May 19, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Rwanda

Where’s your certificate?

May 18, 2009 By

Last week we were blessed with some great news! Africa Transformation Network (ATN), the NGO that we are working with in Rwanda, was granted permanent registration! This has been a long process that others have labored for these past 15 months. Praise God it’s here.

My small part in this NGO will be to teach basic – advanced computer skills to empower people to get better jobs and education. It’s my part in helping rebuild Rwanda after the genocide and a vital aspect of the government granting me a work permit visa to stay in the country.

Now that registration has been granted, it was time to apply for my work permit. I spent several days getting all of the documents ready (I love paper chasing!), put everything together and headed with Charles to the Immigration office.

We waited for an hour until our “number” was called and then went to the desk to submit our documents. I was told to go to a different office to pay the fees, so I left Charles with the paper work.

When I returned Charles was shuffling papers and had a puzzled look on his face. The “receiver” of passport applications told him that my duties for ATN did not line up with my diploma. My “duties” were to coordinate basic-advanced computer application training. We labeled it ICT (Information Communication Techology). But my diploma said that my degree was in “Business Administration”? Where was my “ICT Certificate or Diploma”? “I can’t teach something that I don’t have a diploma or certificate in.” So, my application for a work permit was refussed.

Over the weekend Charles and I reworded my contract of service. Before I was going to be an “Information Communication Techology Training Coordinator.” Now, I’m going to be a “Business Administration Application Training Coordinator”.

We printed out the new forms, docs, etc. and had Justin (ATN’s VP) sign them yesterday at worship. Then, this morning, with prayer in our hearts and minds, we returned to the Immigration office for a second try.

The Lord blessed us with a woman of peace. She asked a few questions, took our paperwork, gave me a receipt for the applications and said “We will contact you.” That was it! Now, we are praying that the work permit will be granted so that we can finally have legal status in Rwanda.

I just love paper work! Now that my work permit paperwork is finished, guess what time it is? China Adoption paperwork renewal time………..

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Answers, Prayer Needs, Rwanda Tagged With: , , ,

It’s all about cute!

April 27, 2009 By

My wife has made our house a home! All week she has been unpacking, rearranging and “cutsifying” our home and it looks great!

It took us over a month to pack up our house in Tabligbo and now in less than one week our house in Kigali is all set up!

We did “lose” some things in move: two safes and one computer monitor. The Koonces “lost” a printer. All of these items were small and in their original packaging which made them easy to identify and grab.

The good news is that 99% of all of our household belongings made it safely to Kigali, Rwanda, a long journey to be sure.

We feel very settled now and are happily putting more of our emotional energy into learning a new language.

Thank you for your prayers! Please continue to lift up Rwanda before the Father. Pray that His Light would crush and destroy the work of the devil in this place!

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , ,

We have moved to Rwanda!

April 18, 2009 By

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….

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , ,

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!

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , ,

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!

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , ,

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.

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , ,

Perspectives from Marty

April 13, 2009 By

My teammate has posted some great articles on his blog about his experiences this past week with genocide orphans. They are a much read.

Here’s the link: http://martykoonce.wordpress.com/

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Needs, Rwanda Tagged With: , ,

Father/Son Camping Trip

April 12, 2009 By

This past Monday through Wednesday, Marty, Chris, David and I took our sons to Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda for a Father/Son camping trip. We had a great time together and were awed again by God’s amazing creation. Our Lord is Awesome and Mighty!

Visit our Pictures/Video page to see pictures from our trip.

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , , , ,

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!

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Answers, Rwanda Tagged With: , , ,

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:)

Filed Under: Murphy Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »
  • Twitter
  • Facebook