A year ago back in Centralia, WA USA, the Lewis County government and Chehalis School district donated over 400 computers. Two hundred of the 400 qualified to be sent to South Africa, and a local Seattle company took the broken computers which saved us a large sum of money in garbage removal fees. The community came together with the goal of helping Gift of Joy build computer labs in South Africa!
Here in South Africa we saw so many people come together. Technicians for setup, computer training schools to teach the teachers, an internet company for … internet, Rotary clubs were in the process of evaluating schools, and we could put a computer in a school for a fraction of the costs. We could save the schools 88% on building a computer lab.
It was all very exciting until we ran into culture and bureaucracy. It reminded me of a starving person asking for food, yet after providing an orange, they asked to have it peeled. After it was peeled they asked to have it placed in their mouth. Then mumbling with a mouth full of orange slices they said, “Can you help me chew this?” So you take hold of their jaw and move it in a chewing motion.
Another problem has been funding the shipment costs to South Africa from the USA. US$ 3000 had been donated, but we need an additional $5000. We even have a plan for the schools to help us recover the shipping costs so that we can use the initial $8000 over and over to fund following shipments of computers. But no funds from the USA or South African schools came.
Now … a couple of days ago … after 4 months of the government regularly assuring me this project would be endorsed they informed me these computers would not be allowed into South Africa! Can you believe it? This is even after getting help from some of the top leaders. We can now take an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of South Africa, but I don’t think I have the time, energy, or finances for that.
I am so sorry for putting all the people in Centralia, WA USA through all the effort to prepare these computers. But now we are looking into helping families hit by the massive floods in the Centralia region.
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1 comment:
I would like to commend you for having the heart to organize the effort to build a lab in South Africa. I am from Ghana and have been living in the States for sometime; I truly understand your frustration caused by the rampant bureaucracies and inefficiencies built into the system (in many African countries), which not only impede progress but discourage even perspective donors. I would like to say that your efforts were not in vain but an experience that others can learn from and better prepare ourselves for instituting change in Africa. Thanks for your efforts.
KO, Nashville, TN
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