Lost in the Maze of it All

Greetings from Dubai after a deep sleep, good shower and sparkling braced teeth after the 3 longest days of my life. Still reeling from disbelief at a misfortune that should happen only in the grandest of movies, let me take you the very scene.. When the plane finally landed at the Athens airport, everybody breezed their way passed the immigration counters – except me. An officer asked for my passport and kept on turning its pages back and forth. Instead of reaching for the entry stamp, he looked up to me and asked, "Where is your Schengen visa?”. I replied in bewilderment, “My Schengen visa is right there,” pointing to the page he was on. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but you need a new visa to enter Athens. You had an exit stamp from Malta and you came to Larnaca (Cyprus) which had declared independence from the schengen territories.

But how come my companions went in already? Ate Rence and Ate Che were asked to come back (I didn't intend to put them in trouble). And then everything else started to make sense – our single-entry tourist visa was stamped upon our exit from Malta. Now we were in Athens illegally. “So can I apply for a visa here?,” was my turn to ask. “Sorry,” she said for the second time, “you need to get it at an embassy or consulate.” “But there is no official representation of where we applied our visa (for God’s sake, how on earth will we know that Larnaca declared independence!),” was my discrete way of telling her to give me a visa upon arrival as in other countries. After some futile arguing, the only way to solve it was to come back to Dubai. The available flight though is too expensive but the entire CFC- SFC community in Greece stepped up and help us look for best deal. We were escorted to our detention room while waiting for our flight, it broke my heart upon arriving to the place. I wish to call my parents back home and get me the business class ticket right away. I felt like a little girl, lost in the maze of it all. We were considered a deportee so we had a police escort with us all the time (protocol, they said) out of an unsubstantiated fear that we might escape and trade our current and comfortable life to a new and more comfortable one in their country. There had to be someone with us constantly that we also had to be accompanied on the few occasions we went to the restroom. Looking at the glass half-full, I just thought to myself that we were a VIP and the lady officer standing right behind us while we pee was our bodyguard. When it came to board the plane, the experience was more than harrowing. My bodyguard, I mean, escort and Ate Rence were the last to enter the jetway. While waiting to board, all the other passengers were looking at us and I somehow heard them whispering into each other’s ears that we were an illegal worker in their country who got caught and deserved to go back where we came from. This incident reminded me of several times I met Filipinos overseas who openly told me that they are irregular workers (as a side note, it is now being widely accepted to refrain from using the word “illegal” to describe them as they have not committed a “crime” against a person and/or property) and trustingly recounted how they succeeded to enter and/or stay in a foreign country without the necessary documentation. Getting deported felt like being in jeopardy to me. But still I am lucky, I was neither handcuffed nor jailed, and I had a return ticket. For unlucky overseas Filipinos, they only had the money to spend for a one-way ticket so they didn’t wait in a detention room but in a prison – not for hours but for days, weeks, months, or even years – until someone (or our government) pays for their ticket back home. Our situation is not exactly what anyone would have imagine. These are trying times indeed. There even came a point when I began to wonder what, is the sense in all this? Too many questions, not enough answers. I guess that’s where man ends and God begins. Let go and let God. After all, His ways are not man’s ways. Why quit? A genuine desire to serve must rise above all odds. It won't stop us from serving in mission. Meanwhile, I called the Netherlands embassy and explained what happened. They might consider giving us a visa within 2 days time. In God's grace, we can continue the mission till 25th (our flight bookings are non-refundable). Please continue to pray with us. In the end, I trust that all these will be for His greater glory. Believing in my heart of hearts that He sits in the eye of life’s greatest storms is enough comfort. His presence in our lives cancels out the less in hope. PS: Click the link as we were able to continue and finish our mission. Indeed, to God be the glory! https://www.facebook.com/notes/ahriss-lang/euro-trail-2012-mission-accomplished/10151816960093357