It is hard to believe that in January the vision for my September trip to the Congo was born. One of the first things which I did was to check my passport. I found that it had expired earlier this year. Having applied for and received several, I thought it would be simple. All I would have to do is get some new pictures, go to the local Court House, present an application with my old passport, pay some fees, wait a couple of weeks and have a new passport in my possession. In an age of terrorism this no longer works. Earlier this year thing had changed.
I found that I needed to make an appointment at the Post Office. This appointment was for the gathering of information as to how to apply for a passport. I found that I needed to fill out an application on the Internet which I printed. I then made a trip to Wal-Mart for two passport photos. My old passport, the application, my birth certificate, the two pictures and a personal check to the State Department went off in the mail. Before long I received a new passport in the mail. For some unexplained reason this was a major step to me.
My next step was a phone call to the Center for Disease Control to inquire about inoculations necessary for permission to enter the Congo. Yellow Fever is required; Hepatitis A, Malaria and Typhoid are highly recommended.
Could I get these shot from the Veterans Administration so I would not incur any expenses for them as they are very expensive? My doctor told me that she could not give them to me. She inquired about the danger of entering the Congo. I told her about a two hour gunfight that took place at the airport in Lubumbashi this February. She dropped her head and became very quiet. Raising her head and looking fully at me, she said, "I don't think you ought to go."
I replied, "Doctor there are somethings more important than my life." She became very quiet and I thought she was going to start crying. Then she said, "I just don't think that way." At that point the phone rang. She answered the phone and I patted her on the forearm and walked out telling her, good by. She is more than just, my doctor.
I made a trip to Folsom to visit a doctor's office which specialize in travel medicine.There I got my Yellow Fever and Hepatitis A vaccination. Pills were taken home for Malaria and Typhoid plus antibiotic pills for diarrhea.
Next my passport, shot card, two more pictures, an application for a visa (four pages duplicated), a cashier's check and two copies of a notarized invitation to visit the Congo provided by Pastor Didier went in the mail. They were mailed to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Washington, D. C. In about a week, I had my visa which was a stamp in my passport written in French, the official language of the Congo.
But could I trust that there was no clerical error made? I was not about to buy tickets, arrive in D. C. and be told that I could not fly because of an error which I knew nothing of. Sharon took a picture of the visa and we electronically sent it to the Congo to be read. The visa gave me permission to enter the Congo one time, stay one month and stated that I must be out on or before the 4th of October. That was exactly what I wanted.
On September 8th I will fly to Washington D. C. to spend a long weekend with my daughter Ann, son in law Terry and granddaughter Hannah. On Tuesday the 13th at noon I will fly from D. C. to Rome. From Rome I travel to Addis Abba, Ethiopia and then to Malawi. From Malawi I go to Lubumbashi, Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I will be in the air for about 20 hours.
I have found that the "Mundane Things" can be very exciting. The process is to be enjoyed as well as the event.
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