Updates from August & early September

My apologies ... I am long overdue for updating this blog.  It's been a busy time with lots of things happening.  Here's a quick summary:

Team Members

• Delia Helie, a new Peace Corps Volunteer in Ketane, has offered to help.
• Shaun Ilderton, our I.T. specialist from Durban, has resigned due to time conflicts.  He will be returning the two XO laptops he has.
• Matlabe has started using his new email account.  Please add matlabeteba@gmail.com to your address book.

Fundraising & Donations

• Janissa submitted a grant application to EiF (Engineering Information Foundation).
• We've received a number of personal donations, including several online contributions through JustGive.org and Facebook Causes.
• Janissa set up a Laptops to Lesotho table at a local rodeo and raised $60.
• We received a donated XO laptop (nonfunctioning, usable for spare parts) from an unknown person in California.
• Janissa is working on grant applications to Ananda Foundation and an anonymous foundation.
• Craig is working with teachers in the Cincinnati area on fundraising.
• Diane McWethy is working on fundraising through the Goshen Public Library.

Shipping

• Maureen Powell and her husband carried eight of our XO laptops from the U.S. to Maseru.  They had no trouble going through security and paid no customs fees.  The laptops are currently being stored by Deepak Pullanikkatil of Peace Corps/Lesotho, awaiting pickup by someone from Ketane.

Partners & Support
Initial and/or follow-up contact was made with the following people and organizations.  I'll write more about these in upcoming blogs.

• Jane Hale, Family Literacy Lesotho, & Peter Maphatsoe, Family Art & Literacy Center
• Colleen Smith, MindSet
• Angel Knapp, GrantStation
• Andrew Steele & Bill Thompson, BLOOM Africa
• South African representative of a Swiss foundation which wishes to remain anonymous
• Jennifer, I Love My XO
• Nia Lewis & Adam Holt, One Laptop Per Child
• OLPC News Forum
• Adi Nochur, 1Sky.org

Scheduling

• Matlabe is still working on arrangements to have Dr Kasongo of MS STIC travel to Ketane for a needs assessment for our school network and internet connection (no dates set yet)
• Fortunate is still working on arrangements for teacher training at Kliptown Youth Project (no dates set yet)
• Janissa is making arrangements to travel to Lesotho in November and December (approx Nov 2-Dec 7).  Her brother, Craig, will probably travel with her to help with training.
• Janissa has created a Google online calendar for the public to view L2L events and also a private Google calendar for team members to post their schedules on.

Ongoing

• Aaron is still trying to figure out why the USB modems don't work in Ketane.
• Mapesh & Matlabe are working out contract details and what-if scenarios

Pending
Janissa needs to follow up on fundraising through:

• Deepak Pullanikkatil, Maseru Rotary,
• Cindy, Soda Springs Library, and
• Shawnae Somsen, Soda Springs Public Schools.

Janissa needs to follow up technical assistance through:

• Jennifer Getz, eduWeavers (eSibonisweni)
• Indiana University OHOT (One Here One There)
• Seth Woodworth
• Cilliers du Preez
• Malizo Sinono, GCNS Communication

Brochure & Business Cards

•  Janissa has created a three-panel color brochure you can print double-sided on an 8½ x 11 sheet. The brochure was very well received at its first fundraising event, the Grays Lake rodeo. Contact Janissa if you want to receive a copy of the pdf for your own fundraising events.
• Janissa has also ordered business cards for herself. The minimum order size was 250, so she'll have lots of extras if you'd like to have some. They have the L2L contact info including the new website & email addresses.

Disappointment - No Shipping by Peace Corps via Diplomatic Pouch

I got some disappointing news today from Deepak. The law prohibits the use of the diplomatic pouch to import goods into Lesotho, so we won't be able to get the computers over to Lesotho that way.

We'll have to go back to Plan B and ship them via USPS or DHL, which means I have to find funding for that too.

Another option for getting a few of the laptops to Maseru would be to ask people who are traveling over to carry one or two with them on the plane. We might be able to find PC trainees in the June 2010 CHED group, PC/L staff, and/or Friends of Lesotho associates who are willing and able to help.

We'll get them there one way or another.

- Janissa

Figuring Shipping & Freight Costs

I've spent the last few days navigating the world of international shipping, looking into how much it's going to cost to get about 50 laptops from Idaho to Lesotho. Every viable option I've checked so far costs $1,000 to $1,200.

I've checked out USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, and several smaller international freight companies. I've checked airlines excess baggage. I even looked into adding our cargo to other nonprofit organizations container shipment going to Lesotho. Here's what I've learned -- All the more economical options have some restriction that prevents us from using them.

Our cheapest option will be to ship two laptops at a time using the Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Boxes. This will cost about $990. Insurance would add about $50.

With the shipping cost so high, I'll look into the option of having Peace Corps ship them for us. With PCV Aaron only marginally involved now, I don't know how amenable Peace Corps will be to this, but it's worth a try. If that doesn't work, I'll have to add the shipping costs to one or more grant applications.

Note to self: I need to get over feeling reluctant to ask people and organizations for favors. It's not in my nature, but it is essential to this work.

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For those who may follow in our footsteps, here's a bit more information about shipping supplies to Africa:

Before you start, you need to know the weight and dimensions of the items you need to ship.

USPS (US Postal Service) has a less expensive option called Air M-bags IF you're shipping large amounts of printed material. It also has ISAL (International Surface Air Lift) for total shipments >50 pounds, but this only goes from airport to airport, and it doesn't go to Lesotho. For our laptops, the only options are Priority Mail boxes. There are weight and size requirements for all the USPS options, but their website is really easy to use. You get a 5-10% discount by doing the shipping labels online.
http://www.usps.com/international/welcome.htm

UPS offers Air Freight and Ocean Freight. Their Air Freight rates are fairly comparable to USPS's priority mail rates, just a tad higher for our particular needs.

DHL requires you to fill out every possible little detail, including shipping date and billing information, just to get a rate quote. They do offer Air Freight, Surface Freight, and Ocean Freight, but I only looked at Air Freight. I'm still waiting for the quote.

FedEx doesn't deliver to Lesotho, which is a good thing because I'd hate to have to break my boycott of FedEx.

If I took the laptops with me when I fly to Lesotho,Delta's excess baggage would actually have been the cheapest option, except of course that you can't put computers in checked bags. For other supplies though, going to Africa you can take 2 checked bags up to 50 pounds each for free (62" combined dimension), plus you can take up to 8 more bags! If they are all under 50# & 62", the third bag costs $200, the fourth and fifth cost $350 each, and six through ten cost $600 each. If I checked one personal bag and took 4 50# boxes of supplies, it would cost $900, about $140 less than sending them USPS.

The other nonprofits I contacted were sympathetic but either didn't have room, weren't going to be sending a container any time this year, or had rules against including another organization's freight with theirs. If you're going to try this option, plan WELL in advance and check around.

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- Janissa

No new PCV at Ketane

I got word from Aaron that all the new PC recruits have been placed, and none were sent to Ketane to replace Andrew. This will be a huge disappointment to the school. It shouldn't have a huge impact on our project, but it will mean Aaron and Mapesh will have a heavier work load.

-- Janissa

Packages are in the mail

I finally got the prizes for the winners of the naming and logo contests in the mail, along with some extra school supplies, calendars, and additional gifts for future contests, plus cash for Mapesh to pay for internet access.

The postage cost twice as much as the stuff inside the two packages! You used to be able to send stuff to Lesotho via surface mail. Not anymore! Postage is outrageous. I will have to be more careful about sending stuff and looking for people from FOL or PC going over there to carry any packages I send.

-- Janissa