Wrap-up: Reneal in the Philippines 2013 [2013-04-27]
Neal returned to America last Saturday and Reneal IEO has a board meeting next Saturday. Thus it is a good time to pause and reflect on the 2013 Reneal trip to the Philippines. I don’t know if we’ve ever had such a satisfying confluence of events: witnessing the culmination of some long-time projects, implementing significant improvements in others, and laying the foundation for exciting future opportunities. There was great joy in seeing old acquaintances and in forming new connections. Of course nothing truly good comes without some blood, sweat, and tears along the way, but all in all it was a successful trip for Reneal IEO.
One of Reneal’s major missions is installing IT labs using a low-cost computer infrastructure approach based upon Open Source software and thin client technology. The intention has been to drive toward a turn-key solution, and this year’s pilot work at Compostela National High School (CNHS) to upgrade to Xubuntu 12.04 has been a major step in that direction. So far we’ve received good reports from the teachers that the system is faster and yet still familiar and easy to use. We performed site evaluations at five new schools and there is a sixth school that is also under consideration. There are several excellent candidates for 2014 projects in the Philippines, and Reneal IEO anticipates making a decision soon so planning can begin. Reneal also met with valued partners from the Aboitiz Foundation and the Rotary Club of Cebu City, with the hope of future collaboration with them.
Through used equipment donations by the Cebu City Marriott Hotel and other individual donors, approximately 29 “new” computers were installed on the CNHS campus. The timing was particularly helpful because Xubuntu 12.04 no longer provides thin client support for Pentium 1/Pentium 2 computers, which formed a large fraction of the original CNHS installation in 2008. All computer labs and the library and science lab have been revitalized by these donations. Kudos to the IT teachers and computer technicians at CNHS for their hard work to make this possible in such a short period of time!
More fabric and sewing tools were delivered to the teachers in the Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) Department at CNHS. Reneal IEO was able to see first-hand the fruits of these donations. The teachers were very excited to pose for photos holding the donated scissors that were used by the contestant who won the Cebu Province Division contest in children’s dress-making.
The trip began with us attending the graduation of eight high schools students who were scholars in the joint Reneal-United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) scholarship program. This joyful ending gives way to a new beginning as the UCCP committee will select ten new first-year high school scholars for School Year 2013-2014 who meet the requirements for grade point average and financial need. Thanks again to Reneal IEO donors for your support of the scholarship program!
On a more personal note, we also celebrated college graduations of two former CNHS students. One was a key leader during his junior and senior years in high school of Neal’s student computer associate group. He went on to get his college degree in IT, and he continues to this day serving as a member of the dedicated IT team at CNHS. The other received her degree in Chemistry. We were overjoyed to learn recently that a significant factor in her choice of career was a chemistry demonstration at CNHS generously sponsored by the Cebu Chemical Society back during our Peace Corps days. It reminds me of the quote attributed to Nelson Henderson: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” Yet here we are, already under the shade of very fast-growing trees that are precious to us.
But… there’s not much time to relax. The Reneal IEO trip to Tanzania in August is on the horizon. Servers for three new school installations are built and ready to go, but Reneal continues to look for used laptops for thin clients. Once received, there will be much integrated system testing to do prior to departure. I have materials to prepare to train the teachers on the use of the Xubuntu 12.04 user interface and applications. And of course, now we have many interesting prospects for 2014 in the Philippines for which to plan and prepare; look for a project proposal on the website soon!
Computer equipment donations (laptops or desktops) to support either the 2013 Tanzania or 2014 Philippines projects are welcomed. You can contact Reneal IEO at contact.reneal@gmail.com.