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Safari njema! [2020-09-18]

This day has been on the calendar for weeks now – it’s the day that we say “safari njema” (“have a good trip” in Swahili) to 18 boxes of computer equipment heading to Tanzania.  As I write this, we are waiting for the trucking company to arrive for the pickup.  The boxes will be palletized and trucked down to LA before boarding a flight to Doha, Qatar and then on to Kilimanjaro International.  While it’s disappointing to think of those boxes going without us, we are excited that Reneal’s expansion will continue in Arusha Region.

Plan B [2020-08-30]

Although it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, it has actually been extremely busy for Reneal’s Team in Tanzania as well as here at Reneal headquarters.  The Team in Arusha has been doing software updates at each of the schools to add some new educational content and fix some bugs.  And here in California, we are preparing an equipment shipment that will give five new schools in Tanzania a computer lab.  This is our first time shipping freight to Tanzania, and we are really hoping this allows us to carry on our expansion there in spite of Neal and me being pinned down at home due to SARS-CoV-2.

Back to school, Part 2 [2020-07-21]

This week brings the beginning of the new school year in Tanzania for Advanced Level (“A-Level”) secondary school students.  Three students from Reneal’s original batch of scholars are starting a new chapter in their lives, traveling to a different school as A-level students.  Cynthia left yesterday for Oshara Secondary School, and Daniel and Elimaini headed to Loliondo Secondary School.  We at Reneal are very excited for them as they begin this next step!

Back to school [2020-07-04]

School Year 2020 resumed in Tanzania on Monday.  Form 6 (graduating) students are taking their national exams, while Forms 1-4 pick up their classwork where they left off in mid-March.  In order to make up for lost time, there will be no breaks for the remainder of the year.  It will definitely be a challenge for the students and teachers there.  This week Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka traveled to Mwandet Secondary School to meet with Reneal’s six scholars in Form 3 as they restarted classes.

Reboot [2020-06-21]

We got the news this week from Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka that secondary schools in Tanzania will be reopening for students on June 29th.  Our first order of business has been to quickly prepare everything for the Reneal scholars so they will be ready to return to school.  David met with the Form 4 2019 graduates yesterday, and he will meet with the Form 3 students next Saturday.  Here at home, Neal is putting the finishing touches on a software update that will be installed when Reneal Team Tanzania begins computer lab visits again.

Biding our time [2020-05-22]

Not too much has changed in the month since my last blog post.  Reneal Team members in the Philippines and Tanzania continue to stand by, and schools in both countries remain closed for the time being.  Here in the US, we have continued preparations for our next set of projects in Tanzania while sheltering-in-place (more or less patiently) at home. 

Stay at home [2020-04-17]

Shortly after my last blog post, Reneal ceased on-going maintenance work in both the Philippines and Tanzania due to Covid-19 and its spread.  Our Teams are now standing by until the all-clear is given and schools resume operation in each country.  In the meantime, we follow the news closely in both countries and worry about friends and colleagues.  Here at US headquarters, we’ve kept busy preparing for the next projects in Tanzania.  Thanks to a generous donation from local NGO Network the World, just about all of the US-purchased equipment is already here and ready to go.

Reneal Teams in action [2020-03-12]

The Reneal Teams in both the Philippines and Tanzania have been very busy in 2020 so far.  Computer Technicians Lloyd Tuñacao and Ervin Formentera of Reneal Team Philippines have been making maintenance visits to all of the schools in Cebu for the past weeks.  Meanwhile in Tanzania, our partners from Habari Node and Arusha Node Marie joined Reneal Computer Technician Robert Nyangaka for some major upgrades at Mukulat Secondary School and Matim Primary School.

Two new schools [2020-03-02]

Our last week in Arusha was a busy one.  Thanks to our long-time partners at Habari Node and Arusha Node Marie, Reneal was able to complete computer lab installations at two new schools.  Welcome Ngiresi Secondary School and Sambasha Secondary School to the Reneal family!  These two public schools, each with about 500 students, are far from the main road.  We are very excited that their students and teachers will now have a computer lab for learning about and with ICT.  With the addition of Ngiresi and Sambasha, Reneal is now supporting 22 public secondary schools in Arusha District.

Week 4 [2020-02-15]

We’re four weeks into our 2020 Tanzania trip.  It’s that peculiar point in time where it seems like an eternity since we’ve been home but from the work perspective, the time has gone shockingly fast.  Since the last blog post, Reneal Team Tanzania has completed all three of the MacBook lab installations.  The schools are just thrilled to have the MacBooks!  We are so grateful to VMware for the generous donation that made this work possible!  The Reneal Team has also visited eight other existing school labs for updates and repairs.  We’re down to just two more school visits before we start installations at our two new 2020 schools, Ngiresi Secondary School and Sambasha Secondary School.  We surely could not have done it without our Team here!

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