Dear friends,
Today was the last possible day for the seven Iraqi children and their families to travel to Israel before our volunteers Dirk and Manuela left for their summer trip home to Germany. And at this hour the children have just arrived in Israel, praise God! Dirk’s report below gives us a picture of the battle that was involved. He called it “A Tough Day.”
I just now returned after a mixture of events and emotions that should
normally only be experienced spread out over a year, or let’s say
at least a month. :-)
First event was the visit to the German Embassy where I arrived expecting
to receive the visas of our three patients [due to travel Saturday to
Germany for surgeries] and their escorts. Instead I am confronted with
the consul explaining to me that two of the passports are fakes, Ali’s
father and Delevan’s, and that they and all their family have been
rejected permanently from entering any [western] European country because
of presenting a fake passport. Of course our Iraqi guests all assure us
that all passports come from the same government office and I believe
them (let’s say to 95%). But there is no way, the German Embassy
insists that their expert has checked the passports, that whole pages
have been replaced, numbers on pages changed by hand etc etc. He used
one of the passports as an example in his staff meeting to help the embassy
workers watch out for fakes. [Two Israeli hospitals have now agreed to
accept these cases, thank God, once we can get new passports and visas.]
In the same sequence Sami calls from the Israeli Embassy asking if we
plan to leave any day soon with the seven families to Israel, since the
information sent to them from the Interior Ministry [in Israel] was all
wrong, some passport numbers changed/wrong, in the case of one family
the visa of the wife missing etc etc. Calls back and forth to/from Philip
[in our Jerusalem office], then to/from Simon [from the Save a Child’s
Heart group] in Israel, who again from his side contacts the Israeli Embassy
and the Interior Ministry to start sorting out the mess. This whole process
taking several hours, it is well past noon by now. The nine guests that
had been staying in our house had already left on the two hour ride to
Amman in the morning, since we had received the sure word a day earlier
that the visas would come today and they did not want to wait another
day.
At about 15:30 we receive word that the visas can be collected from the Israeli Embassy, when I show up there the soldiers guarding out side just laugh at me...Nobody can enter there after 13:00...They provoke me so much that we decide to bet, if I don´t enter I have to pay 50 dinars, if I do enter he has to pay... :-)
Thinking he can make fast money he agrees and is totally astonished when I am called in at about 16:00. (I did not have him pay the 50, which I am sure he would have made me do so in the opposite case :-)) The time waiting they ask me about my job in Jordan, when I tell them I´m a Kassis (pastor) they want to know what kind of stories I would tell in the church and the Lord brings to my mind the story of the Good Samaritan..."There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho...and he was attacked by a criminal...You know the story, and we are able to finish it and I can see the impression on their face when we come to the lesson Jesus teaches: It’s not the one who has the name that he is a religious person who is doing the will of God. But the one who showed the love even though he came from a different religious background. They understand that this is the reason we are showing love to these Iraqis and are impressed. Hopefully this will make them a little curious to find out more about the Injil (New Testament) where this story is taken from.
So by that time the bus has gone on ahead and I come after having finished
all work in Amman. When I have almost reached the border a young guy in
a Korean van just turns on the middle of the road without looking at all.
I just manage to hit the brakes but still smash the side of the van. Fortunately
my car can still drive. But now I have a problem, since I need to wait
for the police to record the accident with the rented car, but all the
passports of the group traveling are with me...After waiting half an hour
for the police without result, a big group of people gathering around,
I decide to drive on with someone else, to at least deliver the passports
and visas to the group so that they can travel (this would be unlawful
in Germany to leave the site of the
accident and come back later, here it’s no problem).
Everybody is so happy to see me and the passports, they wave and I can
not accompany them through the border as I had planned to do but need
to return to my damaged rented car and the police officer (who finally
has arrived). We go to the police station, only after having to wait again
for him and the other accident participant to offer their evening prayer
together at the near mosque. When they finish he writes the report and
I still am not quite sure how much of the fault he makes me account for.
Fortunately it is an insured rented car.
I was so relieved to hear that the group traveling had finally finished
with the border formalities at about midnight and was on their way to
Tel Aviv.
-----------------
Philip was waiting for eight hours on the other side of the border, and just sent this message from Jerusalem (where it is by now 3:00 am):
Bergs says: (6:01:17 PM)
just got home two minutes ago
Bergs says: (6:01:41 PM)
they are safely in bed at the Save A Child’s Heart house
Bergs says: (6:01:57 PM)
lots of delays and security issues as usual
Bergs says: (6:02:33 PM)
at 10:00 PM [when the border closes] they came out and said that they
were going to send them all home again.
Bergs says: (6:02:41 PM)
my heart sank to the ground.
Bergs says: (6:03:01 PM)
a few minutes later they said that they would keep the staff there and
process them
Jon Miles says: (6:03:07 PM)
wow...
Bergs says: (6:18:06 PM)
now we trust that all the surgeries go well
Jon Miles says: (6:18:20 PM)
Lord
Jonathan Miles
International Coordinator
Shevet Achim
