Need help/advice to ship charity goods to South Africa

Ok everyone don't let me down as some wee kiddies and poor families are depending on us.

After recently visiting South Africa and seeing first hand the poverty in the townships we (the ten of us on the bike tour) decided we would like to make a small difference to some of the people we met. Since we got back we have collected a stack of clothes, books, toys and shoes which i have now boxed up to send to our contact at Karoo Biking to distribute.

The problem is that after getting the stuff weighed in the Post Office last night it is going to cost over £600 to ship.

So, how can I get this stuff over there - somebody suggested using a shipping company - you know the sort that will crate up a GS and ship it. Trouble is I don't know any companies that do this.

Over to you lot - I know you'll come through for me on this....let's play Santa and get these seven boxes into the hands of some families who are less fortunate than us and deserve a break.

Bump

Hello hello - somebody out there must know how to contact a shipping agency for freighting this stuff over.

'Tis a minefield ...

... this one, finding a shipping company should be just a case of using Yellow Pages, but getting 'permission' to freight 'charity' donations might prove a little more difficult. Don't be too disappointed if there is a heavy cusoms levy which makes the whole thing financially un-viable. Lots of countires do this to avoid the stigma of being the recipients of charitable donations, even to the detriment of their people

On the 'TiTS' trip we were shocked to find Gambian border guards wanted to charge customs duty on the medical supplies we were donating to their hospital. It took lots of phone calls from 'heavy hitters' before we were allowed to proceed. Even then the local customs bloke wanted his piece before we were allowed to unload at the hospital

My employers (The Met) were heavily involved in organising charity convoys and work parties to Romania, until they decided to apply to join the EU. At which point all such badly needed Aid was stopped overnight as the Government deemed it inappropriate

Bump

Hard solution

Lord Snooty said:

Bump

Hello hello - somebody out there must know how to contact a shipping agency for freighting this stuff over.

Click to expand...

Oblertone is right.
So many place obstacles in the way
some shippings get 'inspected' by some 'customs' who take a sample.....

One of the many reasons I decided to drive the precious cargo door to door.
Yes, it is expensive but it gets there and the smile on those who receive the cargo is something to behold.
Bert

Echo what Oblertone & Bert are saying....

No way do I want to put the dampeners on such a worthwhile gesture ....with time, effort and a bit of patience you might get round it. I was in southern Africa early this year on a lengthy solo trip.....ended up in Cape Town.... stayed for the last few days in Langa Township with an HIV/AIDS nurse/counsellor. The township clinic was desperate to get hold of some additional mobile phones, but just hadn't the resources. (They were used as a means of contact between the nurses and AIDS patients out in the rural areas, to monitor the patient's antiretroviral medication intake on a regular basis). When I got back home, collected together a consignment of them (donated) over a period of a several months. Bit of a shock when I looked into shipping costs!!!! Parcelforce International charged me £115 for a package weighing 14 Kilos. - & that was on their Economy package - took almost three months to arrive!!!! And as Bert has said , to that had to be added Customs charges at the other end - in this case, around 35GBP.
Its a shitty world out there.... called capitalism.


Maybe one way to go would be to see whether an appropriately worded letter to the CEO's of some of these shipping / freighting companies might
get you a discounted price in view of the nature of the contents of the shipment......has to be worth a try. The crazy thing is if you'd had £600 with you when you were in Cape Town, it would have gone so much further in providing for these kids, than having to go through all this hassle down the line.

Failing all else....particularly if there are a group of you involved...you might try a funding raising event / raffle / or whatever / to cover the shipping costs. You could then also use the 'event/s as a vehicle for doing a bit of awareness-raising amongst your potential supporters?

You just have to find a way of getting it out there...and you will!


HIV/AIDS orphan, Langa Township, Cape Town , RSA.

Mike....we have a contact from the TITS trip who does exactlythis sort of thing all the time shipping stuff from the roundtable and rotarians out to the Gambia for the Bansang Hospital.......Bob Fawcett....lovelybloke


I'll try and find his details......he sends container loads out quite often so even if he can't help directly to S.A, he'll know the ins and outs of it all.

If I don't come back to you within a day or two after Xmas, Skype me and hassle me for it

Bill

Your lordship...

South Africa is more civilised than Gambia and in-fact every other country in Africa. They have a long way to go before they get to the same level of corruption as say Nigeria or Kenya, being two noteably good examples of the finest produce of colonialism.

What you are doing is sort of good, just make sure the goods get to where they are supposed to go and also that they are earned, not charitably donated.
It may sound stupid but charity sucks big time it destroys a persons (the receivers) self-worth. however anything that you can do is good, just make sure that it is earned.

MSC shipping company will handle larger good drops say palet sized. For smaller loads I would seriously consider your motives, maybe western union would be more in line with the results you will end up obtaining.

If you are in need of contacts on the other end (Cape Town) I know loads. My one good buddy ships one 20ft container from South Africa to London every month and one 40ft container every quarter, so the route coming this way is easy.
One thing that you will find is than no-one gets a free meal everyone (rightly) wants to earn something for the work that they do.

In your shoes I would head down to the Strandtravel (London), and ship myself out there by boat, shorts in one hand and goods in the other. make a holiday of it, I think 3 weeks, then fly back, buying your ticket using SA banana skins.

Regards G

I head out to East and South Africa twice a year, ostensibly to Run a safari, but I always plant some trees, so far an average of 200 a year. I get the locals to dig the holes and tend to the saplings as they are growing to protect them from bloody goats.
I arrange with the Arboretum to germinate a load of trees for me (which I usually suply plastic bags for and a little something else to the curator.)
Then I run the trees out to a suitable site, Buy a cow (£90) arrange for it to be spit roasted at a local pub in three days time. by now there is a huge amount of interest and a lot of people willing to become involved. I pretty much secure a suitable work force of thirty people.
They dig holes on top of a hill, drag water up there (usually young kids chip in here) Drag the saplings up there and plant the lot. I then leave another £90 odd for beer, and try to get out before the party starts, as it is usally bureauchratic chaos.