If you asked a few years ago if I wanted to travel to Africa I would have responded, “It may be nice but Paris is on my bucket list.” The current state of my heart is that Africa is where I long to be. There is something so precious and so dear to me all the way across that great big ocean, it’s family.
Shortly after my oldest son graduated high school he went on a mission trip with a small ministry to visit Kenya. There they went to a village and did missionary work and education. There is a small orphanage that doubles as a day school. It supports first through 5th grade.
Some of the the children who live at the school attend high school at a different school but this school is where they call home for the time being. In 2015 my oldest son took a trip and it changed the trajectory of his life forever.
My son like myself is Caucasian. He went on this trip and there he met a young lady a year older than himself. She was the eldest child of the couple who opened and run the school. She was his guide while he was away.
Upon returning to the states he and this young lady remained in contact with each other and their bond grew. Little did I know that while he was on this mission trip he had actually taking her on a ‘date’ after being given permission from his Team Leader. He was 18 years old and this young lady he met in Kenya was 19. She was off at the University studying social work and getting higher education but had returned to the village to assist as a tour guide for the group.
During their courtship it was odd as they were not able to actually have a relationship as most do. They were literally a world apart. My son went on to get his associates degree, complete his service duties with the military and become a police officer. He was living a few states away from home and was scheduled to come home for a visit when he called to inform me there was a change of plans.
Instead of coming home my son was going back to Africa. He asked if I would like to travel but I couldn’t afford the trip and had too many responsibilities as I was still a wife and mother. His youngest brother was still in high school. I joked with my son and asked him, “What if you get over there and have a ‘Shotgun Wedding’?” Those very words must have stung his ears because he actually did have marriage on his mind.
Before I could even know what was happening he was off to Africa and I was watching my oldest child get married via a Facebook Live video. The plan was to get married and apply for his wife’s citizenship and then bring her home to the United States. The last thing I told my son was, “You and your wife need to hold off on having any children until AFTER she is over here and living with you in the United States.”
The very next year I found myself on an international flight going to Africa to see my first born grandchild! 9 months after my son had originally visited. I may have missed the wedding but there was no way I was going to miss my grandbaby!
As I write this my little bundle of joy is now 16 1/2 months old. Although the baby has dual citizenship her mother has yet to be able to come to the United States. When the baby was just a month old my son applied for her dual citizenship and the Consular at the US Embassy in Nairobi asked my son and his wife had they applied for a spousal visa for his wife. They responded, “Yes.”
The spousal visa was applied for when they were first married in 2021. The Consular advised them to apply for a ‘visitor’s visa’ so that she could return home to the United States with her husband and visit while they awaited the Spousal Visa appointment. They told the Consular they did not think you could apply for the Visitor Visa while the Spousal was pending. The Consular urged them to go ahead and give it a try. So they took his advice. Sadly they should not have.
Not only did this add a financial hardship but it broke the hearts of a young married couple and all who love them. The Same Consular interviewed them and denied the Visitor Visa based on the fact a Spousal Visa is being considered.
Now my little grand daughter is being kept apart from her father and her family separated due to the fact that everyone is ‘behind’ on everything in almost all branches of government and of course the excuses are always given it is due to ‘covid’.
My heart is breaking but my hopes are high. I keep saying, Maybe this year. Maybe this year. Maybe…. I pray that it does not take 5 years like we are being told that it is taking for many.
I was raised to believe that when you do things the right way, ethically and legally that good always wins. That honesty is the best policy. I am glad my son and his wife were honest, I just wish the Consular had not of been so brutal and encouraged them to do what he encouraged them to do. I wish he had of told them to just be patient and not wasted their time or dashed their hopes.
It is terribly sad that our nation is allowing so many people to come into the United States illegally and yet they are preventing American Families from being united and able to enjoy their Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. I hope and pray that my granddaughter with her Mama will soon be on American Soil.
Until then, all I can do is hope and pray that I will live to see the day they are able to actually have a life as a married couple the way God intended.
carmenw74
Mississippi Art & Writing by Carmen W. 