Up to this point, the adoption process has been made up of brief bursts of activity among longer periods of waiting. Now we have a relatively short wait to hear how the judge rules but there is a 99% chance that the ruling will be in our favor.
I had a meeting at the U.S. embassy this morning to make sure they received the necessary documents from U.S. Immigration. Once Uganda makes us legal guardians of Alex and Maureen, we need to get the proper visas from the U.S. embassy so they can come home with us. This was the second time I met with Freda Luzinda, the embassy worker responsible for adoptions. In our meeting she confirmed that she had received our adoption approval document and the medical reports for the kids. Good news! The only other documents we need are at the lawyer, so we can schedule our interview which is the last step in the process.
Our meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 21 and Angie will attend as well as the children and their Uncle Simon. At the conclusion of that interview, we will receive approval for the children's visas and they will be ready 48 hours later.
Later in the afternoon, I visited God Cares Primary School with Pastor Bethuel Dongo. When I was here in December, I saw the school but the children were on break. When I arrived, lunch was just finishing so there were kids everywhere! Dongo was able to round up 8 of the 10 children who visited California last summer. I recognized the boys but all of the girls had short hair again, so they looked much different. A few of them recognized me but most of them needed a reminder. The only 2 who weren't there were Alex and Maureen, who are not currently enrolled in school since they anticipated they would be adopted.
Amphian, Catherine, Faith, Jane, Justin, Frank, Ronita and Ivan
See them when they introduced themselves while dressed for a performance in California
Looking down at the courtyard from the 3rd floor
If you look closely, you can see Justin on the far right
A little background on school in Uganda: primary schools cover roughly first through sixth grade (P1-P6). In general, there is no free public education system for primary schools unless your child is fortunate enough to have a sponsor. Education is considered extremely important in Uganda but even if you can afford to put your child in school, the teachers may not be highly qualified. If you are able to get a good primary education and do well on the state standardized tests, the government subsidizes secondary education.
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