Angela and I spent the day in Kampala, mostly hanging out with Angela's family and friends. We scheduled meetings and exchanged money and did other small errands. We also called FedEx, who confirmed that our packages had arrived and that we could pick them up on Saturday.
Then tonight when Angela's internet turned on (she has internet from 7 pm to 7 am), we saw an email regarding the customs duties and taxes on our crates. The person on the phone had not mentioned this, but a man had called me yesterday and mentioned these expenses. The cost is significantly higher than we had anticipated, and, if it is a real document, then we believe that they made errors in calculating the duties. We aren't really sure what is going on, so Angela and I are going to make many phone calls and visit FedEx to try and get the cost cut down. Luckily, my sister gave me some good contacts with the Ugandan customs officials so we're going to call them tomorrow to make sure that this is legitimate and try and fix the errors that we're seeing. Hopefully it will all work out- we have 3 days to pay and pick up the crates until they start accumulating interest. I have had a lot of chocolate, and talked to my trip leaders, so I think that it will be ok.
Angela and I are also going to meet with two NGO's tomorrow regarding our water project. We have been working to find a solution to the village's water problems, and we want to get advice from people that have worked on similar issues. Hopefully, balancing dealing with the crates and meeting with the NGO's will not be too bad.
Anyways, the crates are causing some issues, but generally things are going fairly well. I'll keep you updated.
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