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SUPER! USERS! [2018-10-14]

This week was the crux of Reneal’s time in Arusha in 2018.  Thanks to an amazing team effort, everything got done and we’re down to just one more school visit before Neal and I head back to the US.  Our room, full of Reneal t-shirts and servers and piles of equipment just last Sunday, is much more spacious now.  We visited three schools this week to share with them the new updates in their servers, and our team completely rewired one of our 2013 schools.  Best of all, we had fantastic meetings yesterday with the school heads and the Super Users (computer teachers) of the fourteen schools in Arusha District with Reneal computer labs!

The very first thing I must do is to acknowledge the amazing support of Reneal School Liaison David Nyangaka.  David has been a whirlwind, taking care of every logistical detail large and small for the meetings yesterday.  Everything went incredibly smoothly, thanks to his amazing efforts.  Even more incredible – all of this work was done in the midst of his wife delivering their new baby girl on Friday!  Congratulations to David and his wife on the arrival of Rene David Nyangaka!

As usual Reneal computer technician Robert Nyangaka and Arusha Node Marie’s Evance Kessy were with us for the school visits this week.  We delivered updated servers to Oldadai Secondary School, Mringa Secondary School, and Ilboru Secondary School.  We also made minor repairs to client computers.  On Tuesday, Robert, Evance, Ramadhani Mfinanga (Arusha District Council), and Habari Node professionals Prosista Andrew and Elibariki Melami worked with the teachers at Mlangarini Secondary School to replace all of the old cabling.  In 2013 we only had poor quality Cat 5e network cable, so we were very thankful to replace it this year with good Cat 6 cable.  The team did a fantastic job!

For the first time ever, we had a gathering of the school heads from the schools with Reneal systems.  It was really a great meeting – an opportunity to share with them the resources on the Reneal system and a chance to hear their issues and concerns.  We are so grateful for them taking time out of their busy weeks to meet with us.  Immediately following that was the Annual Arusha District Super User meeting.  Super Users from all fourteen of the Arusha District Schools were with us to learn and share.  We had a seminar on power management for the server computer, as well as presentations on the new programs that Neal has written for the teachers.  For both groups, David spent time reviewing the expectations that Reneal has of the schools.  As with the school heads, we had a very lively Q&A session.  It is always a joy for us to be together with old friends and new!  And how exciting now to have batches of Super Users from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018!

Of course, a key message we hear from both School Heads and Super Users is that they need more computers.  These schools have a minimum of 800 students, with some having twice that.  The number of computers that Reneal can provide is very small for that student population, and of course there is normal attrition to address.  And… there are still thirteen schools in Arusha District with nothing! 

Reneal eagerly seeks donations of used laptops to support these schools.  We hear stories from the teachers of the impact that a computer lab has on retention and attendance.  Students in Arusha District are hungry for technology and computers, and getting hands-on experience in a computer lab greatly improves their employability.  Please check with us at contact.reneal@gmail.com for information about individual or corporate donations.

 [Photos: School Heads and Super Users from Arusha District Schools with Reneal systems]