A Stranger's Kindness

Upon arriving in Botswana we were only given a 30 day visa as we did not have proof of our residence at UB when we crossed the border from our long journey here a short month ago. We were told that it would be no problem to extend it once we had proof that we do in fact live at UB. So on Wednesday, we ventured to the immigration office to get our visas renewed.

Being 7 of us, we caught two taxis to take us to the immigration office. Danielle, Jayne, and I were all in the first one to arrive at the immigration office. However, we were told that we needed to go to a different immigration office. That wouldn't be that devastating of news, but our taxi just left and none of us three have a cell phone here. So, we decided to wait and see if the other group in the other taxi would arrive at the same office. However, before they arrived, a man that was there doing business and was leaving offered to take us in his truck! He apologized that the bed was dirty, but it was a mode of transportation and he knew the location of the office we needed to be at, so we graciously jumped in the back!

We pulled into a dirt drive that did not look too official and we were a bit weary. But, the nice man that drove us there pointed to the building that we needed to go to. To get our visas extended, we found out that we need to pay a man to hand write a letter of application, asking the government of Botswana to extend our visas. We didn't expect to need a letter of application to be allowed to stay here, but we were granted the additional time after submitting the letter. It was an unexpected way to renew our visas---pay a man to write a letter for us, sign it, submit it, and then get your visa stamped for another 60 days---but they are extended thanks to the kindness of a complete stranger. We would have never been able to find this office on our own. This small act of kindness just proves how willing everyone here is to help. And we were (and still am!) extremely grateful for their helpfulness!