Email from Paul Bakes to Steve Conrad and Eric Nguyen, December 2008

Here is an update after my 4 weeks in Goma September and October. I will try to cover some of the stuff on the wiki and give you a full update too. […]

Quick update on wiki hardware needs:

• I took Pytchen 5 laptop HDDs plus a USB/firewire cradle in which to place the old drives. He and I managed to repair 2 laptops and retrieve some data for Hortense whose laptop was damaged. A number of the laptops were irreparable, however Pytchen is going to try to play with them a bit more.
• I also took 4 power supplies for the D530s, however the motherboards of 2 of them are faulty as well so we only got one of them working. I will try to get a couple of them in with me next year to see if we can get a few more working
• I also increased the RAM in a few of the various computers in the internet room
• Pytchen now has the latest Kyocera printer drivers and a CD of various HP drivers as well
• I took Pytchen a couple of generic laptop power adaptors. He didn’t know what he would use them for though! However they are there if he finds the laptops that need them

OK that’s the hardware as per our previous discussions. Now a quick rundown of other work I comleted:

I tested the cat5 cables between the Jubilee and the hospital. Both the cables from Jubilee to the counselling room near the chapel are damaged. The 2 that go from that counselling room to the hospital are also both damaged. I re-terminated all cables hoping that I could get some sort of signal, however it did not work. The whole link will need to be run again. I think that there are better solutions than trying to get copper in again though.

I have run a lot of cat5 cable around the hospital to build a temporary network. Because there is building happening, I am sure that more permanent cabling will be required in the future. It would be good if Heal Africa understood the need to incorporate cat5 in their new buildings during construction. I have mentioned this to Bizi and he recognises the sense in doing this during construction rather than after.

The resident doctor’s room in the back corner of the hospital reception building is the current network centre. I have run cable from here to Patrice’s office right down near the old satellite. Cables also go in the other direction to the laboratory next to the resident’s room, to Dr Kimona’s office and the 2 reception offices. 3 cables run from the reception building across the walkway to the accounting offices. One into Fannie’s office and 2 into the payment office next door. A router for DHCP and switch are located in the resident’s room. Another switch is located in Patrice’s office. Cables run from this switch to the offices next door to Patrice. Another cable needs to be run into the pharmacy behind Patrice, but I ran out of cable this time.

I understand that the reception building is to be demolished in the near future, so cabling is definitely temporary, allowing easy removal. The administrative business plan developed for the hospital relies on the central storage of the Quicken accounting data and a patient administration system. This is in the process of being put together. At least for the short term we will arrange a database solution for this purpose. This will give us time to research its replacement possibly with one of the many medical admin software packages on the market. I hope to have the database ready by February.

I have placed a laptop in Patrice’s office to be the “file server” until we can get the main file server working properly. At present the laptop is only going to store the Quicken data file. There is also a Netgear NAS box in Patrice’s office with backup scripts to backup data on the laptop.

I ran 2 more cat5 cables downstairs to Virginnie’s room (below the internet room). Christina is going to work from there sometimes and I was asked to give Virginnie access in her office to save her walking upstairs.

The following need to be considered in terms of the “corporate” strategy of Heal Africa. I believe that we need to ensure that IT resources, particularly those installed in the hospital, meet the needs of the organisation and are strategic in implementation.

There needs to be some discussion about the role of the file server. It is turned off now. I think that loading Linux on it is not going to work as Pytchen and Bizi are not able to administer the network. Remote access is not an option given the pathetic speed of their internet connection. I recommend that we load Windows server 2003 onto it. At least then some management can be done in Goma. Have a chat about it there in the US and see what you think.

There also needs to be a discussion regarding the internet connection. I notice there is some discussion on the wiki. About wireless, however I have only noticed satellite broadband at the various NGOs and banks in Goma. If it is deemed that reliable, fast internet is important to Heal Africa, we should do all we can to ensure that it is provided.

The same goes for the link between the hospital and Jubilee. If it is necessary to the organisation then we should try to ensure a good, reliable link is installed. I am working on some options for this and will try to get some of my suppliers to donate the gear we need. I will keep you both informed of my progress. I am looking at either a wireless solution or an optical fibre solution. Wireless is a risk due to the possibility of damage by lightning in the many storms. I will research ways to mitigate against such a strike if we choose to go with this type of link.

I apologise that this is a long email. I’ve got to here and figured that it might also be worthwhile me attaching my final report after my visit there. Some of it will be repeated here, but I may have missed something.

Just for your information, David Kelly the hospital administration expert is returning to HA in February for about 10 weeks. I am planning to meet him there in mid April to continue with work in the hospital and hopefully to install the patient software. His work is important for us to get the IT solution that fits the organisational needs of HA and our work will help him achieve all he needs to achieve.

All the best

Paul Bakes