We spent almost 3 hours at the bank today trying to pay for our Non-Citizen’s Card. They had some sort of a number system but somehow people kept getting in front of us with no number. I can see if you are old and infirmed being moved forward but really 3 hours! We finally got it renewed.
We dropped off the van at the AC repair place before we hired a “Yellow, Yellow” to take us to the bank. A “Yellow, Yellow” is a three wheeled tiny vehicle that is used as a taxi. They are everywhere and cheaper than a taxi. They have no doors or side panels; they are mostly to carry people even though we have seen them overloaded with people and goods. While we were waiting at the bank the AC man called and said that he could not find the leak and was going to have to take the system apart. We did not have time for that nonsense today! We will take it another day.
We had to have the Non-Citizen’s card renewed before we could go to immigrations and renew our resident visa. The immigration officers are no longer allowed to renew the visas in Tamale. They have to be sent to Accra and it takes approximately 2 months to get them back. They said that even if we wanted them to send them to Accra for us we could not because the government made a new regulation concerning the renewal of visas; they have to be accompanied with a health certificate. The only place to get the health certificate is in Accra and if we understood her correctly it is at the Ga hospital which is the same place they are housing the Covid positive patients.
There is nothing we can do but go to Accra for the medical screening. The strange thing is that only Steve is required to have the medical screening. I don’t have to have one because I am the “wife.” We went straight to the airlines and bought tickets to fly out tomorrow morning. We will probably have to spend 2 nights in Accra to get everything done. Please! What a mess! We only have until the 4th of October to get the process started. Our resident visas expire on the 4th and then we will have to pay penalties and run the risk of losing the resident visa. The immigrations officer said that there was a way to pay for expediting the process. She gave us the phone number of one of her friends at the immigration office in Accra. Once the passports are in their hands we don’t have to worry about the expiration date.
We did not get back to the mission house until 5:30 this evening and it was almost dark. We spent the rest of the evening getting ready for our early morning trip back to Tamale. Red is not going to be able to take us to the airport because he is digging a ditch for someone so we are going to drive ourselves to Tamale and leave the van with some of our Indian friends who run a hotel. We will take a taxi to the airport. The van will be safer with our friends than parked at the airport.
Once again we are asking for your prayers for our safe and successful journey.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
