All, This is my first post and I was wondering if anyone has any advice on bringing in computers and Rachel on the Pi’s to Kenya.
Last year our church organization sent over 20 laptops and 2 Rachel Pi’s and it was difficult getting through Kenya’s airport / immagration. Likewise, our team was told last year that the Kenya government may come in an take away this equiptment. Long story short, by the grace of God, the laptops made it in.
Any advice on getting Rachel Pi computer and computers when going through Kenya security at the airport. Or how to get any offical Kenya documentation / paperwork for helping geting these resources through to the Kenya schools?
Note: laptops were refurbished unused laptops. Kenya airport security wanted $75/laptop…
Hi @Bruce_Anderson – I don’t have great advice for you here, but I do have lots of empathy. Even shipping product directly to our people in Kenya gets caught in the VAT / Tariff tax.
Kenya is part of the East African Commission. At one point, I was neck deep in their tariff schedule. I remember new computers having a 0% tariff and refurbished ones having a 25% tariff. Both items would be subject to ~16% VAT in addition to those things.
The use case of charity is not an acceptable reason in most cases to avoid these things. That being said, you can negotiate a lot better if you use USPS vs UPS or DHL. USPS hands off to Kenya Post local offices, which seems to have a more local understanding of the work you might be doing. None of this applies to the airport of course. Anything over 3 laptops for personal use is likely to get flagged.