Haha...so roughly 3 weeks ago my parents sent out a package to me. Just with candy and some things to help teach the kids with and a few bits of clothing. They were told it would take about 5 days. haha. Finally it arrives, however, the man from my project picking up the package was told that in order to collect the package he needed to pay Tsh 129,000 as an import fee - which equates to about 100 US$!! He has been collecting packages for volunteers for the last 6 months and this is the first time he was asked to pay. He was told that it was "the Tanzanian way", which basically amounts to corruption! So ridiculous! Well I go in the next day...luckily it seems I dealt with a different customs officer. Took forever to locate my package and then he said well you have to pay the import tax. I complained and argued for a while and then said ok well then how much (he nor I had mentioned the cost yet) He disappears into the back room and I see him calculating away...20 minutes later he emerges and says...Tsh 20,000. Hmmmm interesting that's a lot different than Tsh 129,000, ugh? Well that frustrated me more because it means that they have no rhyme or reason to this charging and just try to get any amount. And they are unable to discribe how they calculate the cost or what it is exactly for. Well, in the end it took maybe an hour and half and I paid Tsh 10,000 and was able to collect my package that had been all torn apart and inspected. Oh dear..."the tanzanian way"
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