---
title: "MSDN Premium auction for Africa"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/10/19/msdn-premium-auction-for-africa.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/10/19/msdn-premium-auction-for-africa.html"
published: "2006-10-19T10:09:25"
updated: "2006-10-19T10:09:25"
tags: ["Community", "Community News"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "If you're an MVP who got the \"MSDN Card Giveaway\" thing early this year but had no idea how to give it out, Jamie Cansdale has a great idea that might actually help people who really could use some help. \"I'm thinking…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# MSDN Premium auction for Africa

By Roy Osherove October 19, 2006 In [Community](https://osherove.com/blog/category/community), [Community News](https://osherove.com/blog/category/community-news)

**Historical article** · Originally published October 19, 2006; technical details may be outdated.

If you're an MVP who got the "MSDN Card Giveaway" thing early this year but had no idea how to give it out, [Jamie Cansdale has a great idea](http://weblogs.asp.net/nunitaddin/archive/2006/10/18/MVP-Invites-for-Africa.aspx) that might actually help people who really could use some help.

> "I'm thinking of organizing an auction along the same lines as the one [Julia Lerman](http://www.thedatafarm.com/blog/) did for [Banda Aceh](http://www.idepfoundation.org/aceh_aid.html). My [father](http://www.swsfilt.co.uk/weblog/index.html) is currently involved in the setting up a pump workshop in Malawi. The [pumps](http://www.swsfilt.co.uk/nzp/index.htm) they will be manufacturing are made from ABS plastic and are virtually indestructible. The only perishable part is a rubber valve which commonly lasts for 3 years and a [replacement](http://www.swsfilt.co.uk/weblog/2006/08/forthcoming-return-visit-to-malawi.html) can be cut from an old tire. The focus is very much on appropriate technology.
>
> The workshop will bring work to the local community and clean water to villages all over [Malawi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi). The founder of the [charity](http://www.wellsforzoe.org/) that is setting up the workshop has agreed to pay _all_ administrative overheads (air fairs, travel etc) so that any money donated goes directly to the workshop and the manufacture of pumps. You can find more information about the charity [here](http://www.wellsforzoe.org/)."

Great idea.

I'm in!

## More in Community

[All posts in Community](https://osherove.com/blog/category/community)

- Nov 19, 2006

    ### [MVPs Week - Full week of hardcore training from Experts4D](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/19/mvps-week-full-week-of-hardcore-training-from-experts4d.html)

- Nov 17, 2006

    ### [Final updates on Israeli Blogger Dinner on Monday](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/17/final-updates-on-israeli-blogger-dinner-on-monday.html)

- Sep 6, 2006

    ### [Influence the next Microsoft Israel Conference](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/9/6/influence-the-next-microsoft-israel-conference.html)

- Jun 18, 2006

    ### [This week at the C# User group - Hardcore ASP.NET 2.0 \[Dan Amiga\]](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/6/18/this-week-at-the-c-user-group-hardcore-aspnet-20-dan-amiga.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

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### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/