Ugandan Trip Journal, May 2
We started at 5:00 this morning, ready to leave by 6:00 for the American Embassy in Kampala. By 5:55, my stomach was so upset, I stepped outside, and got sick over the side of the porch railing. Ugh.
Thankfully, I felt so much better after that, I was ready to go by a few minutes after 6:00.
We dropped Rashid's kids off at the nice school in Kampala, as Rashid commented about the amazing lack of traffic. He gave us directions for what to do at the U.S. Embassy, and left us to do our American thing on our own.
We waited for maybe an hour, and then had to convince the officials to help us get into the office to get the one form we needed. They thought we should come back Monday. By God's grace, they finally agreed for us to come back at 2:30. That sounded a lot more reasonable.
We returned to Rashid, went to a coffee shop, and talked with him as he planned out our revised course of action. There are so many steps in this adoption process before we're allowed to take our child home. Each step is dependent upon the next. And each step can easily turn into more steps.
Rashid took us to get more passport photo copies for W--'s passport. We waited; the shop copied them. And then we looked at them. Wrong size. Redo. We waited; the pictures were correct. Whew. One little step down.
Rashid dropped us off to do some fun tourist shopping for an hour while he worked on... something else. I don't even know what it was. We enjoyed looking through the 50 little booths of catchy African goods. We got a little ripped off. We paid far more than we did in Ethiopia, but we came away with some fun goods: Ugandan soccer jerseys, a wooden "motorcar", children's clothes, a drum, and a dress for me. W-- was so cute, willingly going with us from shop to shop, answering every shop keeper's question of, "How are you?" with his, "I am fine!"
Rashid returned for us, and drove us to the passport office. We waited while he went in to do the paperwork. Then he returned us to the Embassy. This time, because we had an appointment, and knew who to ask for, we were seated in the cushy American lounge. Ah, the comfort! For an hour, we basked in the sweetness of home. Air conditioning. Comfortable chairs. Clean bathrooms. Cold water cooler. American television. Wow.
I don't think any of us realized how much we missed those American comforts until we had them again, even just for the brief time. They were sweet. (And W-- slept through it!)
After an hour, we received our one form. That was it. All that work for one form. And then W-- woke up, and in his dazed disorientation, tantrumed. Scott used our technique to help him calm down as he
And then Rashid took us to IOM (Institute of Medicine). We arrived just as a van full of Somali refugees did. Rashid instructed us to hurry from the car, so as not to be stuck behind them. We did so. Whew. We went up to the office, which was perfectly quiet. We wished we could have just been seen then, but if the children's TB tests are given on a Thursday, they would be ready to read on Sunday. So, we were told to come back tomorrow morning.
And so we continue the journey through bureaucracy. It's definitely worth it.
And W-- did his sleep resistance tonight, and then made into bed and was asleep within 45 minutes. Without any "freak out" crying. Sounds like improvement. Thanks be to God.
Thankfully, I felt so much better after that, I was ready to go by a few minutes after 6:00.
We dropped Rashid's kids off at the nice school in Kampala, as Rashid commented about the amazing lack of traffic. He gave us directions for what to do at the U.S. Embassy, and left us to do our American thing on our own.
We waited for maybe an hour, and then had to convince the officials to help us get into the office to get the one form we needed. They thought we should come back Monday. By God's grace, they finally agreed for us to come back at 2:30. That sounded a lot more reasonable.
We returned to Rashid, went to a coffee shop, and talked with him as he planned out our revised course of action. There are so many steps in this adoption process before we're allowed to take our child home. Each step is dependent upon the next. And each step can easily turn into more steps.
Rashid took us to get more passport photo copies for W--'s passport. We waited; the shop copied them. And then we looked at them. Wrong size. Redo. We waited; the pictures were correct. Whew. One little step down.
Rashid dropped us off to do some fun tourist shopping for an hour while he worked on... something else. I don't even know what it was. We enjoyed looking through the 50 little booths of catchy African goods. We got a little ripped off. We paid far more than we did in Ethiopia, but we came away with some fun goods: Ugandan soccer jerseys, a wooden "motorcar", children's clothes, a drum, and a dress for me. W-- was so cute, willingly going with us from shop to shop, answering every shop keeper's question of, "How are you?" with his, "I am fine!"
Rashid returned for us, and drove us to the passport office. We waited while he went in to do the paperwork. Then he returned us to the Embassy. This time, because we had an appointment, and knew who to ask for, we were seated in the cushy American lounge. Ah, the comfort! For an hour, we basked in the sweetness of home. Air conditioning. Comfortable chairs. Clean bathrooms. Cold water cooler. American television. Wow.
I don't think any of us realized how much we missed those American comforts until we had them again, even just for the brief time. They were sweet. (And W-- slept through it!)
After an hour, we received our one form. That was it. All that work for one form. And then W-- woke up, and in his dazed disorientation, tantrumed. Scott used our technique to help him calm down as he
And then Rashid took us to IOM (Institute of Medicine). We arrived just as a van full of Somali refugees did. Rashid instructed us to hurry from the car, so as not to be stuck behind them. We did so. Whew. We went up to the office, which was perfectly quiet. We wished we could have just been seen then, but if the children's TB tests are given on a Thursday, they would be ready to read on Sunday. So, we were told to come back tomorrow morning.
And so we continue the journey through bureaucracy. It's definitely worth it.
And W-- did his sleep resistance tonight, and then made into bed and was asleep within 45 minutes. Without any "freak out" crying. Sounds like improvement. Thanks be to God.
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