[madradavid]

I am Ugandan.

I've shipped electronics and Laptops for Work quite a bit, and OP is right, the system is broken, it stays this way because a lot of corrupt individuals benefit from this mess. However, OP showed a degree of Hubris here, a mistake lots of us make when dealing with foreign countries, just because it works this way here, so it should work that way in XYZ.

OP would have saved themselves lots of time and money if they'd asked Django what the best way to get that laptop shipped to them was. Lots of Ugandans in Austria ship things back daily; they just do it differently, simply hand it to someone travelling back home, there are people travelling back daily, willing to help or just pay a shipping agency a small amount and they'll handle everything.

This is a good act of charity and I applaud OP for that; however, the first mistake they made was Google "How to send a laptop overseas" , a message to Django, asking the best way to get them the laptop would have saved them time and money.

We all fall into this trap of giving people in need what we think they need instead of asking them how best we can help. Local knowledge goes a long way.

All in all, I applaud OP, not many of us would have done this.

[lexandstuff]

I take your point - no doubt I approached this in a very naive way.

That said, we did collaborate on it - at the very least I needed to learn his address before sending.

Neither of us have ever sent or received a package in Uganda. It was a learning experience for both of us.

[realty_geek]

Crikey, the laptop actually arrived!!!

For me that is absolutely stunning. Dude I would give you a big hug if I could.

While the comments are suggesting this story is about a disaster it feels like a massive feel-good story. I don't think anyone here will understand but there are tears in my eyes right now!

I grew up in Ghana in the 80s and I can pretty much guarantee that a package that looked possibly slightly valuable would no way go more than 2 steps in the postal system then.

I know that was decades ago and Uganda might be completely different but this story is still messing with my head in a way I can't explain.

[user_7832]

For better or worse, "person from 1st world country does what they think helps, based on their worldview - but never asks 3rd world recipient" is unfortunately a very common troupe.

(I'm from a 3rd world country and have seen it over and over again.)

[emj]

Sending things is hard, it does not help asking people in who receives the things. You need to speak with someone who has experience sending things in the way you need to do it. Getting a package from China is not the same thing as sending things from China.

I am the first to acknowledge that I know very little of how things works outside my country. The only reasons I know that is with many failures. When I lived abroad sometimes people feel talked down to when you as an rich outsider tried to understand things. I do not understand the culture or the reasons for things. It did not help asking in because I did not know how to ask the right question.

[virgil_disgr4ce]

From another comment, the author did ask the recipient, who also did not know the best way to ship the laptop

[oncallthrow]

It’s “trope”, not “troupe”

[user_7832]

Thanks! I hesitated for a moment when typing but went ahead with (apparently the wrong) spelling.

[fsckboy]

it's mostly actors who traffic in tropes, and also actors who travel in troupes... coincidence? i think not

[sofixa]

> However, OP showed a degree of Hubris here, a mistake lots of us make when dealing with foreign countries, just because it works this way here, so it should work that way in XYZ.

Why would you think it's hubris? People know what they know, and extrapolate. If all you've ever known is streets with numbers for each unit being used for giving directions, you'll probably assume it's the standard. So you wouldn't even know to think "hey, do other countries use something else?". So a Costa Rican "300 meters south of where the church used to be" would be a surprise, and you'd only know it if you've been there / researched it / someone told you.

Yhere are things part of your daily life you don't even question why they're like this and if they can be another way or are indeed different in other countries.

[_notreallyme_]

While I mostly agree with what you say, the thing is Django was probably asked what was the best way to ship the laptop, but he probably just didn't know :

- he is from neighboring DRC, not Ugandan;

- based on his description of his travels, he lives in the overwhelmed Kyaka II camp, and was probably recently displaced due to the M23 campaign;

- he was probably already enrolled in the course before being displaced, so a young full-time student, probably not even aware of how the system work in his origin country.

My bet is that he just said to ship it to a drop location in Kampala and that he would find a way to get there to retrieve it.

In the end, the Hubris was probably not on OP's side, but on Django's side, thinking he could get a laptop shipped to him while avoiding entirely the camp's organization. Although he did manage it after all...

[interludead]

It sounds less like arrogance and more like both sides trying to improvise with incomplete information

[_notreallyme_]

Well, it was more for the overconfidence meaning than the arrogance one.

[0xfffafaCrash]

Just want to note that OP was in Australia, not Austria, but the broader point stands that it can be helpful to ask foreigners what they need rather than assuming your norms will translate over.

And yet, this was still a very generous gift and perhaps even greater value in sharing the experience and starting these discussions

[Neil44]

We have a customer with a business in Uganda, we just give her the laptops and she physically takes them with her next time she goes there.

[cardiffspaceman]

On the other hand, sometimes the naive approach does work. I bought something from a Ukrainian via Kickstarter, and expected that some sort of difficulty would emerge, but no, it did not. From the tracking information, it appears that from his location, it was handed over to the Post, and it went through the usual steps to me in California.

In fact there was one unusual event, compared to my daily experience, which was an event that blew the windows of his shop. So he divided his works across multiple locations for geographical diversity and carried on.

[interludead]

From the outside, the "official" shipping route feels like the safest and most obvious option