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Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
201–210 of 291 posts
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#202You can pay the customs fees and local taxes yourself if you're shipping with Fedex/UPS, it's just a checkbox if you have an actual account with them.
Also you can certainly ship batteries via UPU network (Australian Post) but there are strict packaging rules you need to follow[1].
You don't really go into any detail as to why they didn't accept your package. Did you attach properly filled out CN23 label?
[1] https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/docume...
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#203Django has a certain determination that will take him far in life. As do you OP. Kudos.
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#204[flagged]
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
~$200 doesn't go as far as you'd expect for good used laptop, even in Uganda. We did look into our options. However, there's definitely a sunk cost aspect to the operation. After the first failure to send it through Australia Post, I became determined that Django was going to have that MacBook.
Wait, how the hell can Australia Post charge you the full AUD 111.60 for a failed shipment when it seems to be the fault of the clerk who approved the shipment against their own rules? And sounds like the package didn’t even leave Australia so even if you should pay for the full mileage it would be 20% at most?
Seems like it's the fault of the author for blindly trusting AI...
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#206Two main takeaways: 1. Never underestimate developing countries' governments' willingness to absolutely bend their people over to extract tax revenue (and then their corrupt representatives extract bribes on top of it) 2. Django's gratitude and positivity in the face of all of it is an inspiration. I suspect I and most everyone I know would be in tears and would have given up in exasperation halfway through his quest…
This is unfortunately also one of the biggest problems with donating to NGOs that operate in many foreign countries. Much of the aid money gets stolen by corrupt officials and local criminals. Donors have to check carefully that NGOs are legitimately benefiting the intended recipients.
I do some work in Africa and that's not what i've seen. The NGOs have their own separate supply chains and are quite resistant to corrupt officials and local criminals. The problem with NGOs is that they're mostly regular business masquerading as 'aid' and out competing local businesses who dont have access to their infrastructure and subsidies. There's actually much more demand for NGOs from the West than from their recipients. African governments are trying to clamp down on NGOs, but there's a lot of pressure from the west for the status quo.
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#207[deleted]
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
Ah yes, the "barbarians" couldn't possibly manage delivering a packet by themselves, after having their country looted for centuries (ongoing). There's no doubt this laptop would've been delivered frictionlessly if Uganda had never suffered under colonial rule :) And who knows what the UK would be like..
>after having their country looted for centuries (ongoing).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania
>The town was founded with the goal of creating a white ethnostate for the Afrikaner minority group, the Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture through the creation of an Afrikaner state known as a Volkstaat.
>All jobs, from management to manual labour, are done by Afrikaners; non-Afrikaner people are not allowed to live or work there.
>The town's monoculturalism and monoethnic philosophy rejects the concept of baasskap, where the White minority exploited Black labour for economic gain, in favour of a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency.
>The town has grown at an annual rate that was estimated at 10% in 2019 — faster than any other town in South Africa.
>The population increased by 55% to 2,500 from 2018 to mid-2022, and to 2,800 in July 2023.
>In 2023, the town council announced plans for the population to grow to 10,000 as soon as possible.
I'm honestly tired of the bullshit anti-colonialism ideology. These people are so "racist" they purposefully tie their hands behind their back to avoid exploiting black people to prove how they are superior that the standard anti-colonialism rethoric is just a thinly veiled self-hate ideology at this point.
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#209My question, does Uganda not have used laptops available for sale? At the point where you're about to spend $200 on shipping, why not consider just doing a money order so the guy can find one locally. Shipping things overseas is such a convoluted process. My wife wanted to send a company Christmas gift bundle (literally just company merch and some candy) to two Filipino employees. One of the workers says that only DH…
Christians colonized Africa and destroyed their cultures and tribes for not converting and now you send them a Christmas gift to them.
Hope Africans see these Europeans true colors
Re: Shipping a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, how the hell can Australia Post charge you the full AUD 111.60 for a failed shipment when it seems to be the fault of the clerk who approved the shipment against their own rules? And sounds like the package didn’t even leave Australia so even if you should pay for the full mileage it would be 20% at most?
Seems like it's the fault of the author for blindly trusting AI...
Not really, it this is too be believed
> At the post office, a friendly staff member confirmed it could be sent, helped me package it up securely
It's actually at least half a case of not blindly trusting AI, and pressing until a positive answer is given:
> I asked ChatGPT how to send the laptop, and it gave me a spiel about finding a reliable freight service or courier.
> (Later) I should have listened to ChatGPT.