Heidi fights to get Norman to North Alabama

Our "twin"  church in Huntsville ... we pray Norman gets to see it first hand

Norman, Liz, Maake, and Geoff:

After sharing several e-mails with Liz and talking with Maake, I have communicated with both the Washington and Huntsville offices of our Alabama State Senator, Mr. Richard Shelby, to ask for help in getting Norman’s visa granted.

Ms. Lefrieda Jordan in the Huntsville office has been assisting me, and has some experience in this area. She said that she will need Norman’s full name, date of birth, perhaps country/city of birth, and any other identifying numbers – such as a passport number.

From this side, I will have to get and provide to them a copy of an invitation letter specifically for Norman, in addition to the letter the N Alabama Presbytery sent for the whole group. (She will need both). She said she can then send a letter on behalf of the Senator, to the Embassy in Johannesburg, requesting special consideration.

She said that the letter would only be evaluated in conjunction with a second Embassy interview that Norman would have to set up, though (and presumably pay an extra R1200 fee to conduct).
It would also be helpful to know some other details – when Norman came from Zimbabwe, how long he has been in SA, how long he has been with his current employer, and any other facts that might influence the decision to grant Norman’s visa.

I can start on our part of the letter as soon as I also get Norman’s information, and can work with the office here to get a letter from the Senator. That is still NOT a guarantee that the visa will be granted, though, and I don’t know how much trouble or expense would be involved in requesting and getting a second interview. Ms. Jordan would prefer to send the letter over to SA just a day or two before the second interview, and to the person Norman is set up to talk with – but she said she will also let me have a copy of that same letter, to send to Norman in advance, to take with him.

I don’t know if it is still worth all the effort from your SA side, but we are willing to do the part that we can from here – if you think it will help.

Please let us know how you’d like to proceed, but I will start working on getting a second letter done from our Presbytery and/or church here. Also, if you have a copy of the N. Alabama letter that was used for the initial request for the whole team, it would be helpful to have a copy of it. I will try to get it from our Presbytery office, but as Warner is on leave it may be harder to locate.

Thanks – and praying for the best

Heidi