Coming Home

Order to Illegal Foreigner to Depart From Republic. This is the official deportation letter administered by the Republic of South Africa. How, you may wonder, do I know this? Well for those of you that know me well, know that this is exactly the type of stuff that happens to me. I am officially being deported from South Africa! Yes, you read that right.

So here is the story………

I have been flown by my company to Pretoria (the capital) on 4 different occasions to meet with the Department of Home Affairs (the department that handles visas). However, in typical Africa fashion we were told something different each time. Just as background, you can not apply for a charitable work permit if you have more than one visitors visa in your passport hence, the reason I did not just leave the country and return again. My visa officially expired in April and I was told I had to turn in my passport for proof that I was in the midst of applying for a charitable work permit. Although, apprehensive about turning over my passport I felt I had no other option. This was also the point that we were told that my application was incomplete and I needed police clearance from my country of origin. To the company this meant FBI clearance. I applied for FBI clearance and was told by them that this would take at least 13 weeks. Little did I know I didn’t have that kind of time. Three weeks later my passport was magically sent, via mail, to my employer. The package had no note, just my passport, my vaccination certificate, and my medical reports. My employer immediately went back to Home Affairs and asked why my passport was sent back with no visa. They said that my application was incomplete and I was now here illegally.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it – all of this was unbenounced to me. I was living out my daily life in Acornhoek and had no idea that I was illegally here. After several trips by the company back and forth to Home Affairs they finally conceded to the fact that I would need to come home to work out the visa from the states. Over the past two weeks they have been arranging my travel home.

Today, I arrived in Pretoria to get a deportation letter from Home Affairs. Yes, an official deportation letter. We were instructed by Home Affairs to go to another Home Affairs in the area to get the correct form. This one was a bit out of the city in a clearly seedy neighborhood and when we pulled up there were lines miles long. You could tell people had been camping there for days. As we approached the premises, I noticed a strong police presence and someone was in the midst of being beaten with a baton and subsequently removed. I was becoming a bit timid and starting to understand the seriousness of being deported. As we walked up to the fence, the guard asked me what I needed. Being the only white person in the area he seemed a bit confused as why I was there. I told him what I needed and he immediately escorted my inside with two armed police officers fending off the swarm of people around me trying to get in.

The building was just as packed as it was outside. People were everywhere and it seemed like total chaos. I was asked by the guard for my passport. He said something angrily to the person that was with me from my company and escorted us down a long hallway, pushing past hundreds of people. Eventually we entered a large room with 6 cells filled with “prisoners” as it said on the wall. Again, people started speaking in a different language and I stood their clueless trying to interpret people’s facial expressions. As voices began to get louder and louder I knew this was a bad sign. After about 10mins, everyone became calm again and the head officer asked us to follow him to his office. As we walked I turned to the person with me and asked what had just happened. He said that they wanted to arrest me since I was here illegally. Basically, he said, they wanted a bribe. As we entered his office I tried my hardest to compliment him about everything – hoping this might help smooth things over and I also tried to insert the fact that not all Americans are made of money (A typical impression of Americans here).

After another 10 minutes waiting for the officer to clean the newspapers and crossword puzzles from his desk, oh and finish his coffee. He began filling out my deportation papers. He mentioned three more times that he should arrest me and each time I responded with some type of compliment trying everything to make sure I would walk out of that office with a new friend. Another 30 minutes went by and I was handed my Order to Illegal Foreigner to Depart From Republic piece of paper. I went to shake Bart’s hand and he hugged me – guess my strategy worked. “Good luck,” he said “and thank you for all the work you are doing here.”

All this being said I am returning to the states! I will be home long enough to work out my visa from that side. Hopefully, this can serve as a lesson to everyone that you should probably work out these details in advance and while mine seems to have worked out so far – the experience has been less than desirable. See you all soon!