I didn’t want to, but finally I didn’t have a choice. A little over a month ago, my car (read FH Land Cruiser) was robbed when I and a friend left my computer bag locked under the back seat around 6:30pm. We thought it would be fine since there were lights from two big buildings, one a bank, as well as two guards. We went to see a friend who lives right next to the bank and when we came back out, the car was all locked up, but the bag was gone. My laptop, back up hard drive, flash disk, PASSPORT… The sinking feeling that took over my insides didn’t last very long. Somehow, one of the first thoughts was that I was thankful for my phone and my Bible in the little bag I had on me. With all the conflict and risk people have of really losing everything – I mean everything – I was content to still have my life and my health and my family and friends. When the soldiers (from either side, Congo or Rwanda) pass through villages, they often take everything people have, digging up their fields, eating their goats, raping their women and children…I know that it is God who gives and takes away, and I still have a lot to be thankful for.
I waited for a month to see if my stuff would turn up on any of the black markets around town, but no luck. I would have paid to just have my information from my computer and my passport! I really didn't want to lose all the stamps and visas I've been collecting all over the world in the past few years. Last week my new passport came to the American Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, and should be arriving in Bukavu tomorrow. I was sooo grateful to be able to go to Kigali to apply for a new one rather than having to go to Kishasa. Everything about Kin is hot and dirty and expensive and dangerous and really just too complicated. I lost a lot of time and sleep the last time I tried to go there, and I didn’t want to have to go back if I didn’t have to.
People at the Kigali embassy were very kind and helpful, though it took a lot of time and negotiation to get across the border into Rwanda. I won’t ever not bring my driver’s license with me next time I try to cross a border without my passport! What can I say, I learn the hard way. I just felt bad since Mom and Lydia were waiting for me to finish so we could start the 5.5 hour drive to Kigali from Cyangugu!
Needless to say, we made it there and back, and now I’ll have a passport again very soon.
Side note: I apparently got malaria around the time of this travelling (Monday to Wednesday) and was miserable by the time I got back to Cyangugu on the bus! I’m all better now, but it took about a week to get over it. I’m baptized now, as they say, since that was my first experience of malaria!
I waited for a month to see if my stuff would turn up on any of the black markets around town, but no luck. I would have paid to just have my information from my computer and my passport! I really didn't want to lose all the stamps and visas I've been collecting all over the world in the past few years. Last week my new passport came to the American Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, and should be arriving in Bukavu tomorrow. I was sooo grateful to be able to go to Kigali to apply for a new one rather than having to go to Kishasa. Everything about Kin is hot and dirty and expensive and dangerous and really just too complicated. I lost a lot of time and sleep the last time I tried to go there, and I didn’t want to have to go back if I didn’t have to.
People at the Kigali embassy were very kind and helpful, though it took a lot of time and negotiation to get across the border into Rwanda. I won’t ever not bring my driver’s license with me next time I try to cross a border without my passport! What can I say, I learn the hard way. I just felt bad since Mom and Lydia were waiting for me to finish so we could start the 5.5 hour drive to Kigali from Cyangugu!
Needless to say, we made it there and back, and now I’ll have a passport again very soon.
Side note: I apparently got malaria around the time of this travelling (Monday to Wednesday) and was miserable by the time I got back to Cyangugu on the bus! I’m all better now, but it took about a week to get over it. I’m baptized now, as they say, since that was my first experience of malaria!
