MCC Party and Certificate Dilemna

Sunday was the MCC’s 1st year anniversary and it was so much fun! The children from the local boys and girls orphanages came and the MCC children performed for them. The pre-school kids and the older girls did various songs & dances and there was even a young mime. All of the kids wanted to touch my skin and get photos with me. I was also wearing my friend Madhu’s sari so the INDECOS girls also wanted pics with me.
It was funny when at one point all the kids had a little dance party. Again, I cannot express how funny it is to see the men dance here! There is really not much difference between the way the boys and girls dance so you see the boys making the eyes and shaking their hips. I will just have to show you the footage when I get home. There is just no way to fully describe it.
For some bad news... WUSC SL called Friday to say they were going to have to send me back to Canada. You see, after a few days of being in Colombo, Andy and I were both asked for our grad certificates which they said they needed in order to get our work permits. We were both like, say what? Of course, we had no idea that a gov’t would need these... and even in a week of training this was never mentioned to us by WUSC. There was a point were I had to scan the certificate to Ottawa but this was very early on so I thought it had to do with my acceptance into the program.
Anyway, I knew as soon as I heard that I needed this certificate that this was going to be a hassle. I called Aaron right away and told him that I needed the original certificate asap. I told him that it was in my closet in a picture frame but he didn’t see it so I said check the file cabinet “ok, I found it.” The one with the gold star, right? Not a photocopy.”
“Ya, I think so.”
“No. I need the original. Does it have a different material gold star?’
“uh, ya.”
It took almost 2 weeks to arrive and then a few days after that WUSC SL noticed... it was a photocopy.
A good one but still a photocopy.
They phoned me saying this is a major problem and if they don’t get it soon I will be illegal.
So I have to wake up Aaron at 2 am to tell him, “I was sure it was in my closet in a big frame. It’s not there.”
“oh, found it.”
“Ok, please send this as fast as possible because I am going to be illegal soon.”
He sends it regular mail.
So here I am in Sri Lanka, being told that Canadians don’t take things seriously and that not only will I be sent back but I will have to pay $50 a day for everyday I’ve been illegal. Luckily for me, this problem is now on hold because Conrad has a friend who is going to speak to the director of immigration for me this week so I will be able to at least get this process started before the certificate arrives. I might still have to pay at least $300. It is worth it for this trip but it is another reality check about this NGO.
I encourage you to volunteer- it has been an experience beyond anything I could have ever imagined, but you have to be the kind of person who can roll with the punches when things aren’t looking good, AND ASK WUSC questions. If I had asked Sylvie why she needed my education certificate I would have discovered that it was to send to Sri Lanka and then I would have found out that some countries require this so that they can make sure you are an asset they need. I think the solution to this communication problem is to learn all that you can from another volunteer about your specific country because I never got to speak with anyone who specifically handled Sri Lanka. So, if you want to contact me when I get home about volunteering here, please do.
In addition to the this certificate I have also been waiting all month to receive my original contract from WUSC CA which the gov’t also needs a signed copy of in order to finish my permit process.
Even with all this stress though, Harshani mentioned again that I should stat for a year and it is not totally out of the question. I wish it was more like 6 months though because I know I am eventually going to start to miss home. But at home I will miss everything here, too. Everything except for waking up thinking that house is on fire because of the burning plastic smell searing into my lungs. Oh ya, and the honking. And the endless rice to accompany the lack of exercise and constant sweating and the burned skin in my mouth from the chillies, often diced up and hiding in the deceivingly inoffensive looking yellow sauce. Ok, so maybe not everything.