Two days ago, I bought Weekly
Time Based Internet with another new Tanzania SIM card, paying 13,000 Tsh. What
is time based? Does that mean I would enjoy Internet unlimitedly for 7 days? In Sierra Leone, I used volume-based
Internet; if I use all megabyte (MB) that I purchased, Internet would be never
connected, not even slowly, so I would have to top up MB again. Here in
Tanzania, I have just found the Time Based Bundles! I asked Airtel merchant whether
this service provide unlimited Internet usage for a certain duration of time,
but he did not know well either. Anyhow, I wanted to give it a shot. Review of
this service: the answer is yes, it looked unlimited use for a week, but Internet
has suddenly become super slow after using 400 MB. Waiting webpage pops up for
a long time has almost suffocated me. So then, which option is good? Purchasing
volume-based or time-based?
I was using my modem to
enjoy extremely slow speed of the Internet at my home last night. And I
received an email from Self Storage company, the place that I have stored all
my loads since I left Baltimore; they said that my automatic payment did not go
through this month (I am paying $44 every month for the 5x5 storage unit). I
gave my debit card information to them again and asked to try it again. Kindly,
they emailed me promptly and said the card seemed to be restricted by stating
that was invalid in region or country. It could not be possible because auto
payment for July went though, so I logged in bank website to find out what was
going on. This bank, Wells Fargo, was my main bank account that has provided
Sierra Leone cash and Tanzania cash, so it was my really important livelihood! Another
card that I have is Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union (JHFCU) debit card that
I got just before leaving the U.S. Since my bill payment attempt from Wells Fargo
to JHFCU was not successful, there was drained of money in my JHFCU.
After long and deep
patience, I finally accessed to my transaction history. What? I could not
believe what I was seeing. Somebody was withdrawing my money from my account in
Toronto, Florida, and any other random places! I did not understand how it was
possible because only myself possess my card. Who else have my card and
withdraw cash multiple times? Luckily, Wells Fargo Fraud Prevention department
might have detected this potential fraudulent activity and froze my card
already, so that was why my automatic payment did not work for Self Storage
company. I quickly sent a message to customer service to let them know my
situation. They also kindly replied me promptly, but they wanted me to call
them to assist me. I had no access to international call…
I waited until this morning
to talk to Denice that there was fraudulent activity in my account and my debit
card has been restricted. She gave me great information; I could call toll-free
number through Skype! Obviously, I could not be relaxed in this situation, and
to make matters worse, my faltered English did not convince a counselor that I
am a victim of this fraud. My English normally becomes dumb when I am in a
state of tension, stress, tired, and in this case, panic. I have never
experienced this situation; why now this happened, while I am in Africa? During the 40 minutes of
talking with Wells Fargo, Denice helped me a lot. A moment of fluster blocked
my ear and I could not hear what a counselor said, but Denice rephrased it for
me. Anyway, bank work is too complicated to understand easily even in my mother
tongue. I was terrified when a counselor asked me if I would want to prosecute
person for fraud. If I say yes, should I appear in court as a victim? I just
wanted my cash back and conclude this situation as soon as possible. After a
short discussion with Denice, I said No. I was also surprised to hear that
there were several declined transaction attempts that I could not even see in
the transaction history. Wells Fargo would shut my card down to prevent more
fraud attempts, and send the new card to Tanzania.
From the morning to the
afternoon, WVT zonal meeting was held at Nam Hotel conference. Finance
Director, Moses, visited here in Dodoma from Arusha to lead this meeting. The
topic was not limited to finance issue; he had an in-depth analysis about leadership,
communication, reorganization, and cost reduction strategy. I was able to learn
WVT’s structure – category, cluster and ADP – as well as WVT’s future plan
responding to global financial crisis. Although I had money problem on the
brain and had to schedule Skype meeting with my interviewees who were in Sierra
Leone during the whole time, I tried to understand the situation of WVT as much
as possible because I am here in Tanzania.
Am I coping with unexpected
happening pretty well? I unexpectedly evacuated Sierra Leone and urgently
relocated to Tanzania, and my debit card had to be unexpectedly shut down. What
is my plan now? My plan from now should be flexible enough to deal with another
possible unexpected happening. Maybe, we make a plan not only to estimate the
future but also to accommodate ourselves to irregular circumstances.
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