Greetings once again prayer worriers, friends and family. We thought it would be good for us to share a quick update with you all after we shared that we are working and planing to travel to Eastern Cape South Africa for our beloved mkhulu’s(grandpa’s) funeral.
As we were told in the beginning that we need to get some necessary documents so we can be allowed to travel so we did. After getting the documents our hopes were really high that we will be able to say our proper good bye to our granddad who played a vital role in Tamara’s life and shortly in my life too. God really provided through some generous people who gave financially to make our trip a success. We truly felt God wanted us to go and pay our last respect to Ta’mkhulu.
The reality did hit hard on us when we went to the border to try and see if we have everything needed for us to be allowed to cross to South Africa. The Swazi side told us that we need the South African side to approve/give the go ahead. We went there and we went through all the Covid-19 screening process and we were allowed to go speak to an official on duty, yes some people can be heartless but we never imagined someone can be so rude like that one official we first spoke to. I remember well there was a match box in his hand, we greeted him and you could see in his face that he is annoyed to see us there and he asked what(yini?) in Zulu. That was a first sign to us that our day is about to change for the worst. We continued to say why we were there and he was really not interested in listening to what we were there to say. Before we could finish he asked us that didn’t we know that the borders are closed for people? He continued saying they are there for Goods and Cargo only so he won’t listen to anything we will say. We apologized and went to another Official inside, we seemed a good man and he was willing to hear our story. We started in the beginning narrating why we were there and gave him all the papers we have. He read all the document page by page after a while the same official we spoke to in the beginning came in and the one with our papers asked him, ”what do we do in this situation?” . Instead of giving an answer he went to another room to get some documents with the directive they were given by the president’s office. By the time he came back the other official was already on the phone with their superior and later on he gave the phone to Tamara who was already in tears. They spoke for a while on the phone and she gave back the phone. The superior told her that it is really difficult because she is married to a non-South African citizen, now the only option is that she be repatriated.
That was the hardest thing for her, more especially because we don’t know how long the covid-19 and lock-down situation will last, also she can’t drive. We knew and felt it in our hearts that we have ran out of options. Just like as Solomon in proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,….” We drove back home very dejected and hurt, our hearts were very heavy. When we got home Tamara took a nap because she had an headache. She woke up to a long message from her aunt sharing about the reality of the situation on the other side. Apparently the grandparents were not paying their premiums until their insurance was cancelled. Now all the funeral expenses have to be shared by their kids (us as well).
Now as hard as it is not to be able to go and say our last goodbyes to Tata(daddy) we made peace that we will send the money we were gonna use for travelling to contribute to the burial cost.
Please be praying with us as we experience first hand the effect of the lock-down, that it doesn’t draw our family apart. It’s sad when one feels maybe if we chose to stay on the other side instead of where we are now. We don’t doubt the calling God has called us to and the country God called us to .
So with all that we are praying that the situation with the lock-down gets better soon so that at-least we an be able to be there for the unveiling of the tomb-stone.
Once again thank you for your prayers and those words of encouragement you keep on sending to us. May God bless and keep you all.
Love
The Vilane family
