A report documenting the extremely rough journey of sending a laptop to a refugee camp in Uganda and getting it delivered: why is it so hard to send things?

An Australian developer documented the long, costly journey of sending a used MacBook to a friend in a Ugandan refugee camp.

The shipment was blocked first by lithium-battery air-shipping rules, then delayed by freight forwarding, customs registration, taxes, and a missing taxpayer number.

The laptop was eventually recovered from a temporary holding shop after multiple confusing delivery steps.

The case highlights how even donated tech can be derailed by carrier policies and local bureaucracy in humanitarian settings.