Three user groups. Two languages. One city.

When Wikicamp Kurdistan 2026 came together in Erbil this August, it was the first time Wikimedia Kuwait , Wikimedia Iraq , and Kurdish Wikimedians had organized anything at this scale together, I was part of the coordination team, and it was my first time coordinating an event of this kind.

I had spent the past two years organizing workshops, meetups, and contests for Wikimedia Iraq. A camp built by three user groups, happening for the first time in Erbil, was a different scale for me. We set out to offer participants the opportunity to learn about Wikimedia projects, contribute to free knowledge, and develop their editing skills, and to document the Kurdistan Region on Wikimedia Commons.

Arriving in Erbil

I had not been to Erbil in a long time, and I never imagined that when I finally went back, it would be to attend a first of its kind camp in Kurdistan.

I arrived feeling responsible.…