Since I arrived in South Sudan my
passport has been filling up with large visa stamps, all of which have cost me
dearly in US dollars. My initial single
entry visa, purchased in London, was the cheapest but only valid for a month.
After one month I had to make a trip
to the border to renew it. I was hoping
to get a longer term visa. Alas no. At the border I could also only get a visa for
one month. They told me that for longer
term visas I had to go to Juba with a letter confirming that I was working as a
long term volunteer at Cornerstone. When
I discussed this with Pastor Samuel over the phone he said that Pastor Juma
should go with me as he had contacts in the Ministry which would make it easier
to get a long term visa.
So, as the expiry date for my visa
approached, I reminded Pastor Juma. He
agreed and said that I should be the one to write the confirmation letter. This seemed odd to me, but he was adamant
that he had been told this on good authority by friends in the visa office. Then, on the actual expiry date, he asked one
of the teenage boys living at the home to go with me instead. I ended up paying for the whole outing for
both of us. Tombe was able to get me to
the Ministry, but was far too young to be taken seriously there. It was a very difficult day involving queuing
at every room in the Ministry. The
Ministry staff were extremely rude to both of us, him as a child, me as an ‘old
woman’ as they called me. However
persistence got me a three month multiple entry visa.
The visa expired on 6th
February, coinciding with the time for me to visit Uganda to remove my
plaster. I got an entry visa without any
hassle as I came back into South Sudan, courtesy of a confirmation letter from
Pastor Samuel, who was visiting at the time.
I gave assurances that I would go to Juba the following week to get a
long term visa.
The next week, Pastor Abdullah was
delegated to take me to Juba to look into getting me a longer term visa and a
work permit, which would allow me to stay long term without the visa procedure
taking up so much time and money. Again,
I found myself paying for both our meals and transport. Juba is famous for expensive
accommodation. There is also the
‘situation’ to consider as there have been night-time shootings and lootings
happening ever since the December coup attempt in Juba. Fortunately Abdullah has a brother who lives
in a spacious house in the suburbs of Juba, so we were able to stay with his
family. I thought it was a peaceful
night until I was asked (next morning) if I’d heard the gun shots. I am so glad that I am deaf and always sleep
on my good ear and also that they didn’t tell me about it till the next day. It is impossible to know if the gun was fired
into the air or into somebody. Let us
hope it was the former.
During the daytime, Juba shows no
sign of its night-time horrors. Everything
is calm. Everyone goes about their daily
business. The shops are open. The streets are crowded with shoppers and
public transport. There is plenty of
food in the markets. I commented to
Pastor Abdullah about the normality and how everyone kept going. He told me that most foreigners have left,
whether westerners or other Africans, but South Sudan has had conflict for so
many years that people do just carry on.
In the morning we went to the
Ministry for Internal Affairs to sort out my visa. Since I had been there last, the place had
changed much for the better. There were
no queues. The staff seemed genuinely
pleased that I still wanted to stay in South Sudan. However, they were no longer able to issue
more than one month visas without a work permit. They were polite but adamant. I suggested we start the work permit process
that same day. I was told that the
application must come from Cornerstone together with their legal
documentation. We were given very
detailed instructions on what was entailed to get a work permit so that Pastor
Abdullah could put things in motion as soon as we returned to Nimule.
The next week Pastor Abdullah wrote
the application letter to the Ministry of Labour. Taking advantage of two days
of unexpected public holiday due to state mourning I made the trip back to Juba
to get things moving. Pastor Abdullah was
unwilling to go with me, so I made the journey by myself for the first
time. I find it much easier being
independent so this was no hardship.
When I arrived in Juba I went
straight to the Ministry of Labour, only to be told that my documentation was
incomplete. The Certificate of
Registration from Cornerstone had expired and they also wanted copies of my
qualifications.
I then went to the British Embassy,
which was difficult to find as they have moved to the European Union compound
along with other European embassies. I
wanted to get additional pages for my passport because of the large number of
visas I need. I met the consul, who told
me the bad news that it is no longer possible to get extra pages. Instead I will need a new passport. Embassies are no longer able to issue
passports, so I will have to send my passport back to the UK for processing. I asked if it was a good idea to be without
my passport in South Sudan. He agreed it
was not a good idea. I asked how to post
it in South Sudan, and he agreed it was difficult although there is a DHL
office in Juba. I pointed out that there
isn’t one in Nimule and I pass a checkpoint where I always have to show my
passport on the road to Juba.
I had organised overnight
accommodation with East Africa Ministries, who I already had contact with as
they have recently established a secondary school in Nimule. Their South Sudan headquarters are a long way
out of town but safer for that reason. No
night-time shootings there! I was made
very welcome by the people who live there. EAM is very luxurious compared to my
home at Cornerstone, so it felt like a real holiday. First world features abounded. WIFI was available. The gardens have concrete paths to keep out
of the dust. My room had air
conditioning and an en suite washroom. We ate a lovely Italian risotto for
supper, cooked by the Italian wife of one of the Americans. In the morning we ate a breakfast of eggs and
bacon with American pancakes. It was
great to eat something other than posho and beans and to be able to turn a tap
to get water.
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| The bush |
As well as the lovely stay at East
Africa Ministries, the other positive thing about travel to Juba is the actual
journey. The journey takes around four
hours, on a good tarmacked road. It is
very scenic, passing through a dramatic mountain pass, through the Nimule
National Park (I have yet to see any wild animals there), through the bush,
which is like an African version of Dartmoor and past numerous small villages
of round thatched huts. The road is
usually empty of traffic apart from the occasional lorry, jeep or bus. I do the journey by minibus. The minibuses only travel when at full
capacity, so we are always crammed together like sardines. The drivers are careful, particularly when
compared with those in Nimule. However
there are many accidents and the remains of vehicles litter the edge of the
road. Comfortingly, I have yet to see a minibus among the debris.
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| The road to Juba |
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| One of the many villages next to the road to Juba |
I am working on potential solutions
to my passport quandary. The best bet at
the moment seems to be to go to Uganda and stay there for the period when I am
passport-less. This solution is good
because Uganda is more stable than South Sudan and therefore safer without a
passport. Also, I am told that the South
Sudanese Embassy in Kampala happily produces six month multiple entry visas,
which I can take advantage of once my passport is returned. There is the possibility of staying at an
orphanage or mission and making myself useful in return for bed and board. If I stay at an orphanage it will give me the
opportunity to compare and look at ideas to help Cornerstone. I am looking into this now.
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