Just another week at headquarters [2014-06-28]
There is really no “normal” week for us at Reneal IEO. By way of illustration, I’ll write about recent days which have provided an interesting variety of tasks for both Neal and me, with the help of our intern Jade.
Last Sunday was the Reneal IEO Board of Directors meeting. The meeting agenda was quite full – recapping the 2014 Philippines projects, giving a status report on preparations for the 2014 Tanzania projects, reviewing the current financial report, and considering the school evaluation data for the 2015 Philippines projects. We are thankful to have a Board secretary who keeps the agenda on track, because Neal and I could talk endlessly about the joys and challenges of our recent 4-1/2 months in the Philippines! The main action item from the meeting is to draft the 2015 project plan for the Philippines. We will be informing schools soon of the Board’s decisions. Board members also came away with several action items relating to increased communication of our work; the reality is that the mission of Reneal IEO depends upon donations of computer equipment and money. We are trying to get the word out more broadly of how we can give older computers new life helping students overseas through the low-cost computer system.
Our intern Jade has been the point man in the last couple of weeks in addressing some small bugs at the new schools. He checked out a network connection problem at Bagalnga Integrated School and discovered that the cable needs to be replaced. He and Jillian will do that work soon, if they haven’t already. He has also been helping the IT teachers decode the internet filtering process described in our system administration manual. The font that I used in the manual doesn’t make spaces very clear, so he has been helping to communicate the correct syntax to the schools (and we have begun a list of edits to make on the manual!). Jade and Neal also spent a long time together using Skype chat to try to get a second internet connection set up at Compostela National High School. The 15-hour time difference means that Neal works very late at night during these troubleshooting sessions, but thankfully that fits his usual sleep pattern just fine.
Neal’s big task this week was writing some code to extract the information that the teachers at Compostela have entered into the Dep Ed Learner Information System (LIS) database for the new 7th grade students and automatically enter it in his Student Information System (SIS) database. Once the teachers are finished with their data entry for LIS, it will now be a simple matter to transfer the information for their use into the SIS. Using Skype we were able to meet virtually with Ma’am Nerry, the IT teacher at Compostela National High School, to discuss Neal’s work on the database and other issues there.
My work this week has been focused mainly on the logistics of the Tanzania trip in late September. I made a checklist of equipment that we’ll need to take with us and sent an e-mail to Alex, our extremely helpful contact at A&A Computer in Arusha, to see if we can obtain the bulky and/or heavy items there. Our search for inexpensive, reliable shipping to Tanzania has not turned up any leads yet, so we’ll be carrying much of the needed equipment with us as airline baggage. We thus spent a lot of time weighing the equipment that we’ll be taking (including 48 laptops and adapters!) to estimate the amount of baggage we’ll be carrying. I have exchanged multiple e-mails with KLM, the airline we’ll be flying again, to see if they offer discounts on excess baggage fees for non-profit organizations but no conclusive response yet. I suspect that every organization like ours that tries to do computer work overseas has this challenge, and we are still seeking a better solution for Tanzania.
Speaking of other organizations, one other exciting piece of news is that Neal and I have been coordinating a meeting with representatives of the non-profit Kids on Computers (www.kidsoncomputers.org) on an upcoming trip to Colorado. Kids on Computers has a similar mission to Reneal IEO, and in fact we heard about the wonderful Rachel collection of educational materials from them. We are excited about the possibility of sharing additional ideas and resources with them!
Another exciting task this week was finalizing the baseline information form to submit for consideration for the Triennial Eduardo Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution. We were humbled and honored to be nominated for this award that is generously sponsored by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated (RAFI, www.rafi.org.ph). Given the amazing organizations active right now in the Philippines doing good for others, it was truly a thrill for Reneal IEO to be nominated for this!
Yes, “just another week at headquarters” here at Reneal IEO. As we prepare for the 2014 Tanzania projects and begin laying the 2015 plans for the Philippines, we can’t help be excited by the opportunities ahead!