Blog

Three more days [2018-03-14]

We’re down to our last three days in Cebu.  It’s not over yet, but thankfully all of the planned work is now behind us.  We are so grateful for our computer technicians Lloyd Tuñacao and Rhog Sampan who make our work lighter.  They, like Neal, work with such intensity and focus.  Their mentor Sir Jade Reyes taught them well!  In the last week we’ve been to Tabok NHS and Labogon NHS in Mandaue City to do updates and repairs, and we were back at Compostela Science and Technology High School yesterday to finish the installation and training.  We’ll be back at CTU-Carmen tomorrow where Neal will add some additional capabilities requested by the professors there.

Dwindling days [2018-03-05]

Now that the calendar has turned over to March, it seems to us that the clock is speeding up.  Thankfully it was a productive week of work, including our fourth time to provide Reneal System Administration training here in Cebu.  It was a small but energetic group, and we were so pleased to have them bring up their questions and concerns.  We were also very grateful that our entire Reneal Team Philippines had a chance to present – Sir Neal, Sir Jade, Lloyd, and Rhog did a great job!

Back to work [2018-02-27]

We’re back at work after ten days off.  It was definitely time for a break, especially for Neal.  The operating system and software upgrades that he’s been doing at each school never seem to be routine – there is always some weird new issue that needs to be worked.  That fact in itself is frustrating but I guess once you get up to 40-odd computer labs (installed over multiple years in two different countries), configuration control becomes difficult no matter how careful you’ve been.  Anyway, we’re both recharged and ready to finish off the remaining work here in Cebu. 

Speeding through Weeks 3 and 4 [2018-02-13]

It’s hard to keep up with everything happening here.  Last week, our third in Cebu, was spent in northern Cebu in the town of Daanbantayan.  We began computer lab projects there in 2014 in response to Typhoon Yolanda which devastated so many communities here in the Philippines.  Last week we focused on two schools, Daanbantayan National High School and Tominjao National High School, making updates to their servers and fixing client computer problems.  While we’ve already done this operation several times now, it never seems to be routine!  We got back home to Compostela on Saturday afternoon, tired but satisfied.  Sunday night we met with the scholarship committee at United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) to start discussing plans for the next school year.  We’ll visit two schools this week for updates and client repairs before heading off Thursday for 10 days of R&R.

Week 2 in review [2018-02-05]

Most of last week, our second in Cebu, was spent in the town of Carmen which is about a 40 minute bus ride north of Compostela.  In a Reneal first, we installed our system in a tertiary institution, Cebu Techological University-Carmen.  Two labs at CTU-Carmen have now been equipped with Reneal servers.  We also visited Carmen National High School, historically one of our most active schools and home to two Reneal servers.  We ended the week feeling really great about the opportunities for students to get hands-on time with the computers at these schools.

On location in Cebu [2018-01-27]

One more time, we’ve made that amazing 24-hour transition from our ordinary American existence in Fremont California to residence in the little town of Compostela in Cebu.  Some of the basic facts of life come back immediately (“take off your shoes at the door”, “use your spoon to eat rice”) and others have to be painfully relearned (“don’t leave food outside of the ant-proof containers”).  We’ve joyously greeted friends that we haven’t seen for 10 months and are reveling in the smiles and good humor of the people here.  Our work schedule for the first week turned out to be slightly optimistic, but in general we’re off to a good start with our 2018 projects here in the Philippines.

Going home [2018-01-18]

The blog has gone by the wayside these last three weeks, between some personal travel and preparation for our trip to the Philippines this coming Saturday.  Thankfully most of the equipment was shipped already, so we’ll be traveling “light” (at least relative to Tanzania).  We have a tentative schedule arranged for the school visits as well as for the two new school installations.  We are very excited to be heading back to our second home in Cebu!

2018 [2018-01-01]

Happy New Year from Reneal!  We are excited to begin 2018 with plans in place to be back to the Philippines and Tanzania this year.  It’s almost 12 years ago now that we set off into the unknown with the U.S. Peace Corps.  Little did we know how much our lives would change – and how blessed we would be by the people we would meet and with whom we would work.  While it can be hard for an organization like Reneal to measure its impact on its partners, their impact on us has certainly been profound.

Looking back [2017-12-23]

With most of 2017 in the rear view mirror now, it’s a good time to reflect on the year.  Our list of Reneal schools did not grow much in 2017 compared to recent years – just two new labs in the Philippines and two new labs in Tanzania.  However, although such work is often unheralded, Reneal made big strides in addressing equipment attrition in both countries in 2017.  In particular, thanks to Free Geek we were able to replace numerous aging and inefficient CRT monitors with flat-panel monitors in the Philippines.  We also began the process of replacing the oldest computer units in Reneal schools in both Tanzania and the Philippines.  But the unquestionable high point of 2017 was Reneal’s return to Tanzania!

Tanzania Scholarship Update [2017-12-15]

In the mid-November blog post, I reported on the upcoming Tanzania scholarship program.  Since that time, Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka has made fantastic progress in helping us finalize the cost estimates and select our first group of six scholars.  We welcome Kennedy Lema, Domina Matesh, Daniel Miboki, Eliamani Silamoi, Cynthia Swai, and Ruth Telesphory to the program!  Reneal has made the payment for room and board for the first term at Mwandet Secondary School, and David is in the process of coordinating uniforms, school supplies, and dormitory needs for the students.

Pages