we (george, demetra, kaleigh, erin and i) arrived in kampala early tuesday morning after a really long journey through chicago, istanbul and kigali). every piece of our luggage arrived yesterday! yay! never have 5 people been so happy to see clean underwear and tubes of deodorant! the house looks great....the yard and flowers are gorgeous, the pups have received a new name..."demon dogs"! they are so so bad....huge, and capable of destroying just about anything in the blink of an eye. we are seriously considering an exorcism....haha.
it has been about 2 months since my last experience at posta uganda.....i know most or you might recall some of my previous blogs and perhaps are thinkiing that maybe i exaggerated my frustration and couldn't possibly have had soooooo many problems retrieving "parcels", but let me assure you that every word was the truth and now i have witnesses because we have been twice since tuesday and now demetra and erin can validate that the term 'going postal' surely must have originated in the one, and only, kampala post office! before i left uganda in april, i went to the good, ole, PO to check on a package that tasha and demetra had sent tp me.....once i was told the package had not yet arrived and was in transit and the next time i was told that no such custom's number existed and that i must supply a copy of the custom's form. hmmm.....ok. well, sure, can do. when i returned to the USA, tasha gave me the form and george scanned it and sent it to andrew, my partner, so he could take it to the PO. the first time he went he was told he needed a copy of desana's paperwork proving he was affiliated with the charity and the package could not be released until he provided the proof. the package was addressed to From the Heart House (my home, which is the charity's office and houses volunteers). OK he told them and went off to get a copy....yep, he returned to the PO, proof in hand and was told, "NO, YOU CANNOT RETRIEVE THE PARCEL BECAUSE YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE PARCEL!" duuuuuhhhh! no one's name is on the parcel, that is why he was told to prove affiliation with the charity.
ok, time elapse...about a month and here i am back in uganda, and i recall that i need to get the package because maybe some of the contents are still edible since pb cups probably are still good! we went to the PO and were told that the package couldn't possible be traced. "why not?" i asked, it's here, you wouldn't release it to andrew....it's sitting upstairs in the "parcel room". we were told, no, it was returned to sender when you didn't claim it! i explained that someone had tried to claim it but YOU wouldn't release it. i am told that it was returned to sender..."OH NO" says demetra...."I AM THE SENDER AND IT WAS NOT RETURNED TO ME!" hmmm says the worker, come back with the custom's number, we cannnot possibly trace it without the customs number (please remember that i was told the number did not exist even though andrew provided proof.
ok, next day....we return with andrew's computer and we show them the scanned customs form. the worker spends at least 15 minutes looking through a ledger book for this particular package. NO, NOTHING IS COMPUTERIZED! finally he told us there was no record of the package but to take this slip of paper to the parcel room and give it to the someone at the desk. hmmm....so out the door, outside, inside, outside, around the building, up two flights of stairs and enter the parcel room......woman behind the desk...click, click, click on her computer screen.....no, she said, this is not in the system. i thought to myself "system, you have no system!" then she called THE MAN! oh no, it is him...the man who hates me, the man who always gives me grief, the man who not only HATES me, but also holds the fate of my parcels in his hands. what happened next was not pretty.......oh, it was horrible.!!!!! he proceeded to tell us that I could not have the package which he had brought from the back room because it was not addressed to me. well, no, i saw that..it is addressed to my charity and erin said "what do you want us to do, bring the house in here?" blah, blah, blah...he said you should have picked this up months ago! who should have? you just said you can't release it because it isn't addressed to me? someone has tried to pick this up for months and you wouldn't release it! back and forth, back and forth....i, at some point i said that he was calling me a liar...he at some point said that i was calling him a liar and demetra got madder and madder. she told him: "look, i sent this box and it's hers...give it to her!" we realized we were in deep trouble and needed reinforcement so i went to find andrew, thinking....he can fix this mess!
enter andrew....who commenced to talking to THE MAN in luganda..."NO" said THE MAN, "talk in english so THEY can understand!" andrew reiterated everything....back and forth.....how the package had been sitting there for two months unclaimed..yeah, yeah..we know...we tried many times but you wouldn't release it...it is not addressed to you....bring in the house to claim it, open it, check the contents....i sent it to her, and blah blah blah......finally THE MAN said...."well, you can have the parcel if you pay 62,900 shillings....." "WHAT?" we all said....he explains that is the fee for holding the package for so long since no one claimed it!!!! you have got to be kidding.....did you not hear how many times someone has been here....then the old you're a liar, no you're a liar began! we told him we didn't even know if the food inside was still good and if we didn't pay was he going to take the package home and eat the candy himself????? i think at some point i mentioned maybe he needed 62,900 to pay his electricity bill! (whoops) andrew asked to see his supervisor and was promptly told that he was not in today. OH, BIG SURPRISE! we said we would not pay money for this package, that it was ours and he was wrong about us not trying to retreive it many times. "well", said mr. po employee, "how much will you pay? make me an offer and i will take it to my supervisor for his approval!" WHAT! YOUR SUPERVISOR who isn't here? since when does the po accept "OFFERS"? demetra said he should open the box and just give the candy to the street kids....open the box! well, at some point he threw the box to the back table and we noticed an armed guard was following erin who had raised her haunches and the entire situation was hopeless, utterly, completely hopeless......that i would not get the package whose contents had been purchased for me and mailed to me and were mine unless we gave THE MAN some sum of money which would immediately go into his pocket. either way HE won....the package was his or the money was his! what to do? what to do? yep, we walked away...armed guard staring at us and THE MAN knowing he was going to have candy for a snack. out the door i couldn't resist asking a guy "what are you looking at?" which cracked erin up. we were all madder than wet hens.....but maybe, just maybe, what goes around comes around..the whole karma thing. george said we should all go back to the po and pray for him.....you know, we all know that's exactly what we need to do, but i don't see it happening......actually, i'm not sure they will ever let us in the "parcel room" again!!!
it has been about 2 months since my last experience at posta uganda.....i know most or you might recall some of my previous blogs and perhaps are thinkiing that maybe i exaggerated my frustration and couldn't possibly have had soooooo many problems retrieving "parcels", but let me assure you that every word was the truth and now i have witnesses because we have been twice since tuesday and now demetra and erin can validate that the term 'going postal' surely must have originated in the one, and only, kampala post office! before i left uganda in april, i went to the good, ole, PO to check on a package that tasha and demetra had sent tp me.....once i was told the package had not yet arrived and was in transit and the next time i was told that no such custom's number existed and that i must supply a copy of the custom's form. hmmm.....ok. well, sure, can do. when i returned to the USA, tasha gave me the form and george scanned it and sent it to andrew, my partner, so he could take it to the PO. the first time he went he was told he needed a copy of desana's paperwork proving he was affiliated with the charity and the package could not be released until he provided the proof. the package was addressed to From the Heart House (my home, which is the charity's office and houses volunteers). OK he told them and went off to get a copy....yep, he returned to the PO, proof in hand and was told, "NO, YOU CANNOT RETRIEVE THE PARCEL BECAUSE YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE PARCEL!" duuuuuhhhh! no one's name is on the parcel, that is why he was told to prove affiliation with the charity.
ok, time elapse...about a month and here i am back in uganda, and i recall that i need to get the package because maybe some of the contents are still edible since pb cups probably are still good! we went to the PO and were told that the package couldn't possible be traced. "why not?" i asked, it's here, you wouldn't release it to andrew....it's sitting upstairs in the "parcel room". we were told, no, it was returned to sender when you didn't claim it! i explained that someone had tried to claim it but YOU wouldn't release it. i am told that it was returned to sender..."OH NO" says demetra...."I AM THE SENDER AND IT WAS NOT RETURNED TO ME!" hmmm says the worker, come back with the custom's number, we cannnot possibly trace it without the customs number (please remember that i was told the number did not exist even though andrew provided proof.
ok, next day....we return with andrew's computer and we show them the scanned customs form. the worker spends at least 15 minutes looking through a ledger book for this particular package. NO, NOTHING IS COMPUTERIZED! finally he told us there was no record of the package but to take this slip of paper to the parcel room and give it to the someone at the desk. hmmm....so out the door, outside, inside, outside, around the building, up two flights of stairs and enter the parcel room......woman behind the desk...click, click, click on her computer screen.....no, she said, this is not in the system. i thought to myself "system, you have no system!" then she called THE MAN! oh no, it is him...the man who hates me, the man who always gives me grief, the man who not only HATES me, but also holds the fate of my parcels in his hands. what happened next was not pretty.......oh, it was horrible.!!!!! he proceeded to tell us that I could not have the package which he had brought from the back room because it was not addressed to me. well, no, i saw that..it is addressed to my charity and erin said "what do you want us to do, bring the house in here?" blah, blah, blah...he said you should have picked this up months ago! who should have? you just said you can't release it because it isn't addressed to me? someone has tried to pick this up for months and you wouldn't release it! back and forth, back and forth....i, at some point i said that he was calling me a liar...he at some point said that i was calling him a liar and demetra got madder and madder. she told him: "look, i sent this box and it's hers...give it to her!" we realized we were in deep trouble and needed reinforcement so i went to find andrew, thinking....he can fix this mess!
enter andrew....who commenced to talking to THE MAN in luganda..."NO" said THE MAN, "talk in english so THEY can understand!" andrew reiterated everything....back and forth.....how the package had been sitting there for two months unclaimed..yeah, yeah..we know...we tried many times but you wouldn't release it...it is not addressed to you....bring in the house to claim it, open it, check the contents....i sent it to her, and blah blah blah......finally THE MAN said...."well, you can have the parcel if you pay 62,900 shillings....." "WHAT?" we all said....he explains that is the fee for holding the package for so long since no one claimed it!!!! you have got to be kidding.....did you not hear how many times someone has been here....then the old you're a liar, no you're a liar began! we told him we didn't even know if the food inside was still good and if we didn't pay was he going to take the package home and eat the candy himself????? i think at some point i mentioned maybe he needed 62,900 to pay his electricity bill! (whoops) andrew asked to see his supervisor and was promptly told that he was not in today. OH, BIG SURPRISE! we said we would not pay money for this package, that it was ours and he was wrong about us not trying to retreive it many times. "well", said mr. po employee, "how much will you pay? make me an offer and i will take it to my supervisor for his approval!" WHAT! YOUR SUPERVISOR who isn't here? since when does the po accept "OFFERS"? demetra said he should open the box and just give the candy to the street kids....open the box! well, at some point he threw the box to the back table and we noticed an armed guard was following erin who had raised her haunches and the entire situation was hopeless, utterly, completely hopeless......that i would not get the package whose contents had been purchased for me and mailed to me and were mine unless we gave THE MAN some sum of money which would immediately go into his pocket. either way HE won....the package was his or the money was his! what to do? what to do? yep, we walked away...armed guard staring at us and THE MAN knowing he was going to have candy for a snack. out the door i couldn't resist asking a guy "what are you looking at?" which cracked erin up. we were all madder than wet hens.....but maybe, just maybe, what goes around comes around..the whole karma thing. george said we should all go back to the po and pray for him.....you know, we all know that's exactly what we need to do, but i don't see it happening......actually, i'm not sure they will ever let us in the "parcel room" again!!!
1 comment:
I can vouch for the accuracy in this blog .... Kaleigh and I were timing the event. It was 1 hr 15 min.....
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