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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. 

I have to say, I feel a lot better today about this particular countdown than I did a week ago.  Our goal is to bring 120 laptops to Arusha District secondary schools this year, and laptop donations have been slow in coming.  As of a week ago, we only had 40 laptops in-house ready to go.  As a small NGO with big plans, this is one of those things that can keep you awake late at night!  But through a fortuitous tip from Erna Grasz of Asante Africa (www.asanteafrica.org), we connected with Renew Computers (www.renewcomputers.com) in San Rafael, CA.  Renew Computers offers recycling and repair to the community, but they also have a community outreach program for non-profits.  Yesterday we picked up 34 laptops there!  Since we take units without batteries and hard disks, the price is very reasonable.  And even better, it sounds like we can get more there if we need to.  It’s all unpredictable, of course, but it’s EXTREMELY comforting to have a Plan B!

Neal has been working on the server software for Tanzania this week.  I did some testing last week and gave him a list of possible issues.  Last year’s Tanzania server build was really solid, so hopefully it will only be some small tweaks.  He has all six servers built already, so we’re in great shape with that.  We are also taking two sets of “server guts” to rebuild the two servers from 2013.  That should really improve performance.

Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka made a trip to Dar es Salaam last week to pursue the customs duty and VAT waivers for Reneal’s equipment.  We are anxiously awaiting news back from the Tanzanian government agencies that grant these waivers.  Thankfully David got a very early start on working these issues, and we were also assisted greatly by Timothy Anderson of World Computer Exchange (www.worldcomputerexchange.org) and Virginia Hagila of White Lake Education and Enforcement Transformation in Dar es Salaam.

Philippines schools are on summer break now until June, so things have been quiet there.  However we did have an interesting meeting two weeks ago with Ryan and Rey Espinosa.  The Espinosa family founded the Masbate Central Technical Institute (MCTI) in 1969 to give vocational education opportunities to young people on the island of Masbate.  [Masbate is just north of the island of Cebu where Reneal works.]  They wish to equip the school with a computer lab and found Reneal’s website.  They live just over the hill from us in Stockton, so they visited and we were able to give them a demo of the Reneal system and discuss possibilities for partnering.  We are considering a joint venture similar to our work with A is for Africa earlier this year.  The Reneal Board will be evaluating this opportunity as we move forward in the discussions with Ryan and MCTI.

[Photo: Testing the laptops from Renew Computers that will soon have a new home in a Tanzania high school]