2013 Trip Report #2: Lost Luggage and Stolen Equipment

Murphy's Law:  "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

 

Idiom: "The third time's the charm."

 

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I guess I've just been lucky on my first two trips to Lesotho.  This time around, not so lucky. 

Everyone who flies to Maseru from outside of Lesotho has to go through the Johannesburg airport.  The airport, like the city, is famous for its rampant theft problems.  I'd never seen any evidence of it before this trip.

This time, I had a comparatively short layover in the Jo'burg airport, just 1½. hours to de-plane, get through passport control, go through the transit lounge and security, and get to the gate for my flight to Maseru, which is always at the far end of the terminal.

I made it with 5 minutes to spare, but apparently one of my pieces of luggage didn't.  When I got to Maseru, one checked bag was there, but the other was missing.  I had seen it being loaded in New York onto the JFK-to-Johannesburg flight, so I knew it made it that far. 

Sure enough, it arrived in Maseru on the very next flight, which was 24 hours later.  Unfortunately, during the bag's layover, it had been broken into and a small digital projector and VGA cable that works with the XO laptop had been stolen.  Interestingly enough, the XO laptops in the bag held no interest to the thieves and were left untouched.

We had planned to use the projector as an integral part of our training this year, so its loss came as a huge blow. 

The airline wouldn't pay to replace it because their baggage policy clearly states not to put valuables in your checked baggage and they won't be held liable if you do.  Not that it would have mattered because affordable projectors just aren't available in Lesotho.

I had had no alternative but to put the projector in my checked bag.  My carry-on's were full of two servers, routers, my personal laptop, and a Dell laptop belonging to the project.  The projector was an awkward shape, didn't fit well in my carry-on anyway, and so was the obvious choice to go into a checked bag. 

By the way, I've tried shipping things to Lesotho, and, not only can it take 3+ months to arrive, even when sent first class, only about half the packages make it to their destination.  They do, after all, have to go through the South African postal system.

Several weeks later, Sherrie and Jennifer also came through the Jo'burg airport and had someone break into their checked baggage during their 12-hour layover.  They lost some personal items.

We managed to conduct our training without the projector, though I lost track of the number of times someone said, "Oh, this would have been so much easier with the projector." 

One consolation I take heart from is that the projector has no external buttons, so it doesn't work unless you have the remote control for it.  The remote, which got packed in my other bag and is not readily available in South Africa, is now sitting on my desk as a bitter-sweet reminder.  I may have lost a projector, but the thief didn't gain one, at least not one s/he can use.

- Janissa

Up Next:  2013 Trip Report #3: Maseru

 

2013 Trip Report #1: Volunteer "Mules"

This post is the start of what will hopefully be a whole series of posts to take you through our trip to Lesotho from late December 2012 to mid-February 2013.  Hopefully, some of it will be entertaining and some informative, but my main purpose is to "get it on paper" before I forget, so we have a permanent record of what happened, what worked, and what didn't.  I've tried to keep a journal on these trips, but that usually only lasts a few days before I just don't have the time to bother with it anymore.

As I noted in an earlier post, we had nine outside volunteers, including myself, participate in this trip.  The five of us who came directly from the U.S. to Lesotho got to act as "mules," carrying laptops and other project supplies with us. 

I think I still hold the L2L record for taking the heaviest load without paying any baggage fees, set last trip in late 2011 when I hauled 170 lbs (77 kg) of equipment and very few personal belongings from Idaho to Maseru.  This year, I carried a mere 150 lbs (68 kg) because I had other volunteers helping to carry some pretty heavy loads as well.

Among my many tips to maximize the amount of equipment I can take for free:  Fly on an airline that lets you take two 50 lb. bags free on international flights, maximize your carry-on with a "laptop" bag almost as big as a regular carry-on, wear a multi-pocket vest loaded down with 10 lbs of gear, carry rain gear and heavy clothing in your hand  (I've been snowed on in Lesotho during their summer, so warm clothes are a must any time of year), and buy toiletries and undergarments once in-country.  And be in good shape, because, even after you've checked those 100 lbs through to your destination, you still have 50-70 lbs of stuff to lug with you through multiple airports, on planes, and to ground transport.

Unfortunately, coming back this year, I carried almost as much weight as I took.  That was because I brought back a couple XO laptops, for repairs I couldn't do in Lesotho, a dozen defunct batteries, and a full set of Lesotho textbooks for grades 1-7.  I'm planning to pass those out to volunteers who will help us compile and/or create appropriate lessons for the XOs that will closely follow the curriculum.

 

Sherrie and Jen had a great idea for protecting sensitive equipment in their luggage.  They brought an inflatable foam camping pad to sleep on.  With it compressed flat and lining their bag, they packed equipment inside.  Then, they inflated the pad - instant firm padding around everything.  It was ingenious.

 

- Janissa

 

Up next - Trip Report #2: Lost Luggage and Stolen Equipment

 

 

XO Laptop Shipping Crates Double as Charging Shelves

A recent conversation about charging laptops sparked thoughts about how we dealt with this issue.  Our solution won’t work for many other projects, like ones that already have laptops, or projects that get their laptops shipped directly from OLPC or a manufacturer, but it might be of interest to any future projects like ours that need to ship their own laptops. 

What we did was use wooden shipping crates that later doubled as charging shelves.

 

Doing it this way solved several problems for us.  It provided sturdy containers that could withstand international shipping and the rugged mountain trek to the village.  It reduced the space needed to transport the laptops (a major concern for us).  It drastically reduced our shipping costs.  And, it supplied already-made charging shelves in a location where lumber and tools are hard to come by.

 

We took the laptops out of their original cardboard boxes and made our own customized wooden shipping crates, with 9-10 laptops stacked tightly together and then surrounded by cushioning material. The crates were designed to meet airlines’ checked baggage restrictions for weight (≤50 lbs) and size (≤ 62") and had one removable side for airport security inspections.

At the time, airlines were allowing two free checked bags per passenger.  Two project volunteers were able to transport 50 XO laptops, each taking two crates as checked luggage and extra XO laptops in their carry-on bag.  As a result, we ended up having virtually no excess baggage fees, and our overall shipping costs were minimal.  This saved us hundreds of dollars.

When the laptops reached their destination, we removed one side of each crate and turned the crates into charging shelves. The extra side panels were used to hold the stacked crates together. Power strips were inserted into a compartment on the side of the crates. The XO adapter/power cords were plugged into these, then run along the top of each crate, with a short length of the end hanging loose, just enough to plug into the shelved XOs.

We also brought extra batteries (seen on the shelves).  We swap these out with charged laptop batteries and then charge the extras while in the XO laptops.

- Janissa