Cameroon #26

Dear Family and Friends,
What a last few weeks this has been. I am reminded
of a verse in Psalms 34:19 which says “Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers
him out of them all.” Well I’m not very righteous but
it seemed to fit.
Our Cameroon Visas were 6 month visas and ran out
Jan. 20th. So about a month ago they started working
on our resident permits in Yaounde (the capital).
Well come about Jan 10th it was still not going real
well. They were having some difficulties. Then they
decided we could do it up here in the north. So we
went to the chief of immigrations office. Well he
said we needed a work contract signed by the minister
of employment (which usually takes about a month). We
were told this the 18th, two days before the deadline.
And just as we were going in that day we heard him
tell another missionary he had to be out of the
country tomorrow. I think this is true, technically,
but they are searching for a bribe and it is easy to
get an extension then to stay in the country while
other paperwork is being done. So we were worried.
We called down to Yaounde to church headquarters and
they immediately got on it. It was a total answer to
prayer when that night we had a faxed copy of the work
contract signed by him (one day).
So we arrived in the immigration office the next day
and unfortunately gave the paper to the secretary.
She was not at all thrilled because she thought a
bribe was coming. So she outright asked for one.
English translation “So, what will you give me to
drink?” I acted as if I didn’t hear her and continued
on. Then she told us to wait. The chief was just
replaced that day and we didn’t know what he looked
like. So he ended up leaving to a meeting right past
us and we didn’t know it. So then she came out and
said he was at a meeting and we would have to come
back later. We asked her when. She said she didn’t
know. Then I asked her when would I get the visa
done. She said, “I guess that depends on me!”
Nothing subtle there! So we waited a few hours. Then
they told us to come back in three days. So we went
back in three days, traveling without any papers, and
they said “Oh he was just called to Yaounde and is not
here.” Finally I convinced one of them to give me
their number to call them. Finally, two days ago I
called and he said to call yesterday. Well I had a
feeling that he was back so we went in. Sure enough
he was, we could see his car. So we meet with the
secretary and he signed some papers for us to go to
get our pictures taken and pay an equivalent of about
$300. When we got back he was gone. The people in
our office told her in another language to sign them
and help us but she refused because we had not paid
her off and she was mad at us. So she told us we had
to come back today. So we stayed the night near
there.
Today we went back and as we arrived they had just
started a 30 min meeting. Well about 4 hours later
they were done. Fortunately the chief was there
again. She had us wait some more. Then as the Chief
came out she hurriedly called us into her office. She
had already had the papers signed before but was just
making us wait. We eventually got the papers we
needed. And as leaving we finally meet the chief. I
believe she was trying to keep us from meeting him as
that would take away any chance of a bribe for her.
Well he found out I was a physician and asked if I
would consult him. I said I would and plan on being
back there next week to meet him. I hope this starts
a good working relationship.
So unfortunately corruption is very obvious in many
parts here. Please pray for our continued patience
and to know what to do in these situations. We thank
God our paperwork is done for now.
In His Service, Shanks