Barack Obama awaits you, Morgan Tsvangirai
The White House yesterday released the following statement about the upcoming visit by Zimbabwean Prime Minister to the United States of America.
Statement on Visit of Zimbabwean Prime Minister
(Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will visit Oval Office June 12) (136)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2009
Statement by the Press Secretary on the visit of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe
The President looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe to the Oval Office on Friday, June 12. The Prime Minister, along with millions of Zimbabweans, has been working against the odds to secure a stable democratic future for the people of Zimbabwe. The two leaders will discuss the difficult road ahead in Zimbabwe, including how the United States can support the forces of reform as they work to bring the rule of law, respect for human rights, and free and fair elections back to Zimbabwe.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
Zimbabwe- something inside so strong
We must move forward as a country but we must not forget the pain that has been had to get us here, the lives that have been lost, the struggle never ending, the many unknown and unseen heroes.
There is indeed Something inside so strong.
The Asylum Story of Courage Shumba
Courage Shumba, 30, is currently awaiting a decision from the Home Office on his application for asylum.
Here he tells how he was forced to leave his home country and seek refuge in the UK and how he feels the asylum system has, so far, failed him:
In 1999 I enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe to study law; soon after I was elected to the students’ Executive Council as Vice President.
I was the first branch chairman for the Movement for Democratic Change at the university and heavily involved with the National Constitutional Assembly.
I wasn’t a part-time political activist - I was fully involved in trying to liberate our country from the barbaric and brutal regime of Robert Mugabe.
In 2001 I was expelled from the University for political activism. I’d studied law for three years but they refused to give me my results or grant me a hearing. Read more
A visit to the Embassy
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, Relationships, Zimbabwean diaries
I paid a visit to the Norwegian embassy today with a letter to hand to the ambassador. I spoke to his secretary and then the head of the VISA section. They called up the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration who insisted that they are working on the case and- here this- I can expect to wait for anything up to 10 months! Read more
And so UDI, I protest…
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, Relationships, Zimbabwean diaries
So, having waited those five months, having emailed UDI (Norweigian Directorate of Immigration) many times, the Norwegian embassy in Harare even more times and even the King of Norway four times, and receiving from non of these parties a response that would tell me when I would get the VISA I must protest. To this day I am told “we do not know when your papers will be processed.”
Five months later! Not acceptable. In my own country where government departments have all but fallen apart, I applied for a passport and got it within two weeks. So, will someone please tell me, how a country, which has year after year been said to be the best place to live in the world, cannot process a VISA application in five whole months?
Can someone tell me how in an age of online transactions that take five seconds to process, it should take so long for a man to get the paperwork so that he can be with his wife?
And so I protest. Vehemently, I protest.
Starting Monday, 2nd March 2009, I am going on a reunification fast and I will drink only water till I get word about when I will be with my wife. I am also hoping that this action will bring attention to this issue and urge the UDI and other immigration departments around the world to fast track family reunification VISAs.
Sorry sweetie, but I protest.
Five months of waiting…
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, Relationships, Zimbabwean diaries
I have been waiting now for almost five months. It will be 5 months on March 7th. No sign of a VISA. No sign that there will be a sign of a VISA- and yet they told me two months. What system is this, designed to keep people apart for so long? What bureaucracy that does not make way- even for love?
