“Biker Boy”
Greetings from the usually hot and sunny but
presently rainy (praise God) Gaborone ,
Botswana Botswana
Late last year I was given a tour of our
hangar which is a normal part of our orientation procedure. During my tour of the hangar I noticed an old
motorcycle parked in the back of the hangar.
When I asked our aviation manager about it he told me that the pilots
used to use it at an old landing strip in the Kalahari
Desert . They had a hangar
there and the pilots would drive the motorcycle from the hangar to a near by
village. As the years went by they
didn’t need the use of the motorcycle out there anymore so somebody flew it
from the desert to our hangar here in Gaborone
Well, when my drivers license finally
showed up I decided the motorcycle was too good an opportunity to pass up so I
began investigating what it took to get a motorcycle licensed and registered
and what not. Most of you won’t know
that a lot of pizza companies and courier companies in Gaborone
After getting permission to use the bike I
had to go down to the Department of Transport to get the vehicle
registered. This is where things got
interesting. I explained to the
transport officer that I wanted to register my motorcycle for a year and she
told me the cost would be 85 Pula (about $25 Canadian). No problem.
When she typed the information into the computer and handed me the
registration papers I realized that something was wrong. The registration said that the expiry date
was March 2003! When I asked her about
it she explained to me that I had to pay 85 Pula per year that the motorcycle
wasn’t registered which all of a sudden jumped the price to 340 Pula! (about $100 Canadian) This was unacceptable. I told the lady I wasn’t interested in paying
for the history of the bike and that it wasn’t fair that I had to pay for those
years when the bike wasn’t even in use.
She asked me again for 85 Pula. I
refused. The lady then told me to come with
her.
I followed her to an office in behind her
counter. I was introduced to two men one
being East Indian the other Batswana.
After a discussion in Setswana between the transport officer and the
Batswana man, he asked me what the problem was.
I explained to him that I didn’t understand why I had to pay for all the
years previous to this one just to register my motorcycle for this year. He explained that it was just the way they do
things here. At this point I figured
that this conversation would go nowhere and the best thing to do would be to
just leave and explain to the Flying Mission what had happened. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the trouble I
was already in. When I told the man to
forget the whole thing and that I’d come back later he said to me, “You owe the
Botswana Government 85 Pula, you can’t leave!”
What was then explained to me is the transaction the transport officer
made to update the motorcycle to March 2003 was irreversible. I had to pay 85 Pula if I wanted to
leave. By refusing to pay the officer it
was being interpreted as a hostile act towards the Government of Botswana. I sat back down. Its times like these when I’m glad I know
there are people praying for me! I tried
to explain further the reason why I didn’t understand why I had to pay for the
previous years. It just didn’t make
sense. I was determined I wasn’t going
to pay for these extra years. Suddenly
we had a breakthrough.
The Batswana man asked me, “Was the
motorcycle in use after the registration expired?” “No”, I said politely. Finally the East Indian gentleman spoke,
“Maybe you should tell him about the other option.” Huh? The
other option? What was he talking
about?! Apparently, there is a
registration exemption form you can fill out if your vehicle has been idle
after your registration runs out. Now we
were getting somewhere! He explained to
me what all I had to do and said after that they would register my vehicle
until March 2006 for a single fee of 85 Pula.
Praise the Lord! However, he told
me I still had to pay 85 Pula…today. He
explained that they would refund the 85 Pula once I had submitted the exemption
form. At this point I was finally
willing to pay them there precious 85 Pula
Wow!
What a nightmare, eh? I know that
story was long but I thought it would give you a little insight into some of
the stuff you have to deal with here.
Nobody will tell you about “options” voluntarily. They seem to assume that you should know
everything they do, which can be very frustrating. Anyway, once the vehicle was registered all I
had to do was buy a front tire and the motorcycle was road worthy. There is still some maintenance to be done
but I’m taking my time with that due to financial limitations. I didn’t budget any money for a vehicle so
I’m having to be careful with my funds.
Ok, enough about the motorcycle. Sorry, I was just so excited about it I felt
I had to tell you all the whole story.
The week after I sent you all my last prayer letter we had another
orientation week as we’ve had a number of people arrive recently. I was able to partake in some of the orientation
stuff because I missed out on some of that stuff because of how hectic
everything was when I arrived. It was
great to spend some time with the new “recruits” and get a greater insight to
the mission and what we do here.
I was also given my first opportunity to be
“in charge” of the IT operations for a week while my boss, Richard, was out of
town on a camping trip. Things went smoothly and I was glad for the experience because Richard is
planning to leave for his furlough at the end of this month. He should be gone for 3 months so it will be
up to me to keep things running while he’s away. Please pray that I would be able to hold
things together during his absence.
I’m on the move again! I moved out of the house I was staying in
because the family who owns the house returned from there furlough. I briefly moved into the house we’ve been calling
“The Shorttermer House” because it is currently unoccupied and thus our
shorttermers have been house sitting there quite often. However, we currently have a team from a
church in Australia
Easter was a great time of
refreshment. Our office was closed
during Good Friday and Easter Monday so I had a 4 day weekend which was
great. I’ve had a few people ask if
Easter is celebrated here and the answer is yes. I’d say the overall attitude toward Easter is
relatively the same as in Canada
I should share with you a major thing that
has happened with our aviation department.
A lot of our flying has been medical flights which we are contracted to
do with the Botswana Ministry of Health.
Well, the contract to do those medical flights ended this year. In order to continue the contract we along
with several other companies bid on the contract (otherwise known as a
“tender”). The tender took a long time
to be decided but when the decision was finally made, the contract was given to
another company. What this means is we
have lost a lot of our flights, which also means our budget is affected
(payment for the flights goes towards helping run the organization). So, the aviation department is having a very
important meeting on Thursday (tomorrow) to see what can be done to make up for
these lost flights. We have recently
moved one of our pilots to Zambia Botswana Zambia
The last thing I will mention to you is
that SIM has officially authorized my extension here in Botswana Botswana Canada Botswana
1)
The motorcycle – pray that I would be able to finish doing the
maintenance on the bike and that I will have enough funds to cover the cost
2)
Richard’s furlough – pray that I will be able to take on the extra
responsibility and also that Richard would have a relaxing time during his time
off
3)
Aviation Department – pray that important decisions will be made
regarding the loss of some of our flights.
Pray for wisdom for our aviation manager as he deals with this.
4)
My extension – pray that God would continue to bless as I begin planning
to stay in Botswana
Thanks again for the encouragement you’ve
been to me this year. God bless!
Peace and prayers,
Graham Crawford <><
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