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Heading toward Cebu! [2018-12-21]

Reneal has had a big year, installing ten new computer labs in 2018 with six of these new labs in the Philippines.  Thanks to some wonderful donations in 2018 (including Free Geek in Portland, OR, World Computer Exchange, Sound Family Medicine in Bonney Lake, WA, Maloney Elementary School in Fremont, CA, and UNeed2 in Tracy, CA), Reneal has had a wealth of computer hardware to share with schools in the Philippines.  We were especially pleased this year that Reneal Team Philippines organized and executed three installations while Neal and I were far away in the US. 

In addition to installation work, Reneal Team Philippines helped move several existing labs to different classrooms in 2018.  This involves redoing the network cabling, a big task.  Our Team also visited all of the schools periodically and helped to troubleshoot problems and to repair and replace damaged equipment.  Sir Jade Reyes provided teacher training at Calero Integrated School.  We are so thankful for Reneal Team Philippines!

Reneal Team Philippines includes computer technicians Rhog Sampan and Lloyd Tuñacao and Reneal’s college intern Ervin Formentera, all under the supervision of Sir Jade.  It has been a joy to watch all of these young men build their computer skills as well as their project management and interpersonal skills.  For most of the year Neal and I must work with them from afar, communicating via Facebook Messenger.  Remote troubleshooting is ALWAYS challenging, but add in the fact that they must communicate with us mainly in English, their second (or third) language.  We all continue to learn how to do it better – thank goodness for screen shots!

Neal and I will be heading to Cebu in January, and we are extremely excited that we’ll be reunited again with Reneal Team Philippines.  One of our top priorities will be visiting the 2018 schools, especially the ones that were installed in our absence.  We will spend time sharing more about the system with the computer teachers at those schools and ensuring that everything is working properly.  Another high priority for this trip is upgrading the system in the Compostela National High School-Day library.  This was one of our original installations back in 2008; although we’ve made some updates along the way, we look forward to doing a complete overhaul on this trip.  And of course, we’re planning to visit many of the existing computer labs to do minor updates and make needed repairs.  It’s looking to be a packed schedule, and we’re so thankful that we’ll have our team at our side to make this work happen!

We will also meet with the 20 USCAP scholars in the Philippines.  This program is funded by Reneal but executed by the UCSAP Committee at United Church of Christ in the Philippines in our “home town” of Compostela.  This program has been in existence for many years now, and we’re excited to now be supporting 20 deserving public high school students.

Thanks again donors, and thanks Reneal Team Philippines and the UCSAP Committee!

 [Photos: Reneal Team Philippines: Sir Jade Reyes, Rhog Sampan, Lloyd Tunacao, and Ervin Formentera]