A House Divided and A Hope Deferred

As we slouch toward the end of summer, I realize it is a good time to give an update on our current situation. We did a home leave update at the beginning of the month, and since then David and I returned to Addis Ababa around the 14th of August while Rebecca and Oren stayed in the US so she could take him to William and Mary and help him get set up for the beginning of college. This divide and conquer strategy seemed like the only way we could manage David starting school at Bingham back in Addis while Oren was to begin about 2 weeks later in College. Since William and Mary is Rebecca's alma mater it seemed like the logical choice for her to stay. She is probably also better at helping Oren get packed with everything he will need. 

We spent most of our last two weeks in Baltimore visiting family and having last times together with parents and friends. On the day David and I were set to leave, (our flight was from Dulles on a Monday night), we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum next to Dulles. For those of you not familiar, this is a massive hangar with hundreds of "flying machines" from all times in history. This featured a number of well-recognized and even infamous WW1 and WWII fighters and bombers (including the Enola Gay). But also some commercial airlines such as the actual Concorde supersonic, and the Space Shuttle 'Discovery'. The fact that the Space Shuttle is inside this building gives some idea of the museum's size. It is quite an awesome collection, and because it is so big, does not feel crowded. 

My personal favorite moment there was walking into the museum through the 1st-floor balcony where 2 WW II planes, a P-40 Flying Tiger, and F4U Corsair hang side by side. Since Oren and I built these two as models years ago and still sit on his shelf, it was as if we had become miniature and were standing next to the models! Rebecca tried to get a photo to capture it. 

The Space Shuttle, Enola Gay, and Concorde were among the most impressive in terms of size, though. It was not hard to spend the day there, and when it closed we went out to a nearby Thai restaurant and had a last family meal together. From there Rebecca and Oren dropped David and I at Dulles and we checked in for an 11pm flight to Franfurt. The flight was full, and I don't know why, but they put us in Premier Class which meant we had awesome big seats! We had a longish layover in Frankfurt and I was keen to go out to see the city, but David, after the full day walk at the museum and little sleep on the flight wanted to stay and sleep in the airport--which we did. 

We arrived in Addis the next morning at around 7am. We were disappointed to find that immigration was challenging our resident IDs and held us up for about 30 minutes, but we did eventually get through and we were picked up by Wonde, our logistics officer. We got back to the MCC office just on time to begin a full day of work on Wednesday. I thought jet lag would be better if I stayed up, so I did. 

Thursday, the next day was the first day of school for David. For me though, it was one of the most important days of the entire year. This was the day that Bereket, Oren's best friend in Ethiopia, (and friend of other MCC kids over the years), was to have an interview at the US embassy for his F-1 student visa, which would allow him to study at Eastern Mennonite University. I planned to drive him to his 8:30 am appointment to be sure he did not miss it.

It is worth backing up here a bit to explain the momentousness of this event. Over the past 12 months, during Oren's process of applying for College, Bereket was doing the same with help from Rebecca and me. While we have come to know Bereket from the past 2.5 years of living here, his relationship to MCC has been much longer. He was a best friend of the son of the former reps, and before that was a friend of the rep. couple before them. His dad, Muluneh, is the longest-serving MCC employee here and has worked guarding the compound for around 20 years. 

Because of Bereket's long experience with MCC families, he had become an excellent English speaker and has always been a very good student in the public school he attends in Addis. He is also an excellent chess player, and master of other games like Settlers and League of Legends. He is always friendly, and willing to lend a hand, especially in translating Amharic to English when needed.

Oren and Bereket hanging out

It was actually one of the former reps who suggested he pursue a University opportunity in the US. The former Rep. family said they would be willing to host him if he came to EMU in Virginia. I was inspired and paid for him to take the SATs to see how he would fare in an American system. (The opportunity to take such a test is steeped in privilege because you need access to USD on a credit card, which is not available to almost any Ethiopian!) Long story short, I was stunned when he scored around 1300 total score with high scores in both Math and English on his first try (top 10% of all test takers)! This after attending an Ethiopian public school with no SAT prep offered. 

With that, I became more committed to help him get through the application process, again based on the privilege of having access to US dollars, but also access to a computer, knowledge of the admissions process, and the American system of collecting academic data, such as transcripts, teacher recommendations, etc, which are essentially non-existent here. (University attendance in Ethiopia is based solely on a national exam score at the end of secondary school and nothing else.)

It took months to get the guidance counselor to fill out a recommendation form (he did it on a cell phone). Getting US colleges to accept an Ethiopian transcript was also an ordeal and required expensive translation by a US service to determine equivalency. 

After 6 months of work, we did manage to get Bereket's application accepted at 3 schools who all were excited to have him and even offered him academic scholarships. The offers only came, of course at the cost of admission, and the ability to use the common app. to apply. We were happy to lend him a computer and internet access in our home and help him do this. He ultimately chose Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg Virginia.

This was exciting but we faced a number of hurdles on the Ethiopian side. Bereket needed a national ID in order to get a passport as he had turned 18. For some reason, the govt. here decided to revamp the system to avoid corruption and had refused to issue IDs for the past 8 months! Getting Bereket an ID during this period required us to leverage every bit of power and goodwill we had with the local administration, but we did succeed (without paying any bribes) after 2 months of trying. 

By this time it was after the new year (2023) and we still had to get him a passport. This was also a process in Ethiopia that had stalled, and when he applied, he was told the soonest he could have an interview was 5 months later, in June. That was concerning because there would also need to be an application for a US visa which could take several months as well. We could not change the passport interview times and waited the 5 months until he could interview in early June. When he went to the interview he was told his passport would arrive in 2 months. This timing would make it almost impossible to get a US visa on time for the 23-24 academic year. 

We told Barry to ask for an expedited passport, but the security guard at Ethiopia Immigration would not even let him in the door to make his case when he went to appeal. (he was almost always treated as a person of no consequence by everyone here since he is a high school kid.) In a final act of using every bit of leverage I had, I went myself in my full suit and tie, and NGO ID badge to the head of immigration with Bereket and sat with him. In Ethiopia, no one in govt. is intimidated by foreigners, but I think I did give Bereket the appearance of legitimacy and he was finally granted an expedited passport. 

Once he had it in hand we began the US visa application process. We needed to pay a lot of money to be interviewed for an F-1 (student) visa. None of which is recovered if you are refused. He also needed tons of documentation, most importantly an I-20 form from the school to show he was accepted and fully funded for at least his first year. His host family, and I, as MCC director also added letters of sponsorship which he could take to his interview. Again, there was nothing obvious about how to do this process and get an interview. If anything the process here was deliberately confusing. (To discourage the faint of heart, or those who do not have someone behind them to help them.) Despite this we fully succeeded at getting all the forms completed and successfully applying.

Bereket received a visa interview date of August 17th. In order to start school he had to arrive in the US on August 23rd--six days later, which was close, because there is about a week to get the visa in the passport once it is granted. I felt Bereket had really good documentation and a solid case for a student visa so I went ahead and bought a plane ticket so he could leave on the 23rd once he got the visa. 

My family was on home leave between the time of application and the interview date. I was back in Addis a day before Bereket needed to be at the embassy for the interview. I was very happy to be back so I could take him. I had been planning to go with him, and if possible go into the interview with him. I had spent a full year and a fair amount of time and money on the process, and I really wanted to see him succeed. Also, Oren, who is now in school in Virginia was looking forward to having his best friend in a Virginia college as well. They had spent almost every day together for the past two years in Addis. 

I knew that there was no chance I would be allowed into the interview, and it was true when I took him to the embassy on Thursday morning, I was not even allowed to enter the building. But I knew that Bereket had a portfolio of good documentation that he was accepted at a college, fully funded with scholarships, had a host family, and had sponsorship from an INGO. He was, in my view, a shoe-in for the F-1 student visa. He had a folder with all his documents in hand and was an excellent English speaker to boot. 

I waited outside, praying, praying. I took a walk around the block. When I came back he was out. He looked at me and shook his head. "I was declined," he said. He told me the consular officer took less than a minute with him, did not look at his documentation, asked him 2-3 quick questions, and denied him on the spot. 

The drive home was one I will not forget. I had no words, no comfort, no pep talk. We drove home in silence. I could not even begin to start the process of calculating how we would overcome this barrier. I knew that whatever we did, it would be too late for this semester. After clearing every hurdle, we had face-planted at the finish line.

When we returned and the words came, I was able to assure him that this setback was not the end of his future. He is very bright. He did the Ethiopia national exam and can go to University in Ethiopia if he gets a placement which he almost certainly will. He has a winning personality, and an ability to move easily between cultures. I believe in him and his potential, wherever he is.

I also began the process of inquiring at the embassy. They have great protection of the consular decisions. No case is reviewable or appealable, and no third party can inquire. When I had Barry write for more explanation he received a form letter saying he did not meet the criteria of evidence of financing, acceptance at a college, or willingness to return. He of course had all of this, but the consular officer never looked at it. But again, there is no review or appeal of the process. 

He is welcome to try to apply again, but he must show how something has changed from his last attempt. That is hard to do since he had all the proof of his merit and credentials the first time. I am writing to Senators and anyone else who might help. (I have become too African to believe that anything happens without a "big man." pushing from behind) I had some privilege that got him all the way to the door of the US embassy---but could not get him through. 

It is defeating for Bereket and me. We put so much into this and I did my best to leverage my privilege to help him. What really struck me though, is that there was never any point where a barrier went down for him easily. I am reminded of Charles Dickens novels where a young boy, like Pip, is assumed to be and treated, by everyone, as a person of low birth and therefore bad moral character. That is how every single bureaucrat treated Bereket in this journey. It always took an adult who was perceived to have 'reputation' to make his case. His case was never taken seriously on its own merits. It is a lesson to me, to remember not to treat young boys with a prejudice that they are probably 'up to no good.'

I had prayed weekly for Bereket in our small group, and watching hard-ened barriers come down gave us confidence that God would do a mighty work to get him over all the hurdles to an opportunity to study in the US this year.

I am having a hard time drawing a moral lesson. God is God in all circumstances, that is all I can say. We live in an unjust world, and it does not always work out in the short run for those who are vulnerable. 

If anyone with the power to change this happens to read this and wants to reach out. I would appreciate it. I am not ready yet to completely give on this, but need to find a new road in. 

I could say more about other frustrations of being back. There has been a lot of work to catch up on, but this experience has colored much of how I am feeling about being back here. I just pray for the fortitude to keep up the good fight.