Yesterday we sent out our monthly e-mail newsletter. One of the 'big' things we requested prayer for was in regards to completing the process of Leje Qendrimi (permission to stay).
I wish I could say the photo above was of a happy girl, holding her corrected Albanian birth certificate, but no.
In a previous post, I shared of our first trip to Vlora last month to get Ellie's birth certificate, only to find that there was a transcription error when they digitized their records. Two keystrokes in the wrong place meant that we had to go back to Tirana because the folks in Vlora told us they 'didn't have the authority to change the official registry.'
So last week, bless his heart, Mandi went to office after office, over three different days to figure out how we were supposed to go and rectify this typist's mistake. Finally he threw his hands up and suggested we go ourselves, without any Albanian translator, and throw ourselves on the mercy of a desk worker and hope we would find a sympathetic soul.
This morning the four of us put on our walking shoes and walked to a non-descript office building behind the mosque at the center of the city. We were able to sufficiently communicate our need to a security officer and she gave me a slip of paper authorizing me to enter the building (so much for using our cute kids). ;-)
I was directed to the fourth floor without much direction beyond that. I whispered a prayer and walked to an open door way. There I made my request in Shqip only to be told in a clear voice, "I speak English!" Thank you, Lord!
After explaining our predicament, she promised to do what she could to help. We visited a couple of different offices, the law books of Albania were cracked open (apparently we are a pretty rare case), and then we were told the sinking news that they could not help us, we would have to go BACK to Vlora, where the mistake happened.
I asked why they didn't fix it when we were there last month, why we were told to come to Tirana? Her reply, "I don't think they knew the process. You are a foreigner." Uh huh.
If they didn't know the process before, I wanted to be sure they knew the process the next time we went and I expressed my concern. My new friend called the office in Vlora and gave them instructions on how they were to make an official request to change the registry, then gave me the name of the person they spoke with in Vlora. She also gave me a list of supporting documents we would need to submit with their request (incidentally, if they had only misspelled Ellie's name and not also mine, a simple name change request could have been made last month for $15 and saved us all this hassle).
The kids and I returned home while Nathan and Mandi jumped in the van and started the 2.5 hour drive to Vlora.
A few hours later Nathan calls me.
They told him: Come back Friday when the boss is in the office. We can't help you.
I wasn't there, but thankfully Mandi argued back, "What if I return on Friday and the boss isn't here?"
To which they reluctantly agreed to accept a handwritten request from Nathan with our wishes.
For the sake of time, it looks like this happened: when we uncovered the mistake in the birth certificate in June, the office in Vlora tried to shift responsibility for the mistake to a misspelling in Ellie's adoption decree, in which case, Vlora couldn't fix it and thus we HAD to go to Tirana.
Except we went to Tirana, and Tirana saw the adoption decree (which contained no such misspellings) and told Vlora, No, you made the mistake, you have to make the request to fix this.
So, because someone had to save face, we are having to make one more trip to Vlora than should have been necessary (three, instead of two). Each trip is more than 5 hours on the road (not including time in Vlora, waiting in line at the office) and about $100 in mileage expenses.
All because of two typos.
But just because Ellie isn't holding her corrected birth certificate doesn't mean our prayers weren't answered. I think we are closer to getting a resolution. Someday maybe what we've navigated will be helpful for someone else. And God's grace is always more than sufficient.
Cydic, mother of Elisana. :-)
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