Legal Missionaries!?

 


What a relief!!! Some of these missionaries have been waiting for up to 8 months to get their "Temporary Permit" cards.  If they had been pulled over by a policeman they could have ended up in jail!!!

This has been a huge challenge for the mission! Obtaining these permit cards which also includes a stamp in their passports, is a very long, drawn out, complicated process which involves a whole lot of waiting on the government!  Hmmmm... We have certain vendors who work with us but they take as long to do something as the government itself!

*Court Report Orders - have to be extended every month if the Approval Letter has not been given. This requires a visit to the Immigration office.
*eReceipts - these show if a payment for a permit has been paid but it can still take months for the approval letter.
*Approval Letters - These grant permission to go to the Immigration office to obtain the permit
*Immigration office - the missionaries arrive at 6:00 AM to stand in a line (hopefully at the beginning of the line) until 8:00 AM when the office opens. And then the process of meeting with an officer, getting a picture, and getting a stamp on your passport can take at least another hour!

 


  When a missionary first arrives in Zambia, they are given 30 days to obtain a permit. The first permit is quite easily obtained, but not always. 

*Sister Houston arrived in May but just now received her permit card.
*Sister Day goes home in two weeks and would have had to pay a fine at the airport if she had not received her card and current stamp in her passport.
*Elder Wainwright and Elder Fransen have had expired cards since January!!!

Missionaries that are serving in the Copperbelt region can not obtain their permit in that region because it wasn't applied for in that region. They have to come back to Lusaka.  

Such a disruption to their work!!! Some of the missionaries in the first picture came from the Copperbelt region on Tuesday by bus. It took them 7 hours. They went to the Immigration office Wednesday morning (took about 5 1/2 hours) and then caught a bus to go back to their area, another 7 hour bus ride!!

The process sure does not make sense given our day of computers and technology. It's definitely a Zambia thing!

I have tried to use these boards to keep track of everything (when their cards expire, where the missionary is currently serving, and what point in the process they are) but it's crazy difficult especially when it seems like I am always waiting on someone else! Tranfers certainly do not help either.



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