Green Card Quest

Sr. Rose needed to renew her green card, and I needed to get one, so we drove together into town.  I've noticed that lines don't really exist here in Rwanda; people just wait in a bunch and kind of skip each other.  They sometimes make a fuss about it when somebody skips, but often they just seem to not care too much.  Even when I was at the RRA those two times in Kigali, there was a definite zigzag of people, but when you got up to the front, people would just go up to the window whenever they got the chance.  They were all ready to pounce, but only one at a time could succeed…dun dun duuuuun.  

So today Sr. Rose and I arrive at the Immigration office.  There are about 8 other people waiting in a clump outside the window.  There is no clear direction about who is waiting for what…there usually are no clear directions about where you should wait.  But there's one clump waiting at a window, and another waiting at a door.  Sr. Rose and I join the clump, craning our necks like everybody else to see inside.  Eventually she beckons to me to follow her, and she just waltzes right past everybody, into the office on the other side of the door.  She speaks to the guy at the desk, explains that she wants to renew and I want to get a green card.  He tells her to make a copy of her visa, and he gives me a form and tells me to go pay 5.000 at the RRA.  Then we go on our way.  So, that was easy, and we totally didn't wait in line.  Hm.  So we head into town to pay for a photocopy of Sr. Rose's visa.  We also need to get passport photos taken, but we did that a few days ago in town.  There are small photo shops here and there that do it for you really fast.  The place we went to was a tiny little place with a desk and a white sheet separating the "studio" from the "office."  The "studio" is just the corner of the room with a floodlamp tacked to the ceiling.  There are certainly no changeable backgrounds or anything, just white walls (actually quite dirty but mostly white).  For our photos, they just put us on a small stool in front of the desk, basically in the doorway of the place, facing outside.  

A lady stood behind us and held up a white blanket.  Then the guy took each of our pictures with a Polaroid instamatic camera.  And about 5 minutes later we had our photos.  2.000 RWF ($4 USD) bought me four photos.  Nice.  So anyways we went to make a photocopy, then to the RRA to pay.  Sr. Rose waited in the car while I went inside.  Good thing I've become more confident with doing these kinds of things, because it can be kind of intimidating to waltz into a place where there is no direction about where to go for this and that.  So I walk in and its just a big warehouse with about 6 tables with computers and guys helping people.  There's a small group of people sitting on randomly placed chairs, who all stare at me.  Well I head straight to the back where I see a guy whose not helping anyone.  I ask him if this is where I pay, and he tells me that I need to pay at Eco Bank.  Of course I need to pay at Eco Bank, silly me!  Why didn't I think of that?  So we go to Eco Bank.  This time Sr. Rose gets out and enters with me, and again there are some people waiting and there's one guy being helped by the teller.  So we wait in line behind the one guy.

After a few minutes though, Sr. Rose tells me to go sit and wait with the others while she goes to buy some potatoes.  So I wait for like 10 minutes and observe.  It seems that the people sitting with me have filled out some kind of form…how do I get one…let's see…soon a lady comes out from the back and speaks to the guy sitting next to me, obviously asking if I am with him.  Upon hearing no, she kindly asks me in French how she can help me.  So she gives me the form I need and tells me to present it to the teller.  So I do this, and soon I've got my receipt that I need to take back to the RRA.  So I march right back in there with my receipt, but this time the guy who I spoke to before is gone.  There's a new guy at a different table at the front, and he directs me to a table at the back.  There's one other person with an RRA slip also waiting to pay something, so I just stand by him.  I notice there's a guy not helping anybody, so I start going towards him.  But he immediately shakes his head and points to the guy next to him.  

Ok, so I wait.  The other customer is eventually served, and he kindly motions to me that I can come up now.  Its weird though because the teller is not finished helping him, so I'm just standing there while this guy is sitting there waiting for the teller to finish his receipt.  But this is totally how people wait since there are no lines.  When in Rome!  So I present my Eco Bank receipt, then receive my RRA receipt, then go back to the car with Sr. Rose to go back to Immigration.  But by this time its about 1pm, and we remembered from our previous attempt to get our green cards that they stop taking people at noon.  We go back there just to check, but they've already closed the door.  So we decide that I'll come back tomorrow with both of our things.  Sr. Rose needs to teach so its not possible for her to come.  So instead she's going to give me her passport and photocopies and photos and I'll present her documentation.  Wow, this would certainly not fly in the U.S.  When I asked her about how legal it is for me to be carrying her passport, she simply said that if they won't accept it, call her and she'll leave her class to themselves for a bit while she comes into town to do it herself.  Hm, ok.  Let's see what happens. 

An interesting observation on our way home…outside the prison there were a bunch of women carrying big, bright plastic baskets filled with bread and other food.  I asked Sr. Rose what they were all doing.  She explained that here the prisoners are not given food to eat.  They are dependent on their friends and family to feed them.  If they have no one to bring them food, they basically die of starvation.  They do community work, like fix roads, build stuff, etc.  Its not at all unusual to see a group of about 30 guys wearing bright orange or bright pink outfits, out on the town fixing up something.  And of course there are several armed guards not far away.  So I asked if they are still obligated to work if they don't receive food.  She said "Yes!  Of course!  And that's how they die of hunger."  But she also said that there is such a strong sense of solidarity between Africans in general, that there are not many starving prisoners.  If a prisoner has no living family members, there is often someone who knew their family or worked with so-and-so or has some kind of connection, and because of their good rapport with that person's family, they bring them food. 

            The next day I went into town by moto to drop off mine and Sr. Rose's documents for our green cards.  Again, there was no line, just a blob.  So I joined the blob.  I waited with everyone for about 15 minutes, and then one of the guys working behind the desk sees me and asks in French how he can help me.  I say that I need a green card, and he tells me to come into the office.  So I skip everyone else who had been waiting there long before me - booyah!  I give him my things, no problem.  Then I gingerly, carefully begin explaining Sr. Rose's case, that she is busy teaching and she sent me to give her documents.  He gave a little smile and said its no problem.  I can return in one hour to pick up both at the same time.  I was in disbelief at that…one hour?  "Today they will be ready?"  I asked.  He said yes, so I just went for a nice leisurely stroll by the lake for an hour.  And along the way I made another random friend, just like my bus buddies and Amiral.  This was a guy who was also at the immigration office and met up with me a short distance away.

        He was very nice, a few years out of university, in the process of applying for foreign exchange programs at European universities.  We had a really nice time talking about college, financial aid, and education in general.  It turns out he's a secondary school teacher now.  So he walked with me during that whole hour, and I was really happy to have spent it that way!  We exchanged numbers to stay in touch. 

Then I went back to immigration, waited with the blob for only 5 or so minutes before the guy who helped me earlier saw me.  He beckoned me into the office, I skipped everyone, and he gave me both our green cards.  No hassles whatsoever!  I thanked him and caught myself a moto on home.  When I told Sr. Rose about how I skipped everybody in line, she said it is a mark of politeness.  In general, it is normal to go out of your way to help a foreigner.  She said the guy at immigration wanted to make sure I felt welcome and at ease, and that's why he helped me before all the others who had been waiting longer.  She said its kind of an unspoken rule that those who are from here can wait; the strangers should be helped first.  

Hm, good customer service I guess!