The Beginnings - Part III

Mr. Atta managed to get everything all nice and packed sometime around the end of May.  We debated all kinds of plans about the best way to pack the computers.  I called every shipping place I could to ask advice.  In the end, I have no idea how they were packed.  Atta called me one day and told me it was done and that was that.  Not how I had planned, but he is a man of action and I was glad to be one step closer to getting the computers on the ocean.  Atta contacted a shipping company that he had worked with before and set up a time for them to pick up our containers.  Twice Mr. Atta set up these appointments and twice they did not show.  Once again another road block presented itself.  We were ready to begin seeking other options as our containers had been packed for several weeks now and sitting in Atta's garage.  This was an incredibly frustrating time.  To make a long story short, eventually they did show and our computers were headed for Africa.  I was excited and nervous.  We had just turned over 3 crates full of computers, clothes, and school supplies and I had no invoice.  I was assured that everything was in order, but it just wasn't the way I was used to doing busines.  It was well over a week before I was emailed an invoice and we didn't even pay anyone for a couple of weeks.  When the crates were picked up Mr. Atta had told them he did not have time to pay them because they had made him wait so long.  They would have to wait.  Wow.  He is a man of action and I am impressed. Eventually we got a real invoice, paid our bill and I even got a tracking number.  I checked it daily, as if it would make things move quicker.  After a stop in Amsterdam our container finally made it to Tema where it would sit in port for another solid week before being received by Community Eleven School.  Mission accomplished.  Kind of.  School was out for the summer so the crates were moved to the headmaster's house to await the new school year and installation.  Again we would have to wait. That pretty much gets us to where we are now.  CESC is working on the installation process, aparently with an outside organization.  There is so much I don't know about what is going on in my own project.  It can be frustrating at times, but it has been an incredible learning experience.  I've had to accept the fact that I can't control every little aspect of this.  It's just not possible. I'm not really used to that, but I'm coming to terms with it.  I've also learned to accept that there are different ways of doing business.  Mr. Atta has helped me many times with reassurance that everything was ok.  It's been fun, it's been frustrating, it's been a challenge.  We've only just begun...