Wanpela liklik toksave

When I wrote the post today, I didn't realise I had previously written a draft in September but hadn't posted it.  So there is now a double up of information because I decided to go ahead and publish that draft without changing either.

Lynette

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Bill & Lynette Cottam NTM PNG Highlands Tech Services P.O. Box 1079, Goroka E.H.P. 441 P.N.G. mobile phone: +675 72767069 or + 675 71259593 email: bill_cottam@ntm.org phone: +675 5321670

A couple of months ago a group of men from the Kogoraipa group of churches in the Yagaria came to see me.  They had formed a support group to raise money to support the missionaries the church has sent out to other parts of PNG.  They told me that had received training in growing potatoes and would be growing them and selling seed potatoes to a local company.  They felt that this avenue would not generate enough income and so they wanted help to buy able to buy laptop computers from overseas which they could sell and use the profit to support the missionaries.  They are conscious that many of the young people now are wanting laptops for university and some even for the senior years of high school.

After talking with them about what we would need in order to be able to access the internet and the sort of bank account/s we would need, I sought help from Chris in out IT department.  Chris told me about Shipito a company in the US which has been set up to post parcels [packages] around the world from the US because so many companies in the US [if not all] which sell on the internet will not post to a destination outside the U.S.  :(

Chris sent me the following toksave concerning Shipito.com

NTM PNG ICT Dept has setup an account with Shipito.com, and has used it many times for multiple purposes and highly recommends this service. Shipito provides each registered account with a Torrance California mailing address. With this address, you are then free to shop at any online retailer that ships within the US, including Ebay, Amazon.com, NewEgg, TigerDirect etc... You, or your organization would then prepay for postage at your discretion. Their rates are pretty straightforward, it costs a flat rate of $8.00 per parcel plus the actual shipping cost for each parcel to ship it to any address overseas. (We've opted to pay a premium which has brought our processing fee down to $2.50 for each parcel) Since many items such as laptops are often nearly half the price for the same items in Australia, and often 3 time cheaper than the same items in PNG, we've found significant costs savings using this service.
Whenever a parcel for your account arrives at their receiving center in Torrance California, they notify you by email, then after logging into your account, you'll have a range of options in how to send the parcel including:

• A range of airfreight services including DHL, Federal Express, Airborne etc
• Options to consolidate the package with other orders to save on shipping costs (small fee applies)
• Options to discard excess packaging again to save shipping costs (small fee applies)
• You'll receive a picture of every package that arrives
• You'll receive freight tracking numbers for each item that arrives
• You'll have an option to have Shipito open your package and take pictures for you to assess whether everything ordered has arrived (small fee applies)
• You'll have the opportunity to fill out the customs form for each parcel, designating it's contents & commercial value. (required for each parcel)
• With each parcel that arrives at Shipito's receiving center, they will also provide you with the shipping volume and weight automatically, and free of charge.
• Additionally, Shipito also offers an assisted purchasing service for both online retailers as well as brick & mortar retail stores such Walmart, Home Depot etc. This especially makes it easy to shop via email asking Shipito to source whatever you're needing. (fee applies)

In order to setup an account with Shipito, they will require passport details, billing details (bank account, Paypal account or credit card etc), there also is a form you'll need to fill out and have notarized including another form to be notarized by your local post office verifying that your identity as the receiver at your given address(s)
For more information, go to www.shipito.com One each parcel has been shipped, again you'll be notified via email.

He also suggested that a smart phone would be a better option than the 10.1" laptop I had suggested to the men for them to connect  to the internet via the Digicel tower which they can access from their village.  Chris also recommended a solar charging panel which they could use in the village to charge their phone.

In my next post I'll share the difficulties I experienced with setting up the Shipito account so that you will be able to learn from my experience and avod the pitfalls.


Then I'll share about our first successful shipment containing a 10.1" laptop, a smart phone and the solar charging panel.  I will also fill you in on the progress concerning setting up a bank account for the group and getting a Visa debit card.   Em inap long dispela taim.

The visit which initiated the task I am going to blog about in these coming months.

Raphael Agome, Leson Woka, Pama Role and Pita Jonaten from FNBC churches in the Kogoraipa group up in the Frigano end of the Yagaria tribe came a couple of weeks ago seeking advice and knowledge.

They have formed the Kogoraipa Community Group to seek to generate money to be used  to support the missionaries they have sent out and plan to send in the future.  At present Jack Agome is in Lae.  He has been there all year without  his family because in Lae living in a settlement it is necessary to buy absolutely EVERYTHNG and the churches haven't felt able to give him enough support for the whole family. :(  Mi no amamas long em i mas stap wanpis.
He has faithfully taught Creation to Christ [or Phase One or Plantim Pos whatever you want to call it]  and has seen a group of folk saved.  Another man I do not personally know is in Faiantina with his family.  Thankfully there in the bush they have access to enough garden food for the whole family to live there.

The KCG have visited an agricultural group in Goroka who teach farmers to grow and market potatoes and onions and perhaps other items.  A rep from the group is going to go out and teach the folks so that they can get started growing potatoes.  Since they do not have reliable road access, they are not going to try to market potatoes.  They will grow seed quality potatoes and sell them to the group.  [I have to find out the name and put it in here so everyone will know who the group is.]  The group will send a buyer up with the truck to collect their well-dried harvest and these potatoes will then be part of the stock of seed available for the other customers.

What they wanted to put to me was the possibility of their buying laptop computers and selling them to the many students who are wanting them for senior high school and for university, or mobile phones with radio and photography capablities to sell to people throughout the tribe.
They had also made enquiries about a bank account with the BSP in Goroka.

I started working with them on the laptop idea.   I suggested notebooks with a 10.1" screen and a 6-cell battery so that they will work off the battery charge for 7and a half hours up to 11 hours depending on the unit bought.  These are  available from many manufacturers now that Asus has led the way.  My reasoning is that in the classroom all the students will want to be set up with their laptops and there just will not be enough power points.  Thus the laptop MUST have a very long life on each charge.  In the afternoon the student can plug into a power point by his/her bed in the dorm and start recharging the battery ready for the next days classes.  

I pointed out that these would have to be bought via the internet from overseas  since they do not seem to be sold by Abel, Daltrol and Datec here in PNG. [I will have to make sure that is absolutely true.]  The U.S. seemed to be where the group would need to search for them because any particular unit is cheaper there than in Australia.

They had opened an account about a year previously.  I got on the phone to BSP using the 180 number I found in the phone directory.  On this you can talk for as long as you like for the cost of a local call.  I talked to a young woman for about 30 minutes.  I found out that the account they had opened as a group is a savings account.  Unfortunately, the bank charges a K3 fee every .  They had deposited or withdrawn during the period since they opened the account.  K18 had gone in fees and then the account was made dormant after 6 months of inactivity.