Well I spent a few days in Dar Es Salaam trying to get a few items and where the container stands in customs to be cleared. It has been great catching up with Salvatorian friends.
As far as the container I am not thrilled but that is expected. The clearing company is called CCT-WAMA it is the Christian Council of Tanzania. Well our container got rejected by the TFDA and it is no surprise. i swear these people are idiots. It is no wonder we got rejected by the TFDA or whatever. i am not impressed with CCT-WAMA. The clearing lady took the medical packing list which is a detailed 5 page list of every specific item and wanted it on one page so she summarized things like Cardiac and that is it not he paper work nothing else to tell you what it is . Is she that dumb. No wonder the clearing people said they wanted detail information and brand name. I mean if you write Anesthesia and cardiac that could be a 1,000 different things if not more. Is she seriously that stupid. FRUSTRATIng. I don't think we would be in this mess if she hadn't sent the entire list like she was suppose to. I asked her a 100 times why she didn't send it with the other paper work. She didn't have an answer. She jus said I don't know these medical things. I was thinking you don't need to know. Just send the list. I think she was super lazy and didn't want to type out the whole packing list. I don't see why she couldn't have just forwarded the email. Idiot. I then gave her the brand name of all the items. Which we haven’t needed in the past. So I put things like medtronic, medline, mallinkrodt, cardinal health. It seemed like a complete waste of time but if they want the brand names I will try and find it. Of course there are numerous brands for medical supplies and I cant know which ones are exactly in the container. So this is a complete guessing game. I will see what happens. But I have learned something new in this experience.
I have come to an understanding. The clearing company doesn't care if we get the container now or in 4 weeks because they will get there cut no matter what. I realized it is a game between the two agencies. Between the Port Clearing and the Tanzania Revenue Agency. They both want the money right, but one wins out. We apply for the Tax exempt form from the Tanzania Revenue Agency. Well they take there sweet ass time getting it back to you. Because they know everyday it sits there in the port it is $25 per day for the first week and then it jumps to $40 per day. Our container has been sitting there for 13 days. So we are already talking $455.00. So that is only the per day cost obviously there is other costs. So one could wait until they get the tax exempt form and pay $2,000.00 or more from sitting in port forever.
Or
You can bribe the TRA and give them a $1,000.00 and get your container right away and not have to worry about paying the daily fee and wondering how long until you get the tax exempt letter.
Anyways I asked KCBRP to send the money right away and see if we can get the container sooner instead of waiting for the letter because i am sure it is going to cost more in the long run. I feel it is out of my hands and I can only pray that this lady sends the packing list with brand items. I saw her friday morning she said she would do it Monday. I was thinking I can you an email. You just have to copy and paste and send the packing list. You could do it now it takes less than 30 seconds. But I’m in tanzania and that is the way it is.
So I decided to take off to kemondo and visit the orphanage I use to work at. That is St. Nicholaus Haus.
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