GoKawiilFor the last few years, while finally earning my belated Bachelor's Degree in the University of London's World Class program, I've met some amazing people from all across the world, completing their degrees after hours while balancing work, families, and other extremely challenging circumstances.
But few have circumstances as challenging as Django’s.
Django is a Congolese refugee living in a camp in Western Uganda. He has no reliable electricity in the camp and runs his laptop on solar power; his internet access comes from Airtel minutes, which he needs to ration on a very limited income. This makes completing a remote Computer Science degree - with video lectures, assignments that need to be uploaded on time and remotely proctored exams - at times seem nearly impossible.
Recently, Django found himself in a new predicament.
His laptop's motherboard burned out after accidentally connecting a USB cable to a 12V battery output, and the next semester was set to start in a few weeks. He had tried to repair it to no avail: the laptop continued to overheat and would not turn on.
I have a few old MacBooks that are in working order, just sitting around the house. So I offered to send one to him.
Naively, I figured that I'd just go to my local post office, put it in a box with some bubble wrap, and he'd have it in a few days/weeks. However, the process turned out to be far more complicated than expected.
First attempt
I dusted off the laptop, wiped the hard drive and reinstalled macOS using Apple's instructions. I wiped the screen with a lint-free cloth wetted with only water, avoiding alcohol-based cleaning products. For the keyboard, I used standard multipurpose wipes to remove my ancient finger grime.
I asked ChatGPT how to send the laptop, and it gave me a spiel about finding a reliable freight service or courier. I asked whether it would be possible to send via Australia Post (our national mail service) anyway, since an outlet was down the road from my house. Apparently, I could, as long as the lithium battery was installed in the device.
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