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Friday, 18 September 2009

  • Stolen Passports and Answered Prayer

    Our trip to Nairobi was basically uneventful.  The one glitch was in Dubai where we had an 8 hour layover. We had been told that we needed to get our boarding passes for Kenya Airways in Dubai.  When I went to get the boarding passes, I was told that we weren’t confirmed for the flight.  For whatever reason the connection between Delta’s computers and Kenya Airway’s computers let us fall through the cracks and it showed that we weren’t on the flight from Atlanta to Dubai, so we weren’t confirmed to fly on into Nairobi.  Thankfully, there were 4 seats available, so they could confirm us for the flight.  They also confirmed, that all 8 pieces of luggage are in Dubai and will be on the flight into Nairobi.

     

    The fun started when we got into Nairobi.  We had been using Grant’s stroller and checking it in planeside and pick it up planeside as soon as we land.  When we landed in Nairobi we got off the plane and asked them where our stroller is, and they told us to pick it up at the baggage claim area.  We breezed through customs and went to the baggage area.  Our first seven pieces of luggage came through quickly.  Our eighth, and our stroller; not so quick.  Finally, the belt quit going, and they told us that everything was off the plane.  I then stood in line for about an hour (I was 3rd in line) waiting to file a claim for lost luggage and a lost stroller.  The agent filing the claim couldn’t type to save her life; she truly used the “seek and ye shall find” method.  And in no hurry, either.  I told her manager that I left our stroller planeside in Dubai and it makes no sense that it isn’t here.  She told me it was probably loaded onto the wrong plane, which made no sense to me because the plane I left it outside came to Nairobi.  (I know, I was on it).    Finally, after waiting for an hour, suddenly I decided to look over the pile of unclaimed luggage and there it was.  Our missing eighth piece.  Why it ended up there, I’ll never know  It certainly was not there moments before when I was looking.  They also had sent someone out to look around the aircraft, and sure enough, our stroller was setting outside the plane.  So we got everything loaded into Mel’s vehicle and left for Nakuru.  On the outskirts of Nairobi we stopped at Java House, an American-owned coffee house/bistro for breakfast.  Java House is located in a shopping center that contains probably a dozen or so other stores.Hou  When we were going in, I thought about taking my backpack along in with me, but we were in a gated shopping center with guards actively patrolling the area. We leisurely ate our breakfast, and when we came back to the vehicle, one of the girls said, “why is the side window open?”  I immediately looked for my bright orange backpack, but it was gone.  The rest of our luggage was there, but that was gone.  My gut had told me I should take it in with me, a thought that I will always entertain. 

     

    Immediately Mel (my father-in-law) contacted the head of security who told him that you park here at your own risk.  Never mind that they have gates and security patrolling the lot.  They were not will to lift so much as a finger to help us.  He told us he contacted the guard that was “guarding” our area of the parking lot, and he told us that no one was messing with our van, and that this must have happened before we got to Java House.  I happened to notice a gentleman sitting in a tinted vehicle adjacent to where we were parked.  I asked him if he had noticed anything out of the ordinary at our vehicle, and he told me that he saw a guard at our window, but didn’t think anything of it; thinking he was just doing his job.  I went to the head of security and told him that I have a witness that saw a guard at our vehicle window and that I would give him $200 American if they would return my backpack.  (not that it was a good deal, because I had $400 in cash in the backpack).  The guard just kept coming back to, “you park here at your own risk.”  His sense of logic was, well, lacking.  In the meantime, Mel had contacted Mervin Peachy, one of the missionaries at their compound who takes care of the legal issues, who in turn contacted the American Embassy.  The embassy dispatched the police (station was right around the corner) and we were told to wait for them; they would be here in 5 minutes.  We waited… and waited….and waited.  I think, looking back, that there were about 3 times that we were ready to get into the vehicle to leave, but for some reason we didn’t leave.  After waiting about three hours, (and no police in sight) Mervin called the embassy again, who recommended that we talk to the manager of the Java House.  My initial reaction was, “what’s that going to help?… no one else has been helpful.” 

     

    While Mel and I were stomping around trying to get somewhere with this obstinate guard, (both of our blood pressure was quite high at this point) Anne had made a list of everything that was in there.  Her digital camera (Nikon D-80) that she uses for her photography business was in there as well as a new Nikon digital camera that Mel had ordered and we were bringing over for him.  My IPod was in there as well as my cell phone, $400 in cash that we know of (there were some envelopes we were bringing to Mels that we knew had cash gifts in them.  Anne’s watch was in there, as well as the blankets the kids use when they sleep.  The one that Nicole used was sentimental as well; it was made for Anne by her Grandma when she was born.  I had a textbook since I was hoping to get some studying in while traveling.  My sister-in-law, Rosie, also had applied for, and received, an International Drivers License which we were bringing along.  Also included in the backpack, and possibly the biggest deal of all, were our 5 American Passports and Visas for Kenya.  All total, as near as we can figure, we had about $2500 worth of stuff in the backpack, not including sentimental value of the blankets and the headaches of lost passports.  I had bought a new video camera for the trip, and on a whim, decided to take it out and shoot some videos while at Java House.   While we were stomping around, we learned later that both Nicole and Wade were praying in the van that at least our passports would be returned.     

     

    Mel went up to Java House to speak to the manager who was amazing.  She immediately called her security agent to see if they could see anything on the security cameras. (they couldn’t)  It took a little bit for her to contact the security, so Mel and I stood around waiting.  I left for a little bit, and while Mel was standing there talking to her, a lady from a pharmacy on the end of the shopping center came up and they started talking in Swahili.  After a bit, the manager turned to Mel and asked, “were you at Pizza Inn this morning?”  When we told her that, no, we came here directly from the airport, she said that they were just told that there were some passports that were found at Pizza Inn.  She was given a phone number, so I wrote down our names, and she left to call Pizza Inn.  It was probably only two minutes, but seemed like two hours, when she came out beaming, saying, yes, these are your passports.  Praise God!  There were prayer chains and emails being sent out both here in Kenya and in the United States that God would intervene on our behalf. 

     

    We still hadn’t seen any sign of the police, so we decided at this point to go to the police station and file the report on our own.  I felt quite confident that I will never see our stuff again, but I did need to have a police report so I can file the insurance claim.  (I never take out trip insurance, but decided to for this trip; yet another “praise God” moment).  We went to the station which had no electricity.  The cops listened to our story, and gave us a report that I can file.  They listened with such interest that it crossed my mind that they seemed jealous they didn’t make the haul.  They kept asking us to clarify… this is US dollars?  The average laborer here makes about $3/day, so someone had a big boost to their bank account.  Interestingly, here you are suppose to pay the police 50 shillings for the report, however, they were out of official receipts so we were suppose to go to a different station to get an official receipt.  I told him that I’ll pay him his 50 shillings, I don’t need a receipt.  He then explained to me that I was paying FOR the official receipt, not the report, so if I don’t need that, I don’t have to pay.  Made no sense to me, but whatever.  I thanked him, and we left to collect the passports.

     

    We drove to the Pizza Inn which is a small pizza/chicken/burger joint along with a gas station.  The first person we spoke to didn’t know what we were talking about, so my heart started to sink again.  They then contacted the manager who sat down and told us her side of the story:  They noticed these people going through a backpack but didn’t think anything of it.  When they left, they noticed a manila envelope sitting on the chair.  They got it, and written on it were these words:  “Pliz take back to ABC Java Waiyuki way.”  She tried to find the phone number for Java House, but was unable.  (Calling someone here in Kenya is much more complicated and expensive than it is in the states; yet another thing to be thankful for)  However, one of her workers said that they know someone who works at a pharmacy in the ABC shopping center.  They called this person who left her job for a few moments and walked to Java House to speak to the manager who was speaking to Mel at that very moment.  Coincidental?  I think not.

    She brought us the packet and I opened it, still holding my breath.  Sure enough, there were our passports and Visas and my sister-in-laws international drivers license. 

     

    Had the lady from the pharmacy not shown up exactly when she did, we probably wouldn’t have gotten our passports back, because they wouldn’t have known how to contact us.  Within ten minutes, we would have been gone.  The manager at Pizza Inn also told us that they frequently find Passports in the toilet, so what prompted these thieves to try to get them back to us… We’ll never know.  Also, because of the cost and complications of calling people in Kenya, it would have made more sense to just ignore it and pitch them.  But for whatever reason, they didn’t.  The Embassy told us that we needed to come back (as a family) and apply for emergency passports which would have cost us $500. I paid much less than that in tips, and have a much better outcome.   I’ve contacted my cell phone company and have been told that the account has been suspended and that I have insurance on my phone for a replacement.  I also read the trip insurance plan that I had, and although it probably won’t cover everything, it will help. 

    Yes, we’re disappointed that our stuff was taken, but it’s just that: stuff.  It can be replaced.  Our children learned a valuable lesson on the power of prayer.  Wade can’t grasp why someone would want to take his blanket, but we as a family are safe and grateful that God allowed us to have our passports returned to us.  We are determined that this will not ruin our trip, and we will have an enjoyable time with Anne’s family.

     

    Join us in praising God for his goodness, 

    Gary & Anne

    Nicole, Wade, & Grant.      

     

    An Addendum:  We’ve also learned the value of patience since we here: the internet has been out for the past 3 days, so I haven’t been able to send this.  Oh well. 

                

Thursday, 23 October 2008

  • Election, 2008

    I, for one, have had my share of frustration with the media coverage of the presidential election this year.  Although I'm not a great fan of Sean Hannity, I believe he is correct to say that this year is the day that journalism as we know it is dead.  Here is a journalist that agrees.  And he's a democrat no less.  Enjoy...  

    Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
    By Orson Scott Card

    Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

    An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

    I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism.  You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

    This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere.  It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

    It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

    What is a risky loan?  It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

    The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups.  But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay?  They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

    They end up worse off than before.

    This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it.  One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules.  The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

    Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans.  (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me.  It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

    Isn't there a story here?  Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout?  Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

    I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal.  "Housing-gate," no doubt.  Or "Fannie-gate."

    Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

    As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" ( http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com] ): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago.  So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President.  So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

    These are facts.  This financial crisis was completely preventable.  The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party.  The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

    Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie.  Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

    What?  It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

    Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

    And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

    If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

    But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign — because that campaign had sought his advice — you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

    You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.

    If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

    If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

    There are precedents.  Even though President Bush and his administration never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension — so you pounded us with the fact that there was no such link.  (Along the way, you created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that there was a connection.)

    If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

    Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth.  That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

    But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans.  You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

    If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

    Because that's what honorable people do.  Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences.  That's what honesty means .  That's how trust is earned.

    Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one.  He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time — and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

    Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter — while you ignored the story of John Edwards's own adultery for many months.

    So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all?  Do you even know what honesty means?

    Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

    You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women.  Who listens to NOW anymore?  We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

    That's where you are right now.

    It's not too late.  You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

    If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

    Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

    You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis.  You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

    This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

    If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe — and vote as if — President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

    If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats — including Barack Obama — and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans — then you are not journalists by any standard.

    You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.

    Source: http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

Saturday, 11 October 2008

Friday, 12 September 2008

  • Currently Listening
    Something to Say
    By Matthew West
    see related

    News...

    No, We haven’t fallen off the end of the earth. 

    Our lives have been so busy the last several months, and there really isn’t any end in sight.  (I know, that’s  a cliché; who’s lives aren’t busy?)  I got away from the hospital a bit early today, so I thought I would take this opportunity to update this long-forgotten blog. 

    August 15, 2008 035 I’ll start with the kids:  Nicole has started school and is doing quite well.  She is attending a local Christian school here in Albany and we have been very pleased with her progress.  She loves school and all the socializing that goes with it.  They have some sort of a system in place for tracking behavioral “issues” that kindergarteners’ may face.  She has a classmate; we’ll call him Chris, who, shall we say, apparently has some behavioral issues.  He has been the source of many, many evening stories around our dinner table.  In fact, the stories have become so regular that when Anne and Wade pick Nicole up at school, Wade’s first question is not, “How was your day today?,” but rather, “What did Chris do today that was bad?”  I’m not sure if he is asking for the sake of asking or for the sake of learning.   I pray the former and not the latter. 

    Wade is, well, Wade.  He keeps us laughing all the time.  Several days ago, Anne found him reading a  book to Nicole’s dolls…  “One hundred and one Damnations.”   No, that’s not a misprint.  The other morning Nicole was trying to teach Wade The Pledge of Allegiance which she recites in school, and 524851333307_0_BG started saying.. “I pledge Allegiance to the United States…”  His prompt response?  “No thanks.  I prefer to pledge allegiance to myself.”  What three-year-old thinks of these things?  I don’t know the last time I laughed so hard.  He also has recently taken to flying helicopters on my Flight Simulator for the sheer purpose of crashing them.  He’ll fly for a little bit, then say, “ok Dad, I’m ready to crash now.”  I wonder at times if, when he is in Kindergarten, if there will be a little girl that  goes home in the evening to tell her family “Wade stories.”  I can only imagine with this kid. 

      Anne is doing well, anxiously awaiting the end of the pregnancy.  Her C-section is scheduled for October 10, so she has about one month left.  By pure coincidence, I will be working in Labor and Delivery over the time of our baby being born.  I offered to scrub in and do the C-section, but there was some  resistance there.  Wonder why?  No, that day, I will be the husband and try to forget all things medical and be there for Anne.  The pregnancy has gone remarkably well, with the exception of being diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Anne’s mother is flying down here the Sunday after the baby is born and will be here for about 2 weeks to help out.  Anne’s Dad and two younger sisters are then coming to pick her Mom up and takSeptember 3 2008 044e her back to PA.  They are then leaving for Kenya for a two year mission shortly thereafter, so we are glad we can see them before they leave.  The day that they leave here, my mom is flying in to help with the baby for a week.  We also have Aunt Pauline just a bit south of here that I know will want to help, too. 

    I’ve been busy with my job.  I’ve got to say, it has been so much fun, that I think I would do it all over again.  (I guess that’s a good thing that I like it; I’m a bit far in debt to suddenly change my mind).  I don’t miss all the hours of studying, although I still have to put in long hours.  Our worse shift is about 30 hours long, and we do it about every 5th day.  That can get a wee bit long.  Of course, we can sleep if nothing is going on, but… nothing is guaranteed; that pager can go off at any time.  I have a good crew to work with, and we haven’t regretted the decision to move to Southwest GA at all. When we arrived here , there was a welcome ceremony thrown for us that involved the chamber of commerce and the community.  Businesses donated all sorts of things to welcome us into the community and encourage us to stay here and practice. 

                                                                    McCain Palin Logo Gear

    On a political note, McCain really proved himself to be a maverick in bring Sarah Palin onto his ticket.  You may argue whether that was the best choice or not, but I’m gonna give it to the old man… that was the smartest political move he could have made.  I’m having as much fun just watching the liberals squirm as "the messiah's" (to borrow from Rush Limbaugh) lead slips away.  Matt Damon saying that this [Palin’s nomination] is like “…a bad Disney movie.”  Pamela Anderson making crude statements about Palin (I’ll leave it at that for the sake of a PG rating).  Watching the very feminists that were NEVER concerned about balancing career and family suddenly be concerned that Sarah Palin wouldn’t be a good mother if she were to be elected to the Vice Presidency.  Listening to a leading Democrat in South Carolina state that it “appears that the only qualification Palin has is that she has never had an abortion.”  Listening to the talking new heads tell us how important polls are while Obama is leading, and then, when McCain takes the lead, polls mean nothing.  I think the Palin nomination has exposed liberalism for the true hypocrites that they are.  They know no low.  In fact, this morning on the way to work, I listened to a talk show host who read an “interview” with the child that Palin’s daughter is carrying.  In a nutshell (or, more appropriately, in an amniotic sac), the child was requesting an abortion, because to be born into a family this conservative.  As I listened to it, I thought, how low our country has stooped?  How long can we expect God to continue to extend mercy to the United States?  How far are we as a culture from where Sodom and Gomorrah were in the Bible?  Or are we past that point?  By the way, the talk show host was against this; I don't listen to Howard Stern or the likes.

    Of course, this is my favorite time of the year when College Football begins.  Tomorrow the big game will be Ohio State playing the Trojans of Southern California.  While I do hope the Buckeyes pull the upset, I think they will have an especially difficult time doing so while Beanie Wells is incapacitated.  Unless, of course, the conspiracy theorist within me believes that Wells is fine and will be used as a psychological weapon by showing up ready to play.  hmmm.... I wouldn't put it past Tressel. 

    I'm still a Penn State fan, and as long as they aren't playing Georgia, I'll probably pull for Georgia while living here.  Should a Penn State-Georgia game be planned in the future (bowl game or otherwise) I would have to be faithful to the Blue and White.

                                                                    

     For those of you who have high-speed internet and AT&T or Verizon as your internet provider, check out www.espn360.com.  You can watch all the games that ESPN carries live.  We have AT&T, and it is a courtesy that comes with the package.  I am able to watch all Penn State games, as long as ESPN or ABC carries them, even though they may not be broadcast here in Southwest Georgia.

     

    Til next time,  -gary for all 

Wednesday, 03 September 2008

  • long lost friends

    Today I had the suprise of my life.  I was in the ER, admitting a patient, when my personal pager began to beep.  A number that I didn't recognize appeared on the screen.  I returned the call, to hear a voice that I haven't heard for at least 8 years.  In all honesty, I didn't even recognize the voice.  But tonight we had a great time at dinner with Wes & Ginny Miller and their two sons, Slater & Mason, as well as Vern & Melisa Hilty.  They were in Albany working for Choice Books, and somehow discovered that we lived here.   

    Wes, Ginny, Anne, & I were all at Hillcrest, although our times didn't necessarily overlap. 

    After a delicious dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.

        September 3 2008 074

    Vern & Melisa Hilty

    September 3 2008 076

    Who knows when I will be able to post again... I need some more time... 

    Til next time,   -gary