recommended listening: there will be a light, by ben harper
“Yeah, Hon….Ok… Yeah… I just need to wrap up a few things here. Then I’ll be home… Oh, well, I do need to send out an email, let people know we’re OK, but that’s all. Oh, did you hear about Rich and Ruth being thrown out?… Yeah, they only have ten days to leave…. Daisy ran away as soon as they heard. Well, there’s nowhere for her to go but back to the streets… I know. Rich couldn’t stop crying on the phone…”
“How many is this?”
“I’ve lost count. Twenty? Thirty thrown out since Christmas?”
“It’s about six months since the president gave that speech, isn’t it?”
“I’d forgotten about that.”
“Hey, Woody? Any word on our visas?”
“Oh, hi. Not yet.”
“It’s been a month. What’s taking so long?”
“Who knows?”
“It’s like this every time, isn’t it? And you just didn’t tell me because you like these conversations so much.”
“No, really. Everything’s only gotten bad with the government since you arrived.”
“Thanks.”
“But I don’t think it’s all your fault.”
“Thanks.”
“Really? So soon? OK, I’ll let him know. Hon?”
“Yeah, Laur?”
“Another non-profit group’s just been closed. Three hundred or more are being ordered home. It’s happening all over the country. Everyone’s being squeezed out.”
“How soon?”
“At least within the month.”
“What about the orphanage?”
“The projects are all gone. All of the orphanage funds came through them. Mary and Sophia will probably lose their jobs. The dietary supplement program is over. The therapy and rehab programs are gone. Everything’s gone except the kids.”
“What do you think it means for us?”
“Well, we should probably pack up everything again and put it in storage when we leave to have the baby.”
“Again?”
“I know. I wish I knew the odds, but this is just so weird I don’t know what to predict.”
“Allo?”
“Hi, Lauren.”
“Xena! How are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m very good. Very good, I think. I have some exciting news.”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s so exciting. Franky and I are married!”
“Really? Wow! When did it happen?”
“Last week, I think.”
“You think?”
“You see, we went to the mosque, and they said some things. I didn’t really understand because I don’t know Arabic, and we had been drinking a little, but they had a little ceremony. And now Franky will introduce me to his family and everything.”
“Well, are you sure you’re married?”
“I didn’t sign anything, but I think I’m… Well, it’s a little embarrassing because I know you don’t do this in America, but he already has one wife, you know?”
“So you’re a second wife?”
“Or third, maybe, but probably second. I wanted to see if you could come to my house, in a month or two, when this is more normal.”
“I’d love to, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to.”
“OK, well. Pray for me, OK?”
“Did you hear about the other groups?”
“There are more?”
“Yeah, the Korean clinic, and the South American children’s work, and the German public health group. All of them were denied visas.”
“Where do we stand?”
“No one knows.”
“How are preparations going to turn over the whole school to local control?”
“Good. We got a local organization incorporated as a for-profit LLC. How long do you think the local staff can manage it?”
“I’ve been spending five hours a week or more training Mary and Jamie since we came back. They’re ready to take over. I think they can keep it going at least a few years. They’ll need to change the salary structure and cut back on the staff a little, but it should be OK.”
“Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the teacher training program. You know, there’s some bad news I need to get out of the way before it turns into rumors.
“In the last three months, well over half the foreigners in the country have been called home by their governments or sent home by this government. More than half of the foreign non-government organizations have been closed. All of the local ones have been closed. Some of these have been through legal trials—accused of things like subverting the government or bribing people to change their religion. Most, though, have been closed by the government refusing to renew visas for all of the foreigners in the organization. Governments don’t have to explain why they refuse a visa to an individual, and several hundred individuals have been refused. Our visas will expire in two weeks. We applied for new visas over a month ago, and there’s no news.
“We are not closing. The school will stay open. My family will probably be leaving this weekend or sometime next week so that our new baby can be born in the U.S. If God wills, we will return in three months.
“As you will find, I give a lot of very bad opening-day talks. Let’s talk about teaching language. What is language? Something you say? Well, that’s a start. What does it mean to, ‘say’?”
“I’ll, I’ll, I’ll pray pray for you and your little little little baby.”
“Thank you, Rhoda.”
“And that you will come come back back to here.”
“Thank you.”
“I wish wish I could say how much I thank God God God God…”
“Rhoda, we’ll be back.”
“Yes.”
“He’s with you.”
“Yes. I believe. I’ll m m m m m m m mm mmmmiss you.”
“Joey, thanks for the ride. You’re a good friend.”
“You’ve helped me a lot. I don’t know what I’d be right now if…”
“Joey, you know there’s so much more healing you could have if you believed.”
“I know. Maybe I’ll be ready to talk to you about that later.”
“I still can’t believe you’d get up at one in the morning to help us get to the airport.”
“That’s what brothers are for.”
“Daddy, I wish we didn’t have to leave our home again.”
“I know.”
“Why can’t we be like poor people and only have one house? It’s like we live everyplace but we don’t live anyplace.”
“I know.”
“Look. The sun’s coming up.”
