The first 15 GMB laptops arrived in Ethiopia by mail. While already promised in March and transported in May, finally they are in the lab, and students can start to use them!
The laptops were sent by post, but once arrived in Ethiopia, it was quite a challenge to get them to Arba Minch. While the resale value per laptop was 150 euro, the laptops were taxed as new. Furthermore, initially a penalty of 300% was awarded because it was seen as importing laptops without license. After multiple visits to Addis Ababa and a lot of paperwork, the penalty was waived and the laptops were forwarded to Arba Minch. The remaining tax will be refunded by Arba Minch University. Thanks to them and thanks to GMB my students can now get practical computer classes which are not affected by power outages and absent lab assistants!
GMB promised to donate in total 30 laptops. Based on the experience with the first batch, the next batch of 15 laptops will be transported by people visiting us from The Netherlands.