As soon as Rosalie told us of her engagement, we
wondered if any of us would be able to go out to Zaire for the wedding. We realised that the trip would not be as
easy as crossing the Atlantic, which Bernard is now so used to. At first we thought that just I would go, then Bernard and Katie decided that they would like to
go. At that point, Bernard inquired
about plane ticket costs with the Travel Agents based at his work, and it was
reluctantly decided that it would have to be just Bernard and myself ~ due no
doubt to lack of competition, air fares to Zaire are about double the
transatlantic costs!
The next stage was “health”; we got a list of
precautions to take, and set about the round of injections, for Yellow Fever,
Typhoid and Cholera (these were very powerful ~ we both had stiff and sore
arms, and Bernard had to take a day off work), and Malaria tablets to take
while we were there and then for four weeks afterwards.
Visas ~ the form from the Embassy here required us
to have a “duly certified” letter of invitation, in order to go in as
relatives; we could have gone as tourists, but a nephew who did that a few
years ago found on leaving that lie “hadn’t spent enough” while in the country,
and had to pay taxes (he could have spent it on souvenirs if he’d known!). There was a long correspondence with Rosalie,
to try and get this letter (all tied up with the formal approval of the
marriage, by the church in Zaire and the BMS); it arrived with about a week and
a half to go. So I took it to London on
the Thursday before we were due to leave, and found the Embassy closed (a
public holiday in Zaire), with a notice saying that the Visa office would be
open on the Friday instead. After phoning, we found that they would take the
applications, so London trip 2 was the Friday, and trip 3 (to collect the
passports) on the Tuesday July 5th. A
close shave!
The air tickets were delayed in coming too, and arrived on the 5th ~ the Travel Agents gave Bernard “duplicate” tickets, so that we could get our visas; he had to return the duplicates to get the “real” ones. It was a great relief to have all the documents in our hands, and to start packing. We had taken gifts from so many people for Rosalie, plus letters and gifts for other missionaries, that we wondered if we would be within our luggage limit; but in the end we were both under the weight limit.
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