Back home [2018-03-21]
It was a long journey, but we’re back home in California now. It’s always good to be home after a lengthy trip, but we are surely missing our friends, family, and colleagues in the Philippines. The last few days there in Cebu were incredibly hectic – there’s never really enough time to share everything we’d wish to with the teachers – but we felt like we were able to finish what we’d planned: eight server operating system upgrades, seven server software and content upgrades, three new server installations, lots of client computer repairs, and meetings with the scholarship committee and scholars. In addition, we evaluated three candidates for future projects. Neal also added some more advanced capabilities at CTU-Carmen for the college students and professors.
Our last day was a whirlwind. Friday morning Arcelo Memorial NHS graciously provided transportation to us to transfer the remaining equipment and parts back to the school for storage. Sir Jade, Lloyd, Rhog, and I organized and inventoried the “south spares”. We then raced off to Compostela Science and Technology High School for a celebration lunch with the teachers. Then it was over to Compostela National High School for a despidida (going-away) program with our dear family and friends there. Neal and I then finished cleaning the apartment and packing for the journey. At 8 p.m., we were picked up by a generous group of folks to take us to the airport for our flight. At 1 a.m., it was wheels-up and we were on our way home.
We both brought home some tasks to complete, and we’ll look forward to providing the school evaluation data to our Board of Directors at the upcoming meeting. We hope to expand next year, and we also want to add new clients at a couple of active schools. I will be distributing the updated Reneal System Administration Manual soon. This version has been customized for Ubuntu 16.04. It’s been a long time in process, and we’ll be glad to get it released to our Super Users with 16.04 in both the Philippines and Tanzania.
We’re still processing the “so what?” of this trip. As in prior years, there were disappointments. Probably about a third of the systems we’ve installed in Cebu are currently either moderately or profoundly underutilized by students. The systems that are reasonably active still don’t come close to their potential, both for resources used and for hours used. There are a myriad of legitimate reasons for this, almost all of which are related either directly or indirectly to the addition of Grades 11 and 12 to the Philippines school system in the last two years. It is hard to describe the chaos at some schools – huge swathes of classrooms being demolished in order to erect multi-story classroom buildings alongside new buildings in various stages of construction. Many campuses were already overcrowded, and now the student population has just expanded by roughly 40% in the last two years (on top of the annual 2-3% increase in population). Teachers are being hired at breakneck pace, and Dep Ed chose this time to execute sweeping school head rotations. Curricula are fluid, to say the least, and there are no books. The current computer education curriculum assumes that students will learn computer literacy in elementary school – where typically there are few (or no) computers for hands-on use. The high school computer curriculum teaches students how to assemble a desktop computer, when most people who own computers actually have laptops. Electricity infrastructure has been overwhelmed at several schools, between the addition of many new classrooms and the constant demands of the construction welding. A new electronic system for student records has been instituted and is undergoing expansion, and forms continue to evolve – these require extensive teacher time inside and out of classroom hours. My heart goes out to these noble, dedicated teachers who continue to provide quality education for their students in spite of these obstacles – and still keep smiling!
In spite of all of this, I maintain hope that this major transition to a K-12 system will at some point be behind us and their focus can return to teaching. As we visit schools and hear their pleas for computers for their students, it inspires us to do our best to continue to serve this community in spite of today’s challenges.
What’s ahead for Reneal? After some long-awaited family visits, our focus will turn to Tanzania in late August. We’re excited to get back there to support our existing schools and hopefully add some new schools. Reneal is eagerly seeking donations of both laptops (for Tanzania) and desktops (for the Philippines). Please contact us at contact.reneal@gmail.com for more information.
[Photos: Neal with Sir Louie Romano at CTU-Carmen installing the new college capabilities, Rhog and Lloyd with Ma’am Janeth and Ma’am Jeza at Compostela Science and Technology High School – the happy faces say it all!]