Dynamic Yet Consistent

We have been in Swaziland right at 3 months now, and I can definitively say that the most annoying, frustrating, time-consuming, expensive thing we have had to deal with is obtaining our Temporary Residence Permit.  This TRP (as it is often called) is basically a visa / work permit that allows a person to remain in Swaziland for an extended period of time.  I figured if explaining the process a bit could save at least one person some headaches, then it was worth it… so, here are a few notes on what we learned during the process.

[SIDE NOTE: Apart from obtaining an TRP, there are a few things you can do to stay in the country if you are American (different countries have different rules, so I can only comment on my experience).  First, upon entering Swaziland, the stamp they give you at the border is good for 30 days in country.  Note, that this is not mentioned anywhere, but it is common knowledge.  I have been told that if you stay in the country with just your passport stamp for more than 30 days, then the fees can be pretty intense: as in a couple hundred emalangeni every day you are over.  So, if you want to stay current, you can always just cross the border at least once a month.  Of course that is time-consuming and requires regular planning.  The other option is to go to the government offices and get an extension of days.  If you bring your passport in, they will give you a new stamp.  But, this can only be done twice a year, so be selective on when you employ this.]

To get your Temporary Residency Permit, the first thing you need to do is visit the government offices.  This is a shabby building just down the hill from Mbabane Government Hospital.  If you walk in the front door, past the entryway desk and the staircase, you will come to crowded dimly lit hallway on the ground floor.  Everything you need is here.  If you turn right you will get to the TRP office where you get your paperwork.  If you turn to the left you will see the extension of days office is in the middle of the hallway.  A bit further down is the office that actually gives out the permits.  Almost towards the end of the hall is the accounts department where you pay, and at the very end is the records room where get your paperwork taken care of.  The whole thing is a bit convoluted, but at least you can get it all down in a 100′ area unlike some bureaucratic tasks that require you to drive all over the city to complete.

Your first visit to the government offices will be to pick up the paperwork.  Unfortunately you can’t download the forms online (as far as I know) and thus have to make a special trip to even start the process.  (I have uploaded digital copies at the end of this so you can get a feel for the paperwork involved, but please note these are not official.)  At the TRP offices, you will get a list of application requirements as well as the actual forms.  For missionaries and those looking to be employed while in country you will need to pick up Form 3 (Entry Permit Application), Medical Certificates for all who are applying, and a Dependant Form (form 6) for everyone besides the primary applicant.

Here is what the application requirements actually list for each category:

• Business Person
  • Complete application form (Form 3 – Entry Permit Application)
  • Memorandum of Association
  • Two passport sized photos
  • Covering letter of application
  • Original police clearance from country of origin (internationally recognized)
  • Lease Agreement
  • Medical Certificate
  • Certificate of Incorporation Form J and Form C
  • Passport Copy
• Employees
  • Complete application form (Form 3)
  • Two passport sized photos
  • Covering letter of application from employer
  • Proof of advert of post (full page)
  • Original police clearance from country of origin (internationally recognized)
  • Qualification Certificates (copy)
  • Medical Certificate
  • Passport Copy
• Special Pass
  • Complete application form (Form 10)
  • Copy of Recent Appeal
  • Application letter
  • Two photos
  • passport copies
• Dependants
  • Complete application form (Form 6)
  • Copy of residence status documents (Guardian)
  • Two passport sized photos
  • Covering letter of application from guardian
  • Copy of marriage certificate (for spouse) or birth certificate (for child)
  • Original police clearance from country of origin (for those over 18)
  • Medical Certificate
  • PIN number if Guardian is Swazi
  • Passport Copy
• Students
  • Complete application form (Form
  • Two passport sized photos
  • Letter from school/institution
  • Support letter from ministry of education
  • Original police clearance from country of origin (internationally recognized)
  • Medical Certificate
  • Passport Copy
• Visitor’s Pass
  • Complete application form (Form 10)
  • Two passport sized photos
  • Letter of Application from Host
  • Residence status document of Host (e.g. Temporary Residence Permit)
  • Medical Certificate
  • Passport Copy
• NOTE: All copies must be certified

Since we applied for the Employee / Dependant permits, those are the only ones I can talk about.  But, here are a few explanatory notes about those requirements that may be helpful:

• Photos – these don’t require the same attention to detail that actual passport photos demand.  Ours were taken against a grimy, green wall by a market merchant for E30.  While in line, I even saw people who simply printed off small black and white photos from a digital camera on a regular printer.
• Employer Cover Letter – This is basically just a restatement of all the information contained in the actual application.  Your employer is basically just explaining what you will do here, how you will be compensated and why they aren’t hiring a Swazi.
• Proof of advert of post – They are again wanting to make sure you aren’t taking a job that a Swazi could be doing.  Your employer is supposed to provide proof that they actually advertized this job rather than just offering it to a foreign national.  I don’t know how this works for most people, but since Beth and I were coming as Missionaries, we were able to ignore this requirement.
• Police Clearance – There is certainly some flexibility in this requirement.  If you want the official answer, this is supposed to be your Federal Background Check.  In order to get this, you have to get your finger prints taken and then have those submitted to the FBI.  They will then send you your results.  If you are not already in Swaziland, then by all means, visit your local police station and get this taken care of.  If you are in Swaziland already, you can arrange it with the Regional Security Officer at the US Embassy to take your fingerprints, but it will be up to you to actually submit them and get the results.  However, for ours, we submitted a state background check which was available online and they accepted it.  I wouldn’t count of that working all the time, but for us it did and were are very grateful.
• Qualification Certificates – Again, because we applied as Missionaries, we did not have to provide these.  But, the idea is that if the job being hired for requires a bachelor’s degree, then you have to prove you have a bachelor’s degree.  Basically you need a copy of your diploma or any industry certificates that you claim to possess as part of your terms of employment.
• Medical Certificate – This is just a super simple form you pick up and have your doctor fill out.
• Document copies (Passport, Marriage / Birth Certificate) –  In Swaziland, certified copies are very similar to notarization.  Basically to get a copy certified, you simply take the photocopy along with the original to your local police station.  They check to make sure the original matches the copy and then they stamp it and sign off on it.  My local police station did this free of charge in about 5 minutes.

Once you have all your forms filled out, your copies certified, your photos taken, and your cover letter written, you are ready to turn in your application.  This means another trip to the TRP offices.  I have found the best time to go is before noon.  When you turn in your application they give all your forms a quick look over, then give you a certificate of application.  This certificate gets you an additional 30 days in country without having to restamp your passport.  On this form is a reference number that you will later use check on the status of your application.

Your application is then submitted to an immigration board who will ultimately decide whether or not to approve your application.  I was told this takes between two and three weeks and was given a number to call to check on it.  At the time of this writing, the number was +268.2404.2941.  It actually took me 2.5 weeks for mine to be approved.

The final step is actually paying for and picking up your permit (did I mention this process is super expensive?).  Again, I would recommend going early – the process is kind of lengthy.   First you go to the TRP office where they check to make sure you really were approved.  Then you go the records room to pick up the actual paperwork for your TRP.  Then you go to the accounting office to pay your fees.  For us, we paid E2,400 for my TRP and then E1,800 each for Beth and Mikayla and their dependant permits.  Based on the exchange rates at the time (E7.5/$1) that cost us about $800.  After your fees are paid, you go back to the TRP office to actually get your TRP.  This involves getting your passports stamped and getting a print off of the actual entry permit.  Once you get this completed, you are officially a temporary resident of Swaziland.

Looking back on this whole process, there are a couple things I learned that I wish I knew ahead of time:

• There are a lot of things that are much easier to get done in the States than they are to get done in Swaziland.  The Police Clearance is a perfect example.  Do your homework and come prepared.
• You don’t have to be present to apply for a TRP.  If someone has your passport they can turn in the documents and pick up the entry permit for you.
• The typical TRP is issued for two years, but if the cost is too much, you can only apply for one year at a time (but of course then you have to go back through the process again).
• While not necessary, I took a person with me who spoke siSwati.  It helped to have someone who could talk more easily with the officials and interpret the situation from a local context.
• You can request a fee waiver, but that must be submitted with your initial application.  If you are coming as a missionary / volunteer / etc. I think you might have a decent chance of getting this waived.
• Plan on this taking a long time.  We have had staff members who have had to dedicate entire days to each of these steps.  One volunteer had everything complete, and went all the way through the pick up process only to find out the person who stamps the passports wasn’t there and she had to come back again later.  Call ahead before you go in to make sure that not only your application is ready, but that all the people are there who need to be there.  Again, I recommend going in as early in the day as possible.
• There are a lot of specific things needed, but in my experience with the right explanation, there is also a fair bit of flexibility (i.e. with police clearances, documentation, etc.).
• The Dependant application asks for the permit number of the primary applicant, but you can submit all applications together.

Finally, for your (possible) benefit, I wanted to upload digital copies of the applications and cover so you can get a feel for what to expect.

• TRP Form 3
• Dependant Form
• Medical Form
• Cover Letter
• Dependant Cover Letter – I wrote this one for my wife and then also had a shorter one for my daughter.

The following picture from the Times of Swaziland goes a long way in illustrating the situation with government here in Swaziland:

Here’s the situation: Schools in Swaziland have been in chaos for the last month due to lack of funds in the government.  Most delayed opening, then many closed down again after opening.  Basically the government has committed to pay fees for most primary grades as well as fees for all OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children), yet, there simply isn’t enough money in the coffers to pay the bills.  As a result, there has been a lot of political wrangling and posturing and it has been the children who are suffering the consequences.  Even when the schools are open, there are still major issues.

That brings us to this picture…

In this country there isn’t enough money to pay teachers; all our classrooms are beyond over-crowded; students have already been shorted instruction days; many students who want to attend school can’t because of huge fees; and, there is the constant threat that schools will again be closed…

YET… the things that actually gets attention is the inspection of a school bell.  Really?!?!  That is what is most important?!?! AND… it takes four people to accomplish the task.  How about we address the things will actually effect the educational process for the children of this country who have already been deprived of so much!

We are majoring in the minors here people!  The things that matter are ignored while a ridiculous amount of attention is spent on things that are almost entirely without consequence.

I wish this was just another funny example of oddball Swazi journalism (if you can even call it that), but unfortunately, it is indicative the situation as a whole.

I recently made a post about the current situation in Swaziland.  This was largely prompted by some of press the country had received related to financial issues and some protests.  Some of these stories came straight from the Swazi press.  So, before you start giving too much credence to what you read, let me give you a snap shot at what the press in Swaziland is really like.

Here is a picture of the front page of one of the two news papers in Swaziland from a few weeks ago:

There are so many things I could comment on, I just don’t know where to start.

Let’s begin with the main picture.  I don’t know if you can make it out of not, but that is a photo of hundreds of "maidens" all lined up to dance topless before the king at the annual reed dance.  And before you say that at least it is a classy photo, let me assure you that the inside stories leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Even better than the main picture is the main headline at the bottom of the page.  Just FYI, the "Sushi King" is a shady character from South Africa who is known for his expensive taste and his tendency to pour Champaign over beautiful models and eat sushi off their bare bodies.  The subheading to the story reminds readers that polygamy is still alive and well in Southern Africa.

But, the real kicker of course is the main story introduction (in the red bard).  If you missed it the first time, go back and read it all together.  Now please tell me how in the world that made it past a copy editor.

And then just for good measures, we have front page stories about a pastor showing a girl his "manhood" and the account of a gospel star (who is only 9-years old by the way) who is attacked by demons on stage.

Only in Swaziland my friends… and this is this a taste… there are crazy media accounts like this all the time.  I will try to post some more in the future.

Depending on what news outlets you regularly follow, you may have recently seen a few headlines coming out of Swaziland:

• Annual Reed Dance – where all the maidens dance topless before the King.
• Protests in the Streets – various groups and organizations demonstrating over a variety of issues.
• Schools close down – lack of money forces the education system to shut down.
• Big South African Bail out – Our closest neighbor gives the country a financial boost.
• Wikileaks releases Swaziland cables – The ambassador’s comments are made public.

Since some of those headlines could certainly induce worry for those of you that know us, I wanted to take the time to share the situation as we see it on a daily basis.

First, there are a few broad themes you need to understand about the country:

• Swaziland is a constitutional monarchy with a king, but also houses of assembly (senate / parliament).  In the case of Swaziland that means a really big government and a whole lot of bureaucracy.  Unlike England that has a similar system, King Mswati III has a whole lot of power in running things.
• Swaziland is in deep financial trouble.  The government is simply too big to be supported by the streams of revenue that exist.  The country has high need (largely stemming from the HIV / orphan crisis) and low income (70% live on less than $2/day).  This has caused the type of problems you would expect: unpaid bills, promises without delivery, loss of services.
• Most Swazis love their King, although there is a small but vocal contingent that want to see a more democratic system with less power (and money) going to the King.  This group tends to be less traditional, more educated and in general fairly civil

In one way or another, most of the recent press comes from some combination of these factors (except for maybe the dancing-topless-virgins thing). 

The bailout from South Africa was necessitated by the dire financial situation of the country.  However, the amount (roughly 3.4 million USD) is only enough to cover about a month and a half of government salaries.  So, by the time it arrived, most of it was spent and nothing was accomplished.  This "bailout" largely just served to accentuate the poor financial management of the government.

The protests have mostly been put on by groups that are upset because they are not getting what was promised to them: students are marching because they haven’t received their scholarship; nurses are protesting because they haven’t been paid on time; the teachers are upset because government hasn’t provided their share of education costs. 

Part of the principals/teachers protest has been to shut down the schools.  So far most students have missed 3-4 days of their final term of the year.  However, the actual effect is variable as some schools have continued to operate.  Unfortunately, the whole thing is largely political maneuvering and it is the kids who lose.

The financial crisis has been a rallying point for many of the pro-democracy groups in the area.  Many of them see the monarchy as a huge financial drain that must be addressed and they see the the King and his allies as the ones responsible for taking things the direction they have gone. So, the push is for more representation from the populous of the country and less power/money going to the king.  But, you have to remember that even if those points are valid, most Swazis are very happy and dedicated to King Mswati.

Then, on top of all of this, wikileaks just released cables from the US Ambassador commenting on the situation outlined above.  I haven’t read the cables, but from what I can gather, they are mostly just formal statements about the country and its leadership that any westerner who has been here two weeks could plainly see.

Now, a couple things I want to point out.  First, for the most part, Beth, Mikayla and I have not been directly affected by any of the things going on.  Financially we are not dependant on the government so there are no major worries.  Second, the protests / actions that are going on here have been largely very peaceful.  There has been a few instances where things have gotten out of hand, but no more so than what happens occasionally at demonstrations in the United States.  I think when people hear "African Protest" they picture machine guns, tanks and riot police.  Here it is mostly just a bunch of educated people marching in the streets with banners while police look on.  I am not saying that there are not things going on that I raise my eyebrow to, but nothing is happening that makes me feel unsafe.

Of course, there are a lot of indirect aspects of these situations that have and will affect us and those around us.  First, the children in our child care program have been out of school and that means that it is up to our staff to construct learning opportunities on the fly for 120 children.  Second, because government is not paying its bills, there are a lot of services that aren’t available.  This has mostly just lead to inconveniences, but I am unsure how things will progress.  There is a real worry that provisions for AIDS medication may be interupted and that could severely hamper our work.  Third, security is heightened so it means more road blocks and things like that, but again, those things are mostly just annoyances.

Having followed news out of Swaziland for over 3 years now, and having read up extensively on the history of the country, I can say that the nation (especially the monarchy) is at a very interesting point.  I have no idea how things are going to play out, but I fully expect Swaziland to be much different when we leave it than when we arrived.  Thankfully, there is nothing that indicates to me that our safety may be threatened.  There are no militias jockeying for power, no soldiers looking to over throw the government, no fires being set or vigilante justice running rampant.  If anything, people of Swaziland are just wanting to make sure their voices are heard and that the country they love has the promise of a bright future.

While I am glad some of the issues of Swaziland are getting global attention, I also realize how things might look those on the outside.  Honestly, the ongoing issues (HIV, AIDS, TB, orphan care, etc.) are much worse than any of the political issues that might occasionally make the news.

Activity here in St. Phillips, Swaziland tends to come as either feast or famine: either there is a chaotic rush of things that need to be done, or there is absolutely nothing going on.  That not only applies to the work of the mission, but also to weekends.

My Saturday started at 6:30am (sleeping in for us) so we could get the twins ready to return to their homestead.  Then I had about a 45 minute round trip commute to drop them off.  Most of the day for Beth Mikayla and I ran was comprised of a trip into town to look at a potential vehicle to purchase.  During the day we purchased beds for the hostel, visited a home improvement store (which was a huge find for us!), met a family from the US, test drove a vehicle, stopped for lunch, found our mechanic was gone for the day so the whole trip was a bit fruitless, drove to the entrance of a game park (and saw impalas), returned the vehicle, went shopping at a new grocery store (also a big deal!), and picked up pizza.  Reviewing the day’s accomplishments though, we had to admit that all we achieved was purchasing a few things (most notably a hand-held shower head!), eating pizza, and spending 6-7 hours in single cab truck to do it.   Eish… even our days off are busy.

To compensate, we have tried to "achieve" a lazy Sunday here on the mission.  Sure, I have a few hours of work to do (Annual Progress Report for PEPFAR – US tax dollars at work), but most of the time has been just hanging out, eating, making cookies, playing wii, and a family walk through the bush near our house. 

Since busy work does not make for interesting photo ops, I wanted to post a few pictures from our Bush Walk:

Mikayla posing in front of some season flowers along the road.

And a picture with Mommy.

Mikayla riding up high…

… and riding not-so-high.

Following trails through the open…

… and through the brushy.

Tree picture with Daddy.

All tuckered out on the way home.

I have been working with Cabrini for about a month now and have really been in the mix of things since the beginning.  One of the things that I have noticed about my work is that nearly everything I do could either be seen as incredibly romantic/heroic or incredibly mundane.  I will leave it up to you to decide which it is:

I drove all around the country tracking down medicine so that AIDS patients can live another day
-or-
I spent all day running errands and getting lost because no buildings are labeled.

I helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money.
-or-
I spent all day rearranging documents so they met the US Government templates.

We nursed two TB-positive twins who were dying of malnutrition back to health.
-or-
We agreed to change poopy diapers again and clean up messes after meal time.

I oversaw the installation of a multi-site, comprehensive data network.
-or-
I called our our computer to guy to ask why he hadn’t installed the router yet.

We moved from a comfortable house in the States to the most desolate place in Swaziland.
-or-
We cut our living expenses by 90% and still live very comfortably.

My salary puts me well below the poverty level in the United States
-or-
My salary puts me in the top 5% of Swazi earners

I am a missionary in Africa.
-or-
I spend most of my day doing paperwork for a growing organization.

The longer I am here, the more I realize that even in Swaziland, we still deal with the same issues, struggle with the same questions, and measure ourselves by the same standards.  Sure, things are much different than what I experienced on a daily basis in the States, but at the end of the day, it is all how you look at it.

Over all, I think most people would pretty amazed at how "normal" our life is in Swaziland.  We have a nice home in a safe area.  We can get pretty much anything we need at the grocery store.  We can drink the water.  The cost of living is quite affordable, and we make more than we need.  Of course if we lived in Manzini or Ezulwini or Mbabane, we would have access to even more amenities.  As one person explained it to me, Swaziland is "Africa Lite" and that is a pretty accurate portrayal.  That being said, there are still some things I miss:

1. The convenience of being able to eat out – There hasn’t really been any foods that I have craved yet, but I do miss the opportunity to not have to fix a meal, or to just pick something up on the way home.
2. High speed internet (or any regular internet for that matter) – Quite possibly the biggest challenge I knew of when making the move… especially to Cabrini.  If we were in town, we would have decently reliable access.
3. Being able to easily look up answers – This is related to the prior, but more specifically, I miss access to google / wikipedia / the library / easy phone-a-friend / etc.  I never realized how much I relied on the internet to supplement my knowledge.
4. Access to news – sure we have the Swazi Times, but unless you are interested in a strange combination of news, gossip and propaganda, you need to look elsewhere. (I have another post I am working on about the Swazi headlines, but I will save that for another time).
5. Interacting with a variety of people – Here at St. Phillips there aren’t many people, and those who are here are usually all bound up in the same things.  So it becomes difficult to get fresh ideas / perspectives / experiences.
6. Netflix and Pandora – Yes, I am back on the internet thing… but, most of my "entertainment" came from these websites.
7. Snobby Selection – I miss good wine, good beer, good spirits, good coffee, good cheese, good cuisine.  We can get some of all that, but not a great selection.
8. Ice Cream and Candy – you can get it here, but the selection is incredibly slim and it is very expensive.
9. Being connected / "in the know" – There is a very steep learning curve here.  Multiple times I have been told to complete a task that I have no idea how to do and with no guidance.  I am also having to learn names and relationships by the truckload.  I miss knowing what is going on.
10. Family and Friends – Without doubt this is what I miss the most.  We left behind some pretty incredible people and nothing can replace that.

And, here is Beth’s quick list of 10 things she says she misses:

1. Getting things conveniently
2. Good Coffee
3. Kitchen Aid Mixer
4. Reliable Oven
5. Bath’s
6. Friends and Family
7. Internet
8. Being able to "Go places"
9. Ice Cream
10. Having all her kitchen stuff and ingredients

Here is a video walk through of our new home.  Just as a side note, don’t expect many more videos… it took almost two hours to upload this one and fortunately we found a loophole in our internet connection so we were not charged for the whole time.

My last blog post was from my kindle and was typed in the middle of night stuck in Newark airport due to a missed flight.  At the time, things were still pretty up in the air, so I figured you would probably like to hear the rest of the story.  If you follow my twitter feed (@kickert) you will least know we arrived in Africa, but getting there was interesting.

After missing our connection in Newark, I ended up staying up the entire night so Beth and Mikayla could catch some sleep while I watched our stuff.  We basically took over a corner of the ticketing area and made a fort:

Part of the reason we stayed at the airport instead of getting a hotel (besides the fact Continental refused to help us cover the costs) is because our bags were at some indeterminate location: they came in on Continental, were supposed to go to Lufthansa on the connection, our rebooking was for an earlier Lufthansa flight, but it was being handled by United.  With so many transitions we wanted to be able to physically see our bags to make sure they made it with us.  That meant bugging the baggage agents every hour until they found our stuff. (On a side note, I have never encountered customer service employees as rude and unconcerned as the people at Continental in Newark.  I could write a whole blog on that!)

Eventually they found our bags (actually I saw them rolling past on a luggage cart and recognized them and made them give them to me) so we  could recheck in on our next flight.  It was nice to have our luggage with us because we could get extra clothes out and have the peace of mind that it would probably make it on the plane with us, but it also meant we had to move it all around by ourselves on undersized baggage carts.

I felt pretty confident in my packing ability…

…until we found the cart couldn’t fit through the elevator door.

Once we changed terminals to check in, we found that Lufthansa did not open their ticketing counters until much later in the day.  We were hoping to check in early so we could get rid of our luggage and then go back into the secure area, but no such luck.  We were fortunate enough for Mikayla to find another small child to play with.  That helped pass the time.  I was also able to grab a 45 minute nap which was nice.

Eventually Lufthansa opened their counter and things seemed to be going well until they tried to charge us for our "extra" baggage.  If you will remember, I was already upset because Lufthansa had promised 2 free bags, but Continental had charged us b/c they were the airline of origination.  I flatly refused.  Fortunately, we had a great agent who was very patient and realized the fee was a mistake due to the rebooking.  In fact, she even went out of her way to let us pick our seats.  We got seats right behind first class so we had extra legroom and no seats in front of us for Mikayla to kick.  She even promised to try her best to improve our tickets on our final leg.

20 hours after we landed in Newark we were finally on our way to Germany (we were supposed to have a 2 hour layover).  We were able to talk with the sisters and they were able to extend their stay in South Africa.  I was also able to get in touch with my friend Ben in Frankfurt and he was able to rearrange his schedule to still meet us at the airport.  Overall the flight across the Atlantic was uneventful and even a bit relaxing after what we had been through so far.

Upon landing, I decided to go ahead and get our boarding passes for our next flight before we left customs.  That is when things started getting interesting again.  It turns out that when we were rebooked, they had us listed as standby, but neither the rebooking agent, nor the Lufthansa agent mentioned that to us.  Not only were we on standby, but the flight itself was overbooked.  Frustrated, we walked away to try and figure out what we should do.  I couldn’t imagine the sisters being excited about staying two days extra.

After thinking about things for a bit, I decided to go back to the Lufthansa agents to figure out my chances of getting off standby and actually on the flight.  At least we could try and plan better if we knew how things might turn out.  The agent told us that we had a slightly better than 50% chance of getting a seat.  We took what we could get and headed through customs into Germany.  Mikayla played at a playground in the terminal and we grabbed a quick snack to wait for Ben.

It was very cool to be able to catch up with him when he finally did arrive.  It had been 13 years since I was in Germany visiting him, and almost 7 years since Beth was in the country visiting.  At this point we were all in great need of a shower.  Ben took us back to his apartment where we were able to freshen up and grab a bite of real food.  Mikayla took a quick nap, but eventually we had to wake her up.  She was so tired she fell asleep in the shower.

We then went back to Ben’s parents’ house.  It was pretty cool to revisit the place I stayed for 3 weeks back when I was 16.  Lots of memories came back that I had forgotten.  The Dornhoffs are incredible hosts.  We had coffee and cake and Ben’s mother played with Mikayla for quite a while.

We headed back to the airport to try and figure things out.  We said bye to Ben and head through customs.  We were told our best bet to get off standby was to be at the gate as early as possible, so we made sure we were there over 3 hours before the flight left.  While that was probably good advice, it didn’t do us any good because the flight actually left an hour after we thought and the agents didn’t get to the gate until an hour and half before that.

By far, this was the most stressful part of the trip because we were in limbo not knowing if we were going to make it out of the country that day.  You could say that the worst part was knowing that it could be worse.  This was the only point of our entire journey where I was so anxious I needed to take a Xanax.

Once we did talk to an agent, we were told that even though we were first on standby, things were still not looking good.  They didn’t tell us our chances, but by the way they were talking to us, I have a feeling we were below the 50% mark.  The one comforting thing was knowing that if we did have to stay another night, at least we had people in the area who could pick us up and give us a place to stay.

Once people started loading the plane, we got more stressed out.  Beth and I talked about our options and decided that if we could only get one ticket we all would stay, but if we could get two tickets only, Beth and Mikayla would fly out and I would follow the next day with the rest of our stuff and rent a car.  We divided our stuff up so that could work if it needed to.

With about 10 minutes left before the plane was scheduled to leave the gate, the agents began looking to see if any of the standbyers could get on.  With great relief, I heard my name called.  We all got three tickets, but they were all separate.  I told them there was no way Mikayla could be in a seat apart from us.  They took our tickets and tried to work something out.  The best they could do was get us all in the same section of the plane and hope something could work out.  We took what we could and board the plane with all our stuff.

I am sure the people who had already boarded were not excited to see us come on dragging all our stuff and obviously holding up their departure.  The flight attendants were able to get Mikayala and Beth together, but I was a couple seats over in a different row.  That was fine by me… at least we were on the plane.  But then, something really cool happened.  The guy in the row with Beth and Mikayla heard what was happening and about our journey so far and offered to switch me seats.  He traded a window seat for a center seat in the center section for an 11 hour flight.  Let me tell you… that guy should be nominated for sainthood!  It made the whole flight much easier with all three of us next to each other.

This last leg of our journey was great.  The service was astounding, the food was great, and it was long enough that all of us could get some decent rest.

We landed in Jo-burg and made it through customs without any problem.  Our luggage all arrived and the only problem we had was some of Beth’s mouthwash leaked.  We met the sisters at the gate and were ready to leave.

The whole way to the vehicle you could tell the sisters were a bit nervous.  They had been in South Africa long enough that they had their own luggage with them and they were afraid our stuff wouldn’t all fit.  There was even talk of one of them catching a bus back to Swaziland.  On any other trip, this would have been a concern to me, but after our journey so far, this seemed like a minor issue.  I had actually already thought about this possible problem and thus had packed parachute cord so we could strap things to the roof.  We packed what we could into the SUV and strapped one bag to the top.  No worries at all.

The drive back to St. Phillips took about 6 hours, but was thankfully relatively uneventful.  Sister Barbara was pulled over twice for speeding, but was able to sweet talk her way out of a ticket both times.  The border crossing was easy and they didn’t even want to check our bags.  Excellent!

We grabbed pizza on the way home, got back to the mission, unloaded our stuff and were finally able to breath easy.

From the time we left Bowling Green to the time we arrived at St. Phillips, our entire journey took 72 hours.  By contrast, if our original flight had landed 15 minutes sooner, we would have only had a 48 hour trip, and if we had flown South African Air, it would have been a 35 hour trip.

I must say, in all of this, Mikayla was a super star.  This trip could have been much worse if our toddler had chosen to be a brat, but the worst she got was the last 15 minutes of our flight when she decided to kick the seat of the guy in front of her.  If that is all we have to deal with, I am super happy.

Our first night we headed to bed early.  Mikayla got 15 hours of sleep and Beth and I got 12.  Normally I would think jetlag would be an issue, but our trip was so crazy our bodies had no idea what time it was.

I will end this post with a touching note.  Once we had everything unpacked and all our stuff figured out, I asked Mikayla where we were.  I was hoping she would say "Africa" or "Swaziland" to show she understood that we had just made the transition we had been talking about, but what she said was even more significant. 

"Mikayla, where are we?" I asked.

"Home" she said…. and she was right.  After a month of being displaced and in crazy transition, we have found our new home… and things are great here.

Right now it is the calm before (in the midst?) of the storm.  We leave Bowling Green in about 3 hours and family is scheduled to arrive any moment now.  Last night we said our goodbyes to close friends and didn’t finish our packing until a few minutes ago.  It has been a crazy few weeks.  It would have been nice to have a few more hours or days, but we have been planning this transition for over 4 years now so I can’t really complain.

Mikayla is very excited about this departure.  We have tried our best to prepare her and she certainly has a grasp of what is about to happen; but of course there is no way she can comprehend how much her life is about to change.

We have about 50 hours of traveling between Bowling Green, KY and St. Phillips Swaziland and that might be interesting with a toddler.  The sisters are meeting us at the airport on Thursday morning and then we have a 5 hour drive to get there.  It sounds like we will have some time to settle in, but there is so much to be done, I have a feeling I will jump in pretty quickly.  It will be nice to have Beth at home to help get things in order.

Lots of thoughts going through my head now.  We are certainly going to miss our friends and family, but I realize it is much different to live overseas now than it was even 5 years ago.  We may not reliable internet, but things like Skype and Facebook will keep us connected when we have access to them.

It is at times like this that the title of my blog, "Dynamic yet consistent" takes special meaning.  A whole lot has changed in our lives in the last 5-10 years, but looking back it is obvious that we have been moving in an intentional direction.  And while today’s move is pretty substantial, it is simple another step towards where we have been heading for years.  I am sure 5-10 years from now things will again look much different, but I am confident the movement will be consistent and for the better.

We will do our best to keep you posted.

Looking forward,

-bk