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Why do you need a miracle?

When I mention that things are never simple here, I mean it.

Take getting Micah and Moses' birth certificates:

Step 1: find the person in Gulu who can issue the "short form" birth certificate.
Step 2: drive to Kampala (no easy feat on the terrible roads)
Step 3: find the registrar's office building
Step 4: find the office
Step 5: wait for lunch break to be open
Step 6: elbow your way through with the throng when the doors open and try to make some friends so that someone will defend you instead of being hostile toward you because you're foreign
Step 7: stand your ground smashed against the person in front of you so that 10 people don't cut in front of you
Step 8: talk to person #1 at the reception desk
Step 9: talk to person #2 at the reception desk
Step 10: fill out the long form birth certificates
Step 11: take them back to person #2 to see if it's filled out properly
Step 11.5: find out that I can't submit for Moses' certificate without Gulu police signatures - scrap that goal for this trip
Step 12: if they appear to be properly filled in, take forms to next room for "assessment"
Step 13: wait in line while the information is entered in a computer
Step 14: receive your bill
Step 14.5: argue about why your bill is so high - get sent back to talk to person #2 - smile and give in
Step 15: leave the building and find the bank
Step 16: wait in line aggressively at bank
Step 17: pay the fee at the bank and receive receipt
Step 18: go back through security, back up the stairs (why take an elevator in a country with frequent power outages when there are stairs?), back to the registrar's office
Step 19: wait in line aggressively at the reception desk, waving your paper and bank receipt in the poor guy's face with the twenty other papers being waved in his face
Step 20: sign a log book and receive a tiny piece of green paper
Step 21: act shocked and sad when told to come back in a week: "But, I live in Gulu..."
Step 22: wait as the poor guy talks to someone in a secret room, hoping that they'll decide to just process it right away
Step 23: receive all papers back and be told that your form won't be accepted because the town clerk in Gulu (step #1) filled something in wrong
Step 24: hold back tears and try the "But, I live in Gulu..." line again and when told, "just go to Gulu and come back" add "... but I have 5 children including this two month old!"
Step 25: leave building unsuccessful and back at ground zero

And this is our life...

Comments

Amanda said…
Oh, sis! how discouraging. :( praying for that miracle.
2:16 PM
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