Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Miracle by the Airport
We have been trying to get 5 boxes of soccer equipment out of the airport customs office since last August. We had the stuff air-shipped to Haiti special so we could give out uniforms for our summer soccer tournament in Leogane which was held from Aug 8 to Aug 20th.
We partnered with the Haitian Soccer Federation for this tournament and asked them to help us get these uniforms out of customs duty-free since they are a tax-exempt organization in Haiti.
We thought this was something they do all the time since the Haitian National teams need to import equipment all the time. But it was now December 15th and the stuff was still stuck in customs.
So after two failed attempts to go through the Federation, we decided we had to take matters into our own hands and plead our case with the Director of Customs.
So this morning (12/15) we went to the customs office with a letter requesting a meeting with the Director of Customs. We were just going to drop off the letter and hope that he would honor our request to speak with him 2 days later. But when we arrived at his secretary's office, there he was, signing some papers!
He overheard our tale of woe and stoped and looked at our paperwork. His first reaction was that he could not reduce the fees. But then his secretary piped up and pleaded our case. He waved his hand and told us to start the paperwork and come back to his office!
So we got the paperwork typed up and then went to verify that the stuff was still there after all these months, and it was.
Tomorrow we will find out how much they will charge - so keep praying!!
To be continued...
We partnered with the Haitian Soccer Federation for this tournament and asked them to help us get these uniforms out of customs duty-free since they are a tax-exempt organization in Haiti.
We thought this was something they do all the time since the Haitian National teams need to import equipment all the time. But it was now December 15th and the stuff was still stuck in customs.
So after two failed attempts to go through the Federation, we decided we had to take matters into our own hands and plead our case with the Director of Customs.
So this morning (12/15) we went to the customs office with a letter requesting a meeting with the Director of Customs. We were just going to drop off the letter and hope that he would honor our request to speak with him 2 days later. But when we arrived at his secretary's office, there he was, signing some papers!
He overheard our tale of woe and stoped and looked at our paperwork. His first reaction was that he could not reduce the fees. But then his secretary piped up and pleaded our case. He waved his hand and told us to start the paperwork and come back to his office!
So we got the paperwork typed up and then went to verify that the stuff was still there after all these months, and it was.
Tomorrow we will find out how much they will charge - so keep praying!!
To be continued...
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