The summer break in the Philippines is about to end, and it’s nearing the mid-term break in Tanzania. Here at Reneal headquarters, Neal and I enjoyed a recent break ourselves to visit family and friends. Now we’re back to work, with the main focus being Tanzania preparation. It’s almost exactly three months to departure, so the excitement is growing.
Sometimes it seems that our lives have been turned into a continuous string of countdowns – so many weeks until a trip, then so many weeks in-country, then so many weeks until we head home – with each countdown accompanied by a long list of things that must be accomplished before the ever-relentless clock hits zero. But the current countdown, “Time to Tanzania Departure”, is a particularly challenging one. There are servers to build, software to load, laptops to acquire, waivers to obtain, packing to do, and schools to prepare.
The Reneal Board of Directors met yesterday. Welcome new member Nathan Martinez to the Board! Board members Priscilla Batty, Sharon Fingold, and Neal and I were also reelected to our second term on the Board. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 7 years already since Reneal incorporated! [Photo from 2012 with the original Board of Directors]
It’s nice to be home, and we’ve made good progress in catching up on deferred tasks here in the US. We’re still wrapping a few things in Cebu, but now our thoughts are turning to Tanzania. We’ll be heading there in August, with big plans for expansion and upgrade.
We head back to the US tomorrow night, and we’re in the now-familiar final stages: saying goodbyes, getting equipment stored, and packing up. We are so grateful for the help of Reneal computer technician Lloyd Tuñacao and our college OJT Ervin Formentera during this trip. While there are always things left undone, they really made a big difference in how much we were able to complete.
Thirteen years ago this month, we got on a plane bound for the Philippines as prospective United States Peace Corps Volunteers. Following training, we moved to the small town of Compostela on the island of Cebu where we were assigned to support Compostela National High School. We found teachers and students there eager for more computers, so our work quickly focused on development of a distributed computer system on campus. By the time our Peace Corps service ended in 2008, we had installed over 100 computers on campus. Each year since then we’ve continued to come back to Compostela to make updates and repairs. However this last week we made a major change to that original architecture to simplify it for easier maintenance.
Since the last post, we’ve continued our visits to existing Reneal installations. We spent two days at Cebu Technological University (CTU) in Carmen, and we held teacher orientation training at Cantumog National High School. We dropped by Calero Integrated School in Liloan to return their server after a hardware fix, and then we spent the rest of the day at Arcelo Memorial National High School in Liloan, the school where Sir Jade teaches. Now we’ve embarked on a major reconfiguration at Compostela National High School, where we’ll spend (at least) the coming week. And while Neal and I were away for some R&R, Lloyd and Ervin were whirlwinds: putting additional client computers at CTU Carmen, installing a small Reneal lab in the library at Compostela Science and Technology High School, and doing computer repairs in the Compostela National High School library.
Five years ago, in the aftermath of deadly Typhoon Yolanda, Reneal Team Philippines traveled to Northern Cebu to join with other NGOs in offering assistance to schools devastated by one of the strongest tropical storms ever to make landfall. In May of 2014, we installed a Reneal system at Daanbantayan National High School. This was the first of several partnerships in the North that continue to this day. Reneal Team Philippines spent this last week visiting three of the schools up there to make some major updates and repairs. It was great to be back!
We had an exciting start to our time in Cebu, visiting four schools this week. Three of them were 2018 installations, and for two of those schools it was the first time we had a chance to see the new computer labs. We are so grateful to Reneal Team Philippines for carrying on the work even when Neal and I are in the US. Meanwhile in Africa, Reneal Team Tanzania completed a new lab installation at Osiligi Secondary School on Wednesday, our 15th school in Arusha District!
Saturday morning found us with boxes and duffel bags lined up at the door heading for the Philippines. After an uneventful 24 hours or so, we arrived here in our second home of Cebu. It’s always great to be back! We’ve had a chance to see many friends and colleagues already, and in the coming weeks we look forward to being together with many more. We have a busy schedule lined up to visit many of our partner schools for updates and repairs. Reneal Team Philippines has been very productive in our absence, and we’re especially looking forward to visiting some of Reneal’s new installations that Neal and I haven’t had a chance to see yet.
