61–70 of 291 posts
This is a very western approach to a very Ugandan problem. A trivial amount of money (for a Westerner) could have saved a lot of time and pain.
Can you please expand what you mean? It's not clear how money would have solved this problem better.
Although, I'd say there is a certain charm in physical gifts.
I help a good friend run a small business in Africa, and this story is exactly why, every time I go visit, I fill my luggage with stuff she needs. Laptops, car engine turbos, espresso machines, fryers, bottles of shampoo, printers, anything. The cheapest and most reliable way to deliver things there is to take a plane yourself and carry the things with you. This whole mess is why, despite being a poor continent, the…
For every dozen people mailing in a laptop, there'll be someone mailing in guns. They don't want that liability. It would damage their ability to do what they do.
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EU just implemented a new customs tax law that will be coming to member states on july 1st. Until now, items below 150eur (bought by private citizens) were not a subject to customs, and some time ago not even for VAT if below 22eur. From july 1st, it's becoming painful, in slovenia for example, 3eur per TARIC code + customs fee + vat. So, for example you go on alixpress, you buy a silicone phone case for 1eur, a scre…
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Specifically I was talking about this part > "At some point, one man quietly pulled me aside and suggested that if I "gave something," they could help solve the problem more easily.". You can pay that fee/bribe and things will go smoothly. But more generally my thought was that the western idea is that bureaucracy rules are something to be followed and, even if painful, are the path to getting the state to provide th…
It was the local, not the Westerner, who refused to pay, right?
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Can you please expand what you mean? It's not clear how money would have solved this problem better.
It would have been easier and cheaper to send money to Django than to send the laptop. Although, I'd say there is a certain charm in physical gifts.
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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.
If the implication is true… Shouldn’t people stop helping further entrench these shady practices? If Ugandan decision makers know the people will effectively always be underwritten to receive some bread and water… no matter what happens… Then what exactly is stopping them from piling on more and more nonsense?
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What's the solution?
Arguably, just to leave them alone, neither exploiting nor trying to "help". It sucks and it hurts, but outside interference does not seem to help a society heal itself. This has been argued by more informed people than myself-- https://www.uvm.edu/~jashman/CDAE195_ESCI375/To%20Hell%20wit...
The ones that do it though are all religious institutions so their goals are more social/moral rather than economic or geopolitical.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the solution?
Arguably, just to leave them alone, neither exploiting nor trying to "help". It sucks and it hurts, but outside interference does not seem to help a society heal itself. This has been argued by more informed people than myself-- https://www.uvm.edu/~jashman/CDAE195_ESCI375/To%20Hell%20wit...