The Reneal IEO Board of Directors met on Saturday. A key item on the agenda was consideration of the 2014 Tanzania proposal. Seven schools were evaluated in August-September 2013 for suitability for low-cost IT lab installations, and three have been selected for implementation in 2014.
The New Year has begun well for Reneal IEO. In the last month, we’ve received donations of 70 used laptops from Bay Area corporations! There is still much work to be done to determine how many of those can be transformed into seats in school IT labs, but early evaluation appears promising. Combined with monetary contributions from generous donors, this assures that the planned 2014 Tanzania projects are well-positioned for success.
Now that the 2013 Tanzania projects are behind us, our thoughts are turning to 2014. We will leave for the Philippines in late January, with the goal of installing the low-cost computer system in six new schools.
Neal and I were intensely focused on our work for those few short weeks in Tanzania, spending most of our time either confined in IT labs or seated in front of our computer screens at the home of our colleague where we have been staying. However a couple of things intruded upon our consciousness that we’d like to share.
Reneal IEO + Donors + Schools = New opportunities for students!
Reneal IEO struck gold yet again, this time at Mlangarini Secondary School. We found there a visionary school head, a committed and knowledgeable IT teacher, and students and teachers eager to use computers. It seems almost miraculous that all three of the 2013 Reneal IEO projects in Tanzania would fall on such rich soil!
It is Monday morning and we will be picked up soon to go to Mlangarini Secondary School, the third and final school for the 2013 Tanzania projects for Reneal IEO. It’s been a long week but IT labs at two schools are now completed and ready for operation.
Thanks to some unexpected assistance, the IT lab at Mukulat Secondary School is well underway!
The next challenge up for Reneal IEO for the 2013 Tanzania projects is installing an IT lab at Mukulat Secondary School in Arusha. This poses a new set of unknowns, since instead of the 12 laptops that we were able to check out in a full system test prior to departure, we will be using the Pentium III computers that Reneal IEO purchased from the World Computer Exchange. While we had one Pentium III unit at home to test, this will be the first time the entire system has played together. There will undoubtedly be a few “surprises” as we get underway. The good news is that I am now in Tanzania, providing an extra set of hands for Neal for installation as well as taking over the main training responsibilities.
What a magnificent week in Musoma for Neal and Reneal IEO! Installation of the IT lab at Paroma Secondary School went very smoothly, with the help of the IT teacher and technician. Neal was able to send daily e-mails with status reports, and I’ll include extracts below to give an idea of “a day in the life” when he is in his element