Dear List Members,
In dealing with some recent requests for donated computers, it has
become obvious that the hardest aspect of the process is finding the
money to pay for the shipping costs. We are based in Melbourne,
Australia, so it is a long way to pretty well anywhere in the world! I
am hoping to start a discussion on this list about possible solutions to
this problem.
As an example, we currently have requests for 150 computers to Kennedy
and his group in Kenya, only 6 computers to WATCH in Nepal, and 10
computers plus one scanner to The Monitor in Zambia. One ship container
holds between 250-350 computers, and costs around US$2000. Hiring one
whole container is the preferable approach, as it means that the only
people who handle the computers are us at our end, and the recipients at
the destination. However, for small requests such as the above for
Zambia and Nepal, a ship container seems way too much. Then of course,
there is the sometimes quite significant problem of transporting the
computers from the port that the container arrived at to the destination
(which may be some thousands of kilometres from the port).
Given that most requests we get are not for large amounts of computers,
it strikes me that the ideal solution would be to find a shipping
company that is willing to sponsor us in the form of offering free
transport whenever we need it. Otherwise, if it is done on a per-request
basis each request would require a new 'please help us' effort on phones
and email, which obviously presents some significant worktime and
'compassion fatigue' problems.
Does anyone have experience, contacts, or ideas to offer on this tricky
problem?
Best wishes to all,
Adam
--
Adam Nash
com.IT - The Community IT Project
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.vicnet.net.au/~comit
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