Life is hell... It certainly is if your wife is 5000+ miles away and attempting to get a passport for herself in a country just emerging from civil war. My wife, Stefan, has travelled across land from Dakar in Senegal to Freetown, Sierra Leone to get a passport to which she is entitled as a Sierra Leonian citizen. She had paid the fees and was expecting to be able to gain a passport after a few interviews.
Then it turned out that they refused to give her a passport in her new married name (Stefan Lloyd Evans). Then it took her five weeks to get anywhere as she was forced to go from one ministry to the next all to no avail. She has been very ill in the meantime due to the local lack of sanitation. Now she is being forced to pay £280 or the passport will not be delivered. Or, to tell the truth, I am being forced to pay this. It's basically extortion on a grand scale. Her passport is being held to ransom. Basically they know that she has no future without this document and they can charge whatever they like for it.
The situation is appalling. No wonder there are such horror stories about corruption in Africa. I know that there's a concerted effort to stamp this kind of thing out in next-door Liberia but Sierra Leone still seems a den of bandits and thieves. This is a real kick in the teeth for me as I've been very active trying to get money to support the Sierra Leonian/Liberian refugees currently displaced in Senegal and to have this done to us by Sierra Leonian passport officials seems particularly galling. But what should I have expected?!
I am feeling really pissed-off about this and the money I'd hoped to spend on my family over Christmas is now going to line the pockets of a functionary in Freetown. I contacted the Sierra Leonian High Comission in London to see what they have to say about this. Of course, they will make more money out of us once again as both my wife, Stefan, and our son, Zogo will need to get new passports in their married/adoptive names. This is so completely unfair and unnecessary. But it seems to be the way things work. I am apalled, however, as I'm attempting to work for the benefit of Sierra Leonian refugees on one hand whilst being stabbed in the back by Sierra Leonian official functionaries on the other.
I'm also afraid for my wife as she has become ill due to the unsanitary conditions she's living in and the amount of time that she's been forced to stay there (a process that should have taken 2 weeks is now extending into 6 weeks and may go further if they decide they can extort even more money from us). Then there's her return journey to Dakar which is becoming potentially more hazardous by the day as rebel activity increases on the border with Guinea.
I'm feeling down now, because I have to find this money on top of everything else and I still need to keep my program to aid the refugees going. I'm definitely feeling like kiving up. But I've just produced and published a new tool which will allow anyone with a website to make and display ClickBank Ads with Images to aid monetize their website or blog. Now this is really cool technology and the first time that these kind of ads have been made available anywhere. I urge you to go and play with them...
I've also put together the various recipe and recipe-related eBooks that I'm promoting in the 'Help Stefan' campaign into one place. If you can spare the time then please visit the Recipe eBooks page. If you buy any of these eBooks, or even just make a donation then this will go towards helping people who really need your assistance.
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