Living Well

Take a good look at all of the beautiful smiles in these photos. Just about each of these adults & children pictured here, with a few exceptions, are living with HIV or AIDS.

One Saturday Hayley and I received a random verbal invitation to visit one of the nearby primary schools. School was not in session, but there was going to be some sort of HIV-AIDS group meeting at the school, and one of the teachers at the school thought we might be interested in attending. Hayley already had plans to meet with some VSLAs in outlying villages that day, but I picked interest and decided to attend.

The group that met that day is a non-profit group that organizes a group of children living with HIV or AIDS to gather once a month. The name of the non-profit group means “grandmother.” The purpose of the name is that this group fosters a similar kind of care for children and young adults as a grandmother would have for her children and grandchildren… teaching them, while showing care for them.

Children in this monthly gathering learn how to teach each other about HIV-AIDS, they learn how to care for themselves, they play games together, and they eat a light lunch together. There is also a group of adults that meet at the same time. Most of them are also living with HIV or AIDS, but they learn how to take care of children living with HIV-AIDS.

While I attended that day, I asked permission to take photos. I explained to the children and adults that often in America we hear about HIV or AIDS and only think about sick people… lying and dying in bed all of the time. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t a terrible, horrible disease. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t really a problem or something the world population should be concerned about. But I wanted permission to take their photos so that I could show others that people living with HIV-AIDS can live well. That they can have joy in life… run… play… laugh… love. They were very willing to show others that there ARE people with HIV-AIDS…

LIVING WELL.

Because I Love Uganda? (Visa/Passport Issues)

Before traveling to Uganda I prepared to apply for proper documentation to be able to legally stay in-country for my 5-month stay. Uganda used to issue 6-month visas, but it currently only issues 3-month visas. According to my review of the Ugandan Embassy’s website, if you need to stay longer than 3 months all one needs to do is apply for an extension to stay after arriving in-country. Sounded simple to me. I received my 3-month visa before departing The States and expected to apply for an extension to stay sometime before the first 3 months expired.

My original visa was due to expire January 2, 2010. Instead of trying to fight all of the holiday traffic, pay higher bus fares, and risk Ugandan government offices being closed, I decided to travel to Kampala toward the end of November rather than December… just to be safe.

November 24th I headed on the 8-hour+ bus ride to Kampala. My friend Grace met me at the bus park to pick me up and take me to Tick Hotel, where I would stay while I was sorting out my visa issue. (Don’t worry… there were NO ticks to be found at Tick Hotel – not the same kind of “tick.”)

The next day we managed to make our way to Internal Affairs on Jinja Road to inquire about the “extension” process. It was not an enjoyable inquiry.

Where did I go wrong?

The inquiry went a little something like this...

INTERNAL AFFAIRS [seemingly annoyed]: “And what is your reason for needing an extension?”

NICOLE: “I’m supposed to be here for 5 months but your country only issues 3-month visas. Your embassy website says for me to stay longer I just need to apply for an extension.”

INTERNAL AFFAIRS [still seemingly annoyed]: “You don’t apply for an extension, you need to apply for a special pass. What is your reason for being here?”

NICOLE: “Tourism & volunteering.”

[Oops. WRONG answer.]

INTERNAL AFFAIRS: “Where is your letter of invitation?”

NICOLE [confused and becoming a bit nervous]: “I don’t have a letter of invitation. I came on a TOURIST visa. “

INTERNAL AFFAIRS: “But you are working so you must have a letter of invitation. Where is your letter of invitation?”

NICOLE [now, seemingly annoyed]: “I don’t have a letter of invitation because when I initially applied for my 3-month visa as a ‘tourist/volunteer’ there didn’t seem to be any problem. I was never asked to submit a letter of invitation.”

INTERNAL AFFAIRS [annoyed, annoyed, annoyed]: “But are working in this country! You must have a letter of invitation!”

NICOLE [annoyed, annoyed, annoyed]: “But I’m just doing some volunteer work for FREE! I arrived on a TOURIST visa. When I applied for it I wrote my reason for coming here as ‘Tourist/Volunteer’ and was never told that I would need any additional paperwork to extend my time here.”

INTERNAL AFFAIRS: “So then you are just a tourist. You have until January 2nd.”

NICOLE: “But my return flight has already been booked and paid for! And the program I’m volunteering for isn’t complete until much later than January 2nd!”

INTERNAL AFFAIRS: “Look, you are here on a tourist visa. You’ve already been granted 3 months to stay here. 3 months is a long time. Why would you want to stay any longer?!?”

At this point I was feeling very defeated. I think this is also the point at which my friend Grace was able to step in and help sort out the situation between me and the face of “Internal Affairs.” I really just wanted to respond by saying, “Because I love Uganda! Don’t YOU love Uganda? Why don’t YOU want me to stay longer? Everyone back at Nyakasharu Trading Centre, and places beyond, seems to want me to stay longer. Heck, people want me to marry a Ugandan man and stay here!” But I didn’t say any of those things. I let my friend Grace use her ability to communicate well with others to help sort out the situation.

End result: I just needed to ( 1) have a formal letter of invitation typed, signed, and stamped by COVOID (the organization I was volunteering with), (2) have a copy of my flight itinerary, and (3) fill out the “Special Pass” form so that I could (4) submit all of these documents with my passport the following day. Oh, and this process was going to cost $100 US dollars, only payable through a certain bank in downtown Kampala (the initial 3-month visa was only $50 US dollars). Sure, no problem.

Justus was due to travel to Kampala overnight for the purpose of handling some COVOID business with CARE International the following day. A quick phone call and email to him helped take care of the much needed letter of invitation and a printed copy of my flight itinerary. Grace and I were able to make connections with him in downtown Kampala the following day (thank God for reliable friends and co-workers like Justus AND Grace).

Grace and I made our way back to Jinja Road to visit our ever-so-favorite Internal Affairs office. Upon submitting my passport and required documents, we found out that the approval process would take 5-7 business days. Luckily, we were told that Grace could pick up the approved documents for me the following week since she worked for COVOID. This meant I could return to Nyakasharu and not have to stay in Kampala for the week. Whew! I left money for Grace to pay the “What? You want to stay longer?” fee (Thanks, Grace!), spent my Thanksgiving evening eating a turkey club sandwich & chatting with the hotel staff, and the following day I left Kampala on a bus headed back home to Nyakasharu.

A few weeks later Grace arrived at the COVOID office with a splendid present for me: My passport with approval to stay. Woo-hoo! Fantastic! I was so excited to open up my passport to see the approval to stay longer.

But, wait. What’s this? February 29, 2010. Hmm… Houston, we have a problem. My flight was scheduled to leave Entebbe March 5th, but I’ve only been granted permission to stay in Uganda until February 29th. And, oh wait. Yep, that’s right. This year is NOT a leap year, so there is NO February 29th this year.

Let me cut out all of my personal agonizing, conversations with American & Ugandan friends over this new visa/passport issue, and explain what finally happened when I returned to Kampala in early February to sort out “What does February 29th really mean?”

This time, Internal Affairs was seemingly not as annoyed as my previous visit. When I attempted to apply for yet another “Special Pass” and explain why, the woman behind the counter just laughed at me. She said, “You don’t need to apply again. Since there is no February 29th that would really be March 1st. And it’s all less than 7 days anyway. There is a grace period of up to 7 days. You will have no problem staying until March 5th.”

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

The last test for all of this would be when I exited the country at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport. I don’t think the security official ever looked at the dates in my passport. He never asked me one question as he took one last look at my beautiful passport.

Problem solved. It really IS okay to love Uganda!