My First Penniless Flight to S. Korea (2023)
I remember it vividly like it was yesterday. It was a friday morning, the 14th of July 2023. I had sat in the garden of our church compound together with my two sisters, Favour and Celine. Everyone else had received their passports expect Favour, Jackline and I hence we had gone to the garden to console ourselves and encourage each other. I remember feeling devastated and wondering why this was happening to me and why had God allowed this incident to transpire.
Around 10am, our dance team leader, Park Micah, who had gone to collect the passports, called from the immigration offices and informed us that both Favour and Jackline's passports had been issued except mine. There had been a list that only included 15 members yet we were 16 so that meant that I was the one who was going to be left behind. The moment I thought about being left behind, I became depressed. How can God allow this? Does He hate me this much? Apparently, Park was not able to find my passport because the officials said that they couldn't locate my documents when I had applied for the biometrics. I was mortified when I heard this and I later called Park to confirm if he was telling the truth or if he was playing some sick joke on me. Apparently it was true and I requested him to send me the immigration offices cellphone numbers so that I can hear from their end and know the way forward.
It was as if the odds were against me because when I called the officials to confirm why I was not in the list, they blew my ears off with very harsh responses and they hang up on me. My spirit was crushed. I have had so many low points in my life but this was the tip of the iceberg. I thought I had faith but at that moment I felt like a total and complete loser. In my team, I was the one who encouraged others with the Word and I had faith that we will all go to Korea but at that moment I fell into great despair. In the midst of my anguish, I received fellowship from my fellow brethren and they informed me to go and inform the senior pastor.
The senior pastor was supposed to travel on that very day hence I was running out of time. When I went to his premises, I met Michael, a Korean brother, busy working on his laptop. I asked him the whereabouts of pastor and he stated that he was taking a shower and that I should wait for him in the living room. The situation I was in made me to almost go to the bathroom but Michael stopped me from doing anything drastic and so I waited in the living room. As I was waiting for him, so many thoughts ran across my mind and to be honest, 99.9% of them were negative.
Later, pastor came into the living room and I seeked his guidance after explaining to him what had happened. He nonchalantly told me to go to the immigration offices. As I studied his facial appearance, I could tell that he was also not sure of whether I'll succeed but I at least I had to give it a try. One final shot was all I had and I'll be certain that God did not want me to go. When I left his house, I found Favour and Celine waiting for me outside. I told them what the pastor had told me and they asked me if I had the fare to go to the offices. Actually I had no money but I wanted to experience God and not rely on man in this predicament.
They insisted on giving me the bus fare but I adamantly refused and took my bag back and set on my journey. My anxiety was over the roof top because I didn't know what to expect. Once I was outside the gates of the Church compound, I started jogging as I hitched because it was already 1pm and I was basically running out of time. Fortunately, a van from USIU stopped along the way and gave me a lift. It took me to the foot bridge where I had to cross and connect with the vehicles that were heading towards the city. I walked towards a certain petrol station where I was certain that I will easily access the vehicles. As I started to hitch, a lot of thoughts ran across my mind. No vehicle stopped no matter how much I tried, time was running out and I found myself in tears
Tears started flowing endlessly and I couldn't control them. I cried for like five minutes straight then all of a sudden God gave me a new strength in my heart. I wiped away my tears and I started hitching again. A mini-bus stopped by and I seeked grace from the bus conductor, who allowed me to get on board without paying even a single dime. As we started to head towards the city, I started to get comfort in my heart as God reminded me of His promises.
Fifteen minutes later, a huge noise erupted out of nowhere as something hard hit my leg and hot water started pouring all over. Fumes started emitting as people screamt. The mini-bus started moving diagonally and the driver had to make an abrupt stop. Fracus ensured as people fought to leave the vehicle, trying to save their lives because we thought that the bus will explode. A huge crowd gathered around the vehicle as people tried to recover their breaths trying to find out what had happened.
I couldn't believe what was happening. I felt like Jonah in this scenario. My leg got hurt because the radiator blew off right where I was and so I had to limb. It was at that moment that I realized that if God will not help me then no one else would.
I got lost deep in my thoughts, going through a myriad of emotions, even now, I can never put in words what I was feeling. I decided to call Favour and explain to her what had happened, she was perplexed and she took the initiative of organizing a prayer meeting for my sake. I was afraid of hitching again and for a brief moment, I closed my eyes deciding on which step to take. Later, my phone started beeping I and received a message confirming that I had received kshs. 800/=. When I felt like I had given up, God still provided a way. I made an executive decision that 'It is not over until it is over' and I had faith that God had not forsaken me and He was with me every step of my journey and so I got into another bus and headed towards town.
When I alighted, I ran across town like a mad hoodlum on the run. I bumped across people as I headed towards the immigration centre. At that time, Park had already taken the passports, 15 in number to the Embassy for visa processing. He informed me that the Embassy closes their offices at 3:30pm so I had to make sure I collected my passport and met him at the Embassy before then. For sure, time was not on my side but luckily, through the grace of God, I finally arrived. I climbed through the stairs and when I entered the offices, I was sweating profusely and breathing out heavily. The officials requested that I calm down or head out until I had regained composure but I couldn't let that happen and so I started explaining my situation stammering.
One of the officials, a gentleman, informed me that my passport was not available because they couldn't locate my documents. An unsettling feeling overtook me and I couldn't believe what in the world I was hearing. I began to cry. As I stood there, not knowing what to do, a call came in and the lady answered it. She spoke in hush tones so that I couldn't grasp what the conversation was about. After the call, the officials requested that I come after 15 minutes and they'll have my passport ready. Oh my, for sure God was on my side. It was around 3pm so I went outside and waited at the lobby. I couldn't sit still and so I started pacing around. Five minutes later, Favour called me and informed me that they were praying for me together with her mother.
After a while, I was called to the offices to collect my passport. When I finally took my passport in my hands to confirm my credentials, I became ebullient and made a silent prayer to God. It was now 3:15pm, I only had 15 minutes to go to the Embassy and apply for my visa. I never took time seriously but at that very moment, even one second meant the world to me. I quickly rashed and boarded a motorcycle, I didn't mind about the costs even if it was pricey, all I cared about was reaching the Embassy before time. I arrived at 3:25pm and that meant I had only 5 minutes.
I quickly entered the offices and found Park and the P.S of the Ministry of Youth Affairs at a table busy filling out the forms. I was so happy to see them and I took my passport quickly to the P.S. He took my passport and went to the consular and requested that if they can start processing my visa. Upto now, I'm not sure how the conversation went because the consular and the P.S started having a heated argument concerning my passport and why was it delivered late. Apparently, the consular had the initial list which only contained 15 members and my name was not in the list. I was mortified. How could this be happening? One problem after the other, I lost strength in my heart. The P.S approached me and stated that there was nothing he could do and left me to fend for myself.
I felt so lonely and forsaken, if the P.S couldn't convince the consular concerning my issue then who else will? I am a nobody, I'm simply a mere dance team member. It was around 4pm, I sat there at the lobby defeated and the offices closed. I didn't have the energy in me to go home and Park stayed with me as he himself felt sorry for me and didn't know how he could help me. We sat there together and no words were exchanged, the atmosphere was depressing. I knew that Park had to take the passports and the visas of the 15 members to the Ministry for air ticket purchasing but he chose to stay by my side and we prayed.
Two hours later, the consular came to the lobby and asked what we were still doing there since it was after hours and the offices had long been closed. He had already taken off his suit and wore crocs to indicate that he was done for the day. We immediately arose and Park started bowing his head and greeted him in Korean 'ann yeonghaseyo' I immediately followed suit and upto now I'm not sure if I pronounced the greeting properly but oh well. The consular asked what we wanted and I explained my situation to him. He studied me for a moment and asked for proof that I am part of the perfomance team. I requested if he could speak to our director, that is our senior pastor and I fidgeted as I quickly reached out for my phone to call the pastor. Believe it or not, when I called, his mobile went straight to voicemail and I knew that I was totally screwed.
I became speechless as the consular was still staring at me waiting for a response. Looking back at this moment, I came to realize what God was doing. He wanted me to stop relying on man and only acknowledge Him in each and everything. I explained the situation to the consular and he asked if I had pictures instead. Luckily, I had some clean pics especially the ones which I danced at the centre. I quickly showed him and I could tell that he was in awe. He asked who Park was and I told him that he was our dance team leader. He told me to sit down and he'll issue me with the visa.
This indeed was the Lord's doing, the Almighty God had obliterated all my humanistic ways and He wanted to work for me directly. I could finally breath, Park and I became excited because for sure God was on our side. A few moments later, the consular issued me the visa and wished us all the best in our journey. I was so ecstatic that I felt as if I was in cloud nine. Now we had one final assignment, we needed to take the 16 passports and visas to the Ministry office for airticket booking and purchase. The team was required to fly out the next day so we needed to quickly rush.
It was now 6:30pm. When we reached the offices, we found the P.S and he was shocked to learn that the consular had issued me my visa. He insisted that I share my techniques but my answer was only one, it was God. Who else if not the Almighty? He told me that he admired my resilience and requested that we hand him the passports and visas for airticket purchasing. He quickly got to work and informed us that we will get the tickets after a few hours and released us. I almost cried because for sure God was working for me even when I had lost all hope. We headed towards the bus stage and at that moment it hit me that I had not eaten anythin
I had not eaten anything the whole day. How could I with all that was taking place? My emotions were all over, one minute I was sad the next minute I was happy, the other minute I was terrified beyond recognition. I had completely lost my appetite but I thought of getting Park some dinner as we went back to Church. On arriving, I requested we visit the pastor and give him the feedback. As we were knocking on his door, Brother Lee approached us and informed us that the pastor had already left for Korea. It now dawned on me on why he didn't pick his phone. We felt bad because how were we going to a foreign country without our pastor or any Church representative? This was strange indeed and we later assembled all the members for a prayer meeting and to give each one their passport and visa document.
Since it was on a Friday, I remember very well. God gave me the heart to testify in the weekly Area Meeting. So many people were amazed and I humbly requested them to keep us in their prayers since the air tickets had not been issued yet. Later, we had to go for dance practice since we were required to perform together with the South African dance team. As we were busy rehearsing the new motions, around 2am, people started receiving their air tickets and the airline they will fly with. Almost everyone got their tickets except well, a couple of us including I. Those who had received their air tickets started chatting with excitement and went off to start packing. Those of us who had not received our air tickets were left there at the hall wondering what to do. This time I couldn't express what I was feeling, I was completely numb, keeping in mind that I had not eaten the entire day.
We decided to go to our sleeping quarters after throwing a pity party and rest. This was one of the longest nights since it was already 3am on Saturday and people were supposed to start flying out today. I couldn't sleep at all and the noises from those who were packing really interfered with my mind. After going through all that, was God going to forsake me at the very last minute? Then why would He make me pass through all those obstacles. I finally got some sleep and woke up at around 7am, when I checked my phone, I got an M-PESA confirmation message that I had received kshs. 18,000/=. I was beyond shocked and I called the number which had sent the money to confirm if they had made an error.
It was a lady who received the call and she stated that that money was issued from the Ministry as our allowance when we travelled. I was happy but not that happy because I had not yet received my air ticket and I was not sure if I was travelling or not. When I left the hostel, I found my other members singing joyfully and I knew that they all had received the allowance. It's only money that can make our dance team this jubillant. Anyways, we deserved it after all that we had gone through as a team to even reach this moment.
S.B was among the people who had not received their air tickets and I met with him to confirm if there were any updates. Unfortunately there were none so I decided to take a stroll towards Roysambu so as to clear my mind. As I was strolling, I came across a cafeteria and decided to order something since I had not eaten the whole of yesterday. Just as I was about to order, S.B gave me a call and informed me that my ticket had reflected on the system and we were to leave in the next two hours. My heart almost stopped and I scolded S.B because I thought he was pranking me since he is very cheeky in nature and quite playful. He said that he was not joking at all and I could tell that he was serious. I left my order pending and quickly boarded a motorcycle towards the Church compound.
I ran straight to the showers for a quick bath and afterwards I quickly packed. I have never been this disorganized in my entire life. When people travel abroad, they have ample time for packing but for me, I had to do everything in a span of two hours. Apparently there were three different flights scheduled for three days consecutively and luckily I was in the first flight which had (seven) members, the second flight would be the next day with (five) members and the last trip comprised of (four) members. After packing, we quickly rashed to get our yellow fever and covid certificates and we assembled at the GBS ground floor. Excitement arose as people came to see us off and send their regards. It was a miracle because the last dance team to go to Korea was a decade ago. I couldn't believe this, we were finally going, after all that we had endured.
The (seven) of us boarded one of the mini-vans that took us to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The spiritual meaning of the number (7) means perfect or complete hence God saw that the seven of us were perfect for the first trip. In comparison to the other members, our team members had experienced the most difficulties in this journey and you can meet them individually and hear their testimony from their end. The verse in Mark 10:31 sank deeply in my heart as we were on the way to the airport that 'those who are first will be last and the last first.' It was at that moment that I made a decision to die for the Gospel.
We boarded one of the best airlines in the world, Emirates. This was around 4:35pm. I enjoyed every single thing that they had to offer. After staying hungry since friday, the first meal I ate was in the plane. For sure God had worked for me enormously and He was with me in each and every step of the way. This testimony will forever remain in my heart till my last dying breath. The same faith I have acquired in the dance team is the same faith that I should apply wherever I go. For sure those who put their trust in Him shall never be ashamed.
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