We brought our shipped belongings home from the customs warehouse today!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!
We have now completed our move and transition to Rwanda.
More later….
Signed and Cleared!!!
April 16, 2009 By
The Custom's Commissioner signed the paper this afternoon and the container was cleared "tax-free"!
The clearing agent is paying (as I write this) the storage fees (only $550 for six weeks)!
The clearing agent has been paid.
Tomorrow customs will do a "verification" to make sure that the items in storage match the packing list that we provided.
THEN, our things can come home!
Thank you soooooo much for walking through this with us in prayer! We can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel! Let's pray it through to the very end.
We Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and blessing during our transition from Togo to Rwanda!
One More Signature…
April 15, 2009 By
The papers are ready and waiting for the Custom's Commissioner to sign…This is the third time these papers have been on his desk. Pray that this is the last!
Name Changed
April 14, 2009 By
The name on the container was successfully changed to "Murphy Crowson" today. Tomorrow we will submit a new application to have the container released under my name…Hmmm…we will see where that leads.
We will release the container…if
April 12, 2009 By
First, Happy Easter everyone! We praise God for the birth, life and resurrection of Jesus today (as we do everyday but again on this day:)! Thank you Lord Jesus for dying so that we might live!
Now…in answer to our prayers, we got our miracle…with conditions. On Thursday Customs agreed to release the container to me without having to wait for my renewed passport and work permit…IF…we change the documentation on the container to "Murphy Crowson". Praise the Lord!
Now, the funny part. Guess what? Changing the paperwork to my name requires, you guessed it, more paperwork.
Right now the container is in Sam Shewmaker's name. In order to change the container to my name Sam Shewmaker has to have a Tax Clearance document from the Rwanda Revenue Authority saying that he doesn't owe any taxes. In some minds, Sam Shewmaker could be trying to change the name on the container to "Murphy Crowson" in order to avoid taxes that he already owes.
So, with rejoicing on our lips for this change of heart we headed off to the Rwanda Revenue Authority to find out how to get ahold of a Tax Clearance Document for Sam. The paperwork was no problem. One page filled out and a copy of Sam's passport.
BUT, you have to pay $10 before they can accept the application. We went to the office where we pay the fee and found over 150 people waiting in line to pay fees! There is only one place to pay in the whole building!
In the past, to avoid having to wait in this line for hours, we hired someone else to wait in line for us. It worked before, so we decided to call our "waiting in line" contact and she said she'd be happy to wait for us.
After four hours Thursday afternoon, she was finally able to pay the $10 fee in order to submit the application for Sam's Tax Clearance Document. However, when she went back upstairs to the office to submit the application, you guessed it, they were in a meeting for the rest of the day. "Please come back Monday." Friday was a holiday.
So, Monday our "waiting in line" friend will submit the application at the RRA for Sam's Tax Clearance. It's supposed to take four days to get it back. But, Charles has a "cousin" who works at the RRA who says that he might be able to speed up the process to two days:) We will see.
So, thanks for your prayers. God answered them, with conditions…Still waiting in expectation. At this point we care less about getting our stuff and more about having "closure" on our transition to Rwanda!
Passport Stamp
April 8, 2009 By
Still praying for a miracle with us? Something may be in the works.
Monday, Sam, Charles and I went to Customs to explain the difficulty with my passport and also to ask for mercy and understanding in our container case. They said they would think about it.
That afternoon customs requested "more documents". We had all of the documents ready to give them except one, a copy of the Rwandan Entry stamp in my passport.
Yesterday was a holiday and today I got back late from a father/son camping trip.
So, tomorrow, we will visit Customs again with our new documents and ask again for mercy and a miracle. Charles said Monday, "They are considering releasing the container to you early."
When I told this to our Maersk clearing agent she said, "They don't normally reconsider a case like this." My reply, "Our God is the God of the impossible!"
Keep praying for a miracle:)
One Step Forward, Five Steps Backwards
April 2, 2009 By
The clearing of our container is back in the "hopefully, someday" stage. Here are some of the details of the process we are going through:
Step One – Apply for exoneration of customs tax at customs office. Personal Effects can be brought into Rwanda for NGO workers without tax.
Response – Customs said that the expiration of our Organization's Registration was too close to the request date for exhonoration and that the Ministry of Local Government would have to sign off on clearing the container duty-free.
Step Two – Apply for exoneration of customs tax at the Ministry of Local Government (MINILOC).
Response – MINILOC requested a copy of Sam Shewmaker's Passport, Work Permit and contract with ATN (our organization).
Step Three – Documents were submitted to MINILOC. We were told to come back Tuesday, then Thursday, then Friday, then Monday.
Response – Monday MINILOC approved exoneration of the container. This was the big signature we were all praying for.
Step Four - Give MINILOC's approval to Customs and ask them to confirm exoneration of the container.
Response – Customs rejected MINILOC's approval saying that Sam Shewmaker has already received a container of personal effects (the '08 team's container that was just recently cleared). Why they didn't say this the first time I don't know. It would've saved us two weeks of paperwork chasing!
Step Five – Visit customs and explain that the items on the container are not Sam Shewmaker's but rather Murphy Crowson's. Sam Shewmaker is the director of the organization but the items are for other personnel.
Response – Customs said that Sam's name has to be taken off the documents and my name replaced with his. I need a letter from Sam on our organization's letterhead explaining that he is transferring consignment of the goods to me. I also need to submit a copy of our renewed registration, a copy of my passport and a copy of my work permit in Rwanda.
Step Six - Wait for our registration to be renewed (The office renewing the registration said to come back Friday:) Tomorrow to check on the paperwork.)
Response – Still waiting.
Step Seven – Once registration is renewed, I need to apply for a work permit. Today, we started to gather all of the necessary papers to be ready to submit my application for a work permit tomorrow when/if the registration is renewed. In the process we found out that my US Passport is within six months of the expiration date. They will not accept a visa application for a passport that will expire in less than six months. My Passport is expiring in 5 months and 30 days, just two days short of the deadline. Is this hilarious or what???!!!
Step Eight – Apply for a new passport. I went by the US Embassy today and found out that there are only two days each week that they are open to Americans. Tuesdays and Fridays. So, tomorrow I will go in at 9am and submit an application for a new passport. And, who knows how long that will take…..
Summary of things left to do before Step Five can be completed:
- Apply for a new passport. 1-2 weeks reponse time.
- Wait for registration renewal. Hopefully this will be granted while we wait for our passport. Without this, I cannot apply for a work permit.
- When registration is extended, apply for a work permit. 1-3 days.
- Submit necessary documents to customs to appeal a second time for the container to be exonerated.
- Wait for customs to respond to the most recent request and hope they approve.
Of course, we can still pray for a miracle! Let's keep praying! The story of the persistent widow comes to mind…
We know this is exhausting! But we appreciate your prayers so much and are very encouraged everytime you pray!
Rejected…
March 31, 2009 By
The Rwanda Customs Office rejected the Ministry of Local Government's approval for exoneration of our container this afternoon.
The Rwanda '08 team recently cleared their container duty free as "personal items" in the name of Sam Shewmaker. Customs said that "Shewmaker has already received a duty-free container of personal items." Thus, our container, the second to be shipped c/o to Sam Shewmaker cannot be duty-free.
I am going with a Rwandan colleague tomorrow morning to meet with customs to find out our options and if there is anyway that we can still clear this container duty-free.
Otherwise, the taxes could be as high as $10,000 to bring in our decade old household items from Togo to Rwanda! Ridiculous!
Pray that an affordable solution can be found.
Sorry about this! I thought we were done! BUT, the saga continues!
Approved!!!
March 30, 2009 By
Our clearing agent sent us an SMS message today saying that our request at the Ministry of Local government was approved and SIGNED today! Praise the Lord!
Now, a few more steps until our stuff is home free. First, Customs has to "confirm" the paperwork (this is supposed to be easy:) ). Then, they have to collect all of the invoices for the small charges that we have to pay (things like paperwork processing, container storage, etc.) They were in the process of doing all of these things this afternoon.
Tomorrow morning, if things go well, I should be able to pay all of the fees and then we'll rent trucks and BRING OUR STUFF HOME!
Thank you for your prayers. Don't let up! We can see the "light at the end of the tunnel!"
Prayers Needed for Container Signature
March 29, 2009 By
This past Friday more papers were submitted to the Ministry of Local Government asking for an extension in our registration. The reason that the container wasn't cleared sooner was because the registration was expiring on April 4. A lot of work was done last week by our co-workers to apply for an extension on the registration which should allow the government to sign off on our container.
Please ask the Lord to move His Mighty Hand so that our container can be cleared early this week!
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