But if you were invited to a Pacific island well known as a travel destination with golden sandy beaches for spending a peaceful holiday, for a conference? Even better, right?
Then you can imagine how I felt when I got a fellowship to attend APrIGF 2018 in Vanuatu, a beautiful nation with islands in the Pacific. This is the first time the IGF is gone to "Pacific" even though it represents Asia and Pacific both. A BIG THANK YOU to the fellowship committee for giving me the opportunity to expose my self and to become a part of this wonderful community. Thank you all the sponsors who made it possible to bring people like me who are far away to the Pacific.
My Fellowship Experience
"Experiences make us grow, Experiences make us better and one day the best"
It was totally different in two ways. firstly, I am a returning fellow who had once been in the forum and this time facing more confidently and waiting with excitement to raise my voice and share my insights. Secondly, first ever IGF in the Pacific with a totally different setup.
APrIGF 2018 is one of the best places for me to learn from experience. I left the country to visit a destination totally unknown to everyone I had met, starting from my University to the airport I had to explain where this is located and some bit of information. Thank you APrIGF for selecting this venue. You proved the inclusiveness is not another word in your vision.
As fellows, we were given more responsibility along with a huge pile of opportunities. I like the idea of having an Online Course prior to the IGF. It helped me a lot to learn about IGF and new terminologies, otherwise, most of us would have become deaf listeners of those valuable sessions. It gave us the initial ground to debate about our thoughts on IG and also helped us, fellows, to get to know each other.
The day one for us, fellows, is the Capacity Building Day. We were given an initial idea about the rest of the forum by a diverse group of resource persons. My personal favourite is the Network Game by APNIC. Learning through gaming was nicely touched and I am pretty sure it helped most of the non-technical people to get an idea about how the Internet works.
The best thing happened to me was to meet and have a light talk with the Father of Internet Dr.Vint Cerf. It is an immortal moment for me and loves every bit of word he said. He was such a big father. 
This time the IGF happened under 6 sub-themes in which I was more interested in "Multi-Stakeholder Participation in Internet Governance". Fellows were divided into 6 buddy groups and I was the buddy and my group consist of 2 other fellows Mariko and Kenneth. It is a novel experience for all of us to attend the workshops, report them and summing up the important points for the closing plenary. That was a great idea which made all the fellows responsible for being fellows. They wanted us to get the best out of the opportunity provided and I believe they were able to get success. Giving the opportunity to summarise at the closing plenary gave me the courage to share our insights with the IG community and also that was a big opportunity for me to speak in such a global audience.
We had the chance to have a discussion with the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation and lucky to be in the initial session for public comments. I had the opportunity to discuss with Dr.Vint Cerf and Mr.Masango.
Even though I had participated in a local IGF once I was not an active member of this community so the best thing I wanted to do it to contribute to the local IGF. I am happy to say that I got the opportunity to work with them for SLIGF 2018 which will happen in October. So that I can share my experiences with the local community.
Some of the interesting discussions for me was on improving youth participation in IG and how to enhance the collaboration between technical and IGF communities in the APAC region.
Other than IG
I got the opportunity to get many new friends from all over the region and other than IG related talks we had the chance to move with diverse cultural backgrounds, which is another great opportunity. I love to make new friends and IGF is a great place to have friends. We enjoyed the hospitality of Vanuatu people with nice smiles. Had so many unforgettable experiences. Thanks again for APrIGF for all those wonderful memories.
Take home Message
As a conclusion, I would like to invite all of the Internet users to come and join with this community. We can shape the Internet and make a better Internet for all of us. Most importantly this is not a technical forum and you should not get scared. If you know nothing how the Internet works, that is fine, we can learn. If you can not live a single day without Internet, then you must be here, with us. Think a bit,
" What is IGF for you? Why do you want to participate? "
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