Pages

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

So close


       In less than one month, I will be in Yaoundé Cameroon!  Since I was so close to raising my total budget for two years of living in the Central African Republic (CAR), I was given the go ahead to book my flight! Unfortunately, the easiest way to get to CAR is to fly to Cameroon, and then drive the rest of the way to CAR. At this point I am not sure how long it will take to catch a ride to the mission station of Gamboula where I will be living, but I am excited to finally have a date to leave the US for Africa.
       The whole process of getting to CAR has been quite complicated. I will be living close to Cameroon, and will use that country as my entry and exit point into CAR. If there is any political unrest, Cameroon is also a more stable country to retreat to for a while if that is deemed necessary. For these reasons I am getting a two year residence card for Cameroon. This will allow me to travel to and from there over the time I will be in Gamboula. I also need a two year residence card for CAR.
       Before getting the residence cards, however, I need to get visas for the countries. These visas are quite complicated to get as they require a traveler to have: proof of purchase of a ticket to and from the country and a letter of invitation from someone in the country with exact dates you are coming. It can take a few weeks for these visas to be issued. Not knowing exactly how long the process would take, I had to book my flight for a date that I thought was far enough out to allow time for the letters of invitation for both countries to get here, and then still have enough time to hopefully get the visas back in time for my flight. 
        As of right now, I have tickets to get to Cameroon, part of the way to CAR, and have received and sent in the letters of invitation. The visas have not been issued yet, but I still have a few weeks to get them. I am also at 97% and need to raise the last 3 % (about $150/month) of my budget before I go.