Blog

One more week [2019-08-15]

It’s always a shock to find ourselves a week away from a big Reneal work trip, in this case to Tanzania.  We started dreaming about this trip last October while still in Arusha, and that vision has carried us through these past months.  We’ve had ups and downs wondering if everything would come together.  And now suddenly here we are, packing and finalizing the schedule and working the last-minute details with Reneal School Liasion David Nyangaka.  It is very reassuring to have our plans in David’s capable hands.

A flurry of activity [2019-08-06]

Since the last blog post, Reneal Team Philippines (Lloyd Tuñacao, Rhog Sampan, and Ervin Formentera) has carried on with an active schedule of school visits in Cebu.  Tomorrow the Team is on its way to northern Cebu to visit five of the schools with Reneal systems up there.  We are so grateful to have these energetic and skilled guys keeping the Reneal systems running in the Philippines!  And in Arusha, Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka has us well-positioned for a successful start to Reneal’s 2019 projects in Tanzania.

Making the rounds [2019-07-21]

The Reneal Team in the Philippines, Lloyd Tuñacao, Rhog Sampan, and Ervin Formentera, got off to a great start this week visiting the Reneal schools in Cebu.  They are making repairs and helping the teachers make the new list of students for this school year.  The student list makes it very easy for students to sign in, and it automatically generates a personal folder for the student the first time that student signs in at the beginning of the school year.  The guys have already visited Tabok and Jagobiao National High Schools in Mandaue City and Tayud and Jugan National High Schools in Consolacion.  More visits are scheduled for this week.  We are so grateful to have this hard-working team!

Planning and Prep [2019-07-13]

Things are heating up here at Reneal Headquarters.  Neal has been in the throes of software development, and I’m doing testing, packing, and planning.  Reneal Team Philippines is about to start school visits in Cebu, and Reneal Team Tanzania is helping prepare for our rapidly approaching trip.  It’s all-hands-on-deck right now, with schools in both countries in session again.

Summer news [2019-06-28]

The last month has been relatively quiet here at Reneal headquarters.  Neal is on the mend from shoulder surgery, so he hasn’t been able to work as much as usual.  Reneal Team Philippines is waiting for the enrollment database to finalize before they make their beginning-of-the-year school visits.  And it’s the mid-year break in Tanzania schools.  Nonetheless, we’ve been keeping busy with some unexpected tasks.

Happy New (School) Year! [2019-06-09]

It’s the beginning of a brand new school year in the Philippines!  Students reported for the first day of classes on Monday.  However teachers have already been back to work for a couple of weeks now, between in-service training and the annual “brigade eskwela” week of cleaning and organizing.  And after a quiet summer, my Facebook Messenger began pinging steadily as the school year commenced. 

A new frontier for Reneal [2019-06-01]

This last week has brought an exciting new development for Reneal.  We have received a generous donation of Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops for deployment in Tanzania!  Neal and I have been googling, experimenting, tweaking, and testing to figure out the best options for their use.  There is still a lot of work to do, but this donation is opening up new opportunities and approaches for Reneal.

Odds and ends [2019-05-21]

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.

Four months to go [2019-04-26]

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. 

Reneal Board Meeting [2019-04-15]

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]

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