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Reneal Team on the move [2023-03-06]

Since my last post, six new computer labs have been installed in Tanzania.  Thanks so much to Apto Solutions for the generous donation of hardware to make this work possible!  There are three more new labs yet to install, but Reneal Team Tanzania has been busy for the last few weeks making beginning-of-the-year school visits to do some software updates and check out the computer labs.  Once these visits are finished, the last three installations will be completed plus two existing labs expanded.

Reneal Country Director David Nyangaka has been working closely with the selected schools over the last several months to help them prepare their new computer rooms, and the school and local government officials have been very cooperative.  Reneal Technician Robert Nyangaka traveled to Lindi and Mtwara to lead five of the installations, and Reneal’s new technician Juma Ramadhani led the installation at the sixth school in Manyara Region.  We were pleased to recently welcome Juma as well as James Ngahemelwa to the Reneal Team.  Together with Robert, Erick Mneney and Ashura Hamis, we have an energetic and skilled group supporting the Reneal schools.

David met recently with the local Arusha staff and a board member of TerraWatu.  We met TerraWatu’s founder Dr. Tanya Pergola last fall while in Arusha, and we look forward to possible collaboration with them.  We have also continued our collaboration with Mirjean Pirbhai and the JR Institute of Technology in Arusha.  Mir connected us with Teacher-in-a-Box, an Australian NGO with a mission similar to Reneal’s.

David has continued his interactions with the Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF), a Tanzania government agency committed to increase access to communication services in rural Tanzania.  Reneal is thrilled to have their support in helping schools with internet access.

Neal worked untold hours preparing the updates that are being deployed right now.  Last September, he introduced a computer teacher “dashboard” for easy system monitoring and maintenance.  He made a few updates to that, as well as populating the help page with how-to videos and manuals.  We were also excited to add some new educational content, including national exam questions-and-answers prepared by PiXL, an NGO based in the UK.  Dr. Tabu Kondo of the University of Dodoma also compiled a collection of math videos organized by curriculum topic.  We are hoping these new resources are helpful for students and teachers.

We are thrilled that Apto Solutions has committed their support to Reneal again for 2023.  David is already working on evaluating the next set of schools, and we look forward to beginning 2023 Phase 1 preparations soon.

[Photos: Receiving the 2022 Phase 2 equipment and the official turn-over for the new computer labs]