mmarlo

04/03/2007

Dear Pat,

My case (NRB##########) is currently in the hands of the US Embassy in Nairobi, but we have had a really difficult time dealing with them. They have some unbelievably unfair policies that seem to make this process go on forever. The expiration date on my petition is approaching fast--it expires April 25, and I am deeply concerned that it may expire before my fiancee has her visa in hand. Because the case is currently overseas, I don't know if you can help, but if you can somehow expedite the process and see to it that the expiration date of the petition is extended, I would be most appreciative.

The process for getting a medical exam in Kenya and dealing with the US Embassy in Nairobi in this regard has been very frustrating. The packet 3/4 materials that my fiancee was given when she picked up the materials March 5 indicate that she needed a letter from the Embassy to make the appointment for the medical exam, so after she had completed all of the other packet 3/4 materials, paid her application fee, etc., she made an early-morning trip on March 20 to the Embassy (about 2 hours from her apartment) to return the other materials and pick up the letter necessary to schedule the doctor's exam and schedule her interview. When she got to the Embassy, however, she was denied entrance, with the explanation that she needs an appointment to see a consular officer--a rule which had not been explained to her when she picked up the packet 3/4 materials.

The appointment with a consular officer was scheduled for nearly a week later, March 26, at which time she was told that she needed to have already completed the medical exam to set up her interview and that contrary to what the packet 4 materials say, she doesn't need a letter to do so. Essentially she had wasted a week of her time and two trips to the Embassy, four hours round-trip travel time each time plus waiting at the Embassy itself, due to misinformation given by Embassy workers earlier in the month.

The process for completing the requirements of the doctor's exam has been even more frustrating. Later in the day on March 26, my fiancee went to the doctor's office to schedule the medical exam. Their policy forbids them from setting up the exam over the phone or over email. (Can you imagine such a policy by a doctor's office in the US?! The office is 90 minutes from my fiancee's house, and she has to make a trip there and back just to set up the exam.) She went back to the doctor's office the following day Tuesday, March 27, for the first part of the exam, where they took some medical specimens for laboratory analysis. She was then sent to another clinic in another part of town for her x-ray. She went back to the doctor's office on Thursday, March 29 for the second part of the exam where they completed her blood work and where she had the physical exam with the doctor. On Monday, April 2, my fiancee had to make her fourth trip to the doctor's office to receive some missing vaccinations. After already making four trips to the doctor's office, she had to make a fifth trip yesterday, April 3, to collect the results of her exam. For some reason that we can only surmise to be an intentional complication of the process for potential immigrants, the doctor's office does not forward the results to the Embassy, so my fiancee had to travel back to the doctor's office to pick up the results. However, as she was traveling back home after picking up the results, the doctor's office called her to notify her that there was some problem with part of the results and instructed her to return today, April 4, to rectify the problem. Six visits to the doctor's office for what should be a routine medical exam. (I can't even imagine how difficult this must be for someone who does not already live in Nairobi; my fiancee is "only" 90 minutes from the doctor's office, but many others would be much, much farther away.)

Making matters worse is the lack of interaction between the doctor's office in Nairobi and the US Embassy and the Embassy's policy of only accepting materials by an appointment. My fiancee had been told to schedule an appointment to see a consuler officer after she had picked up the results of her medical exam. I thought this appointment was the interview itself, but I was wrong. She had to schedule an appointment with the Embassy just to drop off the results of the medical exam. So after she had picked up the results yesterday afternoon, she called the Embassy to make the appointment. She was given a date of April 12--8 days later--to *drop off* the results of the medical exam. Only then will her interview be scheduled. If we are lucky, the interview will take place within another week of the appointment with the consular officer, by April 19, but my sincere concern is that my approved petition expires April 25 and that there may be other delays that would cause further problems to our earnest effort to get a visa for my fiancee. I emailed the Embassy about a month ago to express this concern, but they told me that they cannot extend the expiration date of the petition, a claim that I know to be false because I have spoken with other individuals who have gone through other Embassies/Consulates and who had their petition deadlines extended by up to four months.

This series of interacting policies by the US Embassy and the (American) doctors they employ is simply unbelievable and clearly can be designed only to penalize potential immigrants to the US. It is extremely embarassing that this is the face of our government in a foreign country with whom we are allies, and the fact that my fiancee is being treated in such a demeaning way (i.e., all signs say that she is not welcome since she has to unnecessarily navigate so many artificial obstacles that cannot be justified by national security concerns) is infuriating.

I am sorry for sending such a long message, but I wanted to explain the depth of my frustration, and the lengths to which my fiancee has gone to follow all of the requisite procedures. As I noted above, I would greatly appreciate if you could try to move forward my fiancee's appointment for returning her medical documents and/or the date of her interview. She has quit virtually all activities unrelated to acquiring the visa due to the full-time committment it requires and therefore is available on any date for either appointment. If it is not possible to move the appointment dates forward, perhaps it is possible to ensure that the expiration date of the petition is extended so that it does not expire before my fiancee is granted her visa.

Should you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me ...

Best regards,

Michael

F me that is a long time to wait for an interview! The US Embassy in Kenya seems to operate very differently, perhaps better in some ways, perhaps worse in others. My fiancee will be setting up her interview in an appointment at the Embassy April 12. We think it should come within a week or so of that date. God, I hope it doesn't take six months--I'll have to completely change my summer plans!

You got your visa, so you seem to have made it through the toughest part. Congrats! I wish I could tell you what the POE experience is like, but we're still waiting for my fiancee to get her visa! Please let us know how your experience goes, however. Thanks!

Oh, I hope you don't have to travel often between Kampala and Nairobi. I've taken the Busia-Nairobi bus so many times, and it's always an adventure!

In my complaint to my congressman, I asked rhetorically what people are supposed to do if they don't live in Nairobi?! I actually under-described by 1 the number of trips my fiancee had to make to the doctor's office in Nairobi; she also had to go to get some missing immunizations.

I would think that there's a certain degree of security in hand-delivering documents to the doctor's office and to the Embassy, but the amount of time it takes, including making the appointments for the visits is mind-boggling!

If I were in Nairobi helping Jacinta, I would have ignored their messages to set up the appointments after getting the paperwork and tried setting up the appointments about a week ahead of when I knew I would have whatever paperwork I needed to deliver to them. That would at least have cut down on some of the waiting between setting up the appointment and the appointment itself--usually about a week.

Thanks. I sent an email to the case worker for my congressman who helped me earlier, when there was a problem with the approved petition being stuck somewhere between USCIS and the NVC. I haven't heard back yet, but we'll see. They were very useful before. If nothing else, it felt good to get the story off my chest.

Where does either one of them stand on any issue? I'm still waiting for one of them to make a stand on some real issue. All you hear from Hilliary is that she'll take no option off the table. And all you hear about Obama is this surprise that he's a black guy who speaks eloquently. Well, I'd like a little more than that from my president. At least John Edwards has staked out a position on a national health care system. My guess is that even though Hilliary was in favor of such a system in the early 1990s she'd have to consult with her pharmaceutical lobbiests to see whether there was any "political support" for such a system. Regardless of what the vast majority of public opinion is in favor of.

Here's some "good news" from Ezekiel 9:6:

"Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house."

Yeah for God! And genocide!

Does anyone know of a way to lodge an official complaint about the policy of a US Embassy/Consulate? Some of the policies of the US Embassy in Nairobi, and American doctors working for them at the Sarit Centre clinic, are completely ridiculous.

My fiancee made her fourth visit in about a week to the doctor's office, which takes about 90 minutes for her to get to. She had to go there initially to set up the first appointment (they don't allow appointments to be set up over email or the phone). She then went on Tuesday last week for the lab tests, and then Thursday for the blood work and doctor's exam (which itself seemed way too invasive, but that's another story and maybe that's just what all women go through when they see the doctor (if so, I'm really sorry)). Finally, today thought she had reached the end of the line, when she went back to pick up the results of the exam, but on her way home they called her to tell her that there was some kind of problem, and she has to go back tomorrow to get it fixed. Can you imagine being treated like this by a doctor in the US? Why does she have to pick up the results herself? Why can't they be forwarded to the Embassy? ####### does someone do if they don't live in Nairobi?!

As if that weren't bad enough, Jacinta had been told that she had to get the results of the medical exam before she could schedule an appointment with the Embassy. I thought this appointment was the interview itself, but apparently it's not. She had to schedule an appointment just to *drop off* the results of the medical exam, and only then will the Embassy schedule the actual interview. Well, they scheduled the appointment--for Thursday, the 12th. So she has to wait over a week just to drop off the results. ####### is that?! Our best guess is that the interview will take place about a week after that, so hopefully before the 20th, but it's up to the Embassy to decide. And there's a complicating factor that I'm not even prepared to deal with yet--our approved petition expires April 25.

This whole process is really embarassing and infuriating that my fiancee is being treated like this by an arm of our government, for no good reason, except to make it more difficult for her to come to our country. We can't wait for all of this to be over.

I'm going to send another message to my Congressman to see if they can do anything. I doubt it will help since everything now is overseas, but maybe they can make a call and get things moved up. I doubt it, but I need some way to vent.

There is a ton of research showing that bilingual education programs are far more successful and cost-efficient than immersion programs. In Guatemala, for example, children from indigenous language communities that enrolled in bilingual ed programs finished their high school degrees far faster than children in immersion programs. When the kids in the bilingual ed programs spend one or two fewer years in school, it's much cheaper for the government.

Newt's comments are all rhetoric and no substance. My own personal take is that there's an inferiority complex that comes with being monolingual, when virtually all of the rest of the world is highly multilingual. Yet since there's a power and economic imbalance in the US, immigrants and non-WASPs are discriminated against on the basis of language. Language probably has nothing to do with the underlying causes, yet is a good vehicle for discrimination without being overtly racist, zenophobic, etc., and which lets the neo-cons proclaim some ridiculous nationalistic pride.

Thanks, mmarlo!

France is ruled by the French. They have the right to make rules for their society. When Muslims choose to move to a predominantly non-Muslim society, we choose to subject ourselves to non-Muslim rules. And so it goes.

That's true, but I think in the example of the UK, the 7/7 terrorist attack (and the riots a few years ago) has given rise to wave of anti-muslim sentiment. When you have a national Daily Newspaper running an orchestrated campaign to "ban the veil", it's a fairly good litmus test of public sentiment. Singling out people of one particular faith seems as divisive as the original comments about 'religious dress'.

France has its own problem, and as I understand it has something of a class issue between French natives and those citizens descended from North African immigrants.

Some things just aren't funny. My God.

Yup, the UK has a very different approach to religion. Much more sedate and relaxed. Rarely does anyone ever preach or obviously try to convert you. There are no billboards or signs proclaiming anything about Jesus or God, unless on actual church property. It is, in my opinion, better. People tend to be more tolerant towards others who do follow a religious path simply because they don't advertise it to the extremes.

Unless you're a Muslim.

I'm Muslim. Let me know when you think I'm trying to convert you.

The Muslims I've met in the US and Kenya have never tried converting me. I've found some Christians in Kenya, though, to be even worse than Bible-beaters in the US. I have never had so many conversations with strangers as I did there in which I was asked whether I was "saved" before we even knew each other's names. I wish I knew how to say "it's none of your effing business" in Swahili, but fortunately the point came across pretty clearly in English.

Oh, yeah, sorry for the ambiguity. I meant that Muslims are currently being openly persecuted by the government in the UK, with respect to veils. I'm not saying it's better in the US, where the terrorists these days are always Muslims on shows like 24, but it's not great in the UK either--on the basis of very public remarks from the Prime Minister and other governmental officials saying that veils create unwelcomed differences.

Yup, the UK has a very different approach to religion. Much more sedate and relaxed. Rarely does anyone ever preach or obviously try to convert you. There are no billboards or signs proclaiming anything about Jesus or God, unless on actual church property. It is, in my opinion, better. People tend to be more tolerant towards others who do follow a religious path simply because they don't advertise it to the extremes.

Unless you're a Muslim.

But don't you know that the rise of Satan is the best documented event in the history of the world.

A lesson in Truth-By-Assertion.

There is also iguana porn.

More from my private collection:

There is vervet monkey porn.

From my private collection:

I sent my fiancee's family SMS messages on their cell phones, but I don't call because it's too expensive, and there's not much to say anyway. We talked in person when I visited them in Kenya. I dunno, maybe it will be difference once we're married.

A Kenyan friend of mine who did some business in the Congo complained about an uncomfortable situation he found himself in where he was hungry, but was in a restaurant where they were serving some insect that made him sick. He couldn't remember the name of the insect in English but described it as the white insect you find in the thatch of an old thatched-roof house that has become delapidated and fallen down. Then we realized what the delicacy he was talking about was: maggots. I guess he lost his appetite.

But apparently maggots aren't a delicacy that's exclusive to the Congolese. Here are some in Borneo, Malaysia.

I'm now remembering the grossest thing I've eaten. A dish called "omena", which was essentially fried minnows, to be eaten whole, in a tomato-based stew. The texture was just too much. Fortunately, I only had a couple bites. My fiancee made the mistake of eating more, because she didn't want to disappoint our friend who had prepared them for us, but then she found herself running to the toilet all night. Our friend loves the dish so much, he ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day, with no problems. No thanks.

Chimp eating termites with his termite-catching tool.

Ohhhhhh.....Yes, in my country, Cambodia, the people eat Termites!!!! Including my parents!

Termites I hear are quite delicious. They're also called "sweet white ants" in Kenya, but I'm almost certain it's the same species. Normally the termites come out when it rains and when it gets dark. You can set a trap by covering holes of the termite mound so they all come out the same hole and then digging a hole right outside the hole you leave open. Then you beat sticks on the ground outside the termite mound to get them to come out and be caught.

All of the last letters are dropped from the words, which makes it even harder to understand.

Sounds interesting. Wish I could meet Booker. I'd have some questions for him! (Like whether the sounds at the end of words that normally get dropped get pronounced if you add a suffix or something to the word. (Like in French.) Not a question that a normal person would ask, but one a linguist would ask.)

Booker speaks English(does Liberian English count? lol.) and Vai. I speak English and Spanish.

I certainly don't speak Liberian English. It probably has its own characteristics, so why not call it that.

Isn't Vai one of the languages of Liberia that developed its own writing system? Yeah, I think so. What an achievement. See below:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/vai.htm