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Piles and piles [2015-08-23]

Back from a much-enjoyed backpacking trip, we’re in high gear preparing equipment for Tanzania and the Philippines.  The condo is a hilarious study in confusion, with piles of equipment everyone you look.  Neal is finishing up nine (nine!) servers right now, and in between that work he tested out eleven gigabit network switches.  In addition to the 52 laptops for Tanzania, we now have 20 computers, monitors, keyboard, and mice that Reneal purchased from the World Computer Exchange.

I am relieved to think that in a few short weeks, all of this equipment will be boxed up and on its way – but in the meantime, it is an “adventure”.  I just put up the 2016 Philippines project plan today on the website; it is here.  The Reneal IEO Board of Directors approved installation in five schools for 2016: Alamacen Torrevillas National High School, Consolacion National High School, Mulao National High School, Tabok National High School, and Tipolo National High School.  These schools have a combined population of 5000 students (and awesome IT teachers!), and we are looking forward to sharing with them the features of the Reneal system!  We had hoped (and still hope) that we will find the resources to support more schools, but at this point it looks like these five constitute what we can do.  Our Indiegogo campaign, with a few more days to go, has raised a bit over $900 out of the hoped-for $3500.  (It’s not too late to give!  Check it out here.)  Donations of money and/or used computer equipment can go a long way in helping us assist more schools.

We were thrilled to be able to obtain the 20 desktops and monitors from World Computer Exchange (www.worldcomputerexchange.org).  We were the first customers for the relatively new Silicon Valley Branch of WCE, and we were very excited to make this purchase, our third from WCE.  I spent part of the weekend testing everything and have at least made a start in boxing it up for shipment.  We also put the finishing touches on our list of items to purchase locally in Tanzania, so things are definitely coming together.  This week, I’ll continue packing clients, monitors, keyboards, mice, cables, network switches, and so forth for Cebu.  Once Neal finishes the servers, we’ll get them boxed up and I will start getting serious about the Tanzania packing.  And on the horizon – a stop at Free Geek (www.freegeek.org) in Portland on September 8th on our way back from some bicycling in Oregon.  We’ll be picking up more equipment for Cebu there, so there’s another big round of testing and packing in the near future. 

I have to admit, the time spent with the teachers and students in Cebu and Arusha is a lot more fun that this logistical stuff, but time spent here at home preparing is the critical foundation necessary for our efforts overseas.  It won’t be long before we’re back among our friends and colleagues in Arusha and then Cebu!