What would you do?

Aug 23, 2006 07:25

So I landed in Hanoi and went to meet my friend Kari. By the time she joined me at the guest house she was hot, sweaty, and frustrated. This was her story...

She went to the airport with her friend and while there met a young Nigerian man here in VN to do a Tae Kwon Do competition that would, in part, win him a scholarship for university next year. He flew originally from Lagos to Cairo to Bangkok to HCMC on Egyptian Airways, attended the competition, did really well, and set out to travel VN up to Hanoi beofre flying home via the same route.

The only problem arouse when he arrived at the airport in Hanoi to discover that he needed a transit visa for Cairo, something he 1) had never heard of, and 2) hadn't needed on the way here. The airline refused to let him board the plane, but offered no advice. The thing is, he is extremely poor and had only $10 left after paying for the airport tax, which he had made sure to set aside.

He was crying on the airport floor when Kari and Christina found him and learned his story. To make matters worse, when he left he knew his mom was sick, but while at the competition he recieved word from his family that she had passed away.

My friend took him in and set him up with a place to stay. The next day she took him to the Egyptian Embassy to find out about the transit visa. It turns out that they will grant it if he can give them a proof of confirmed flight. Egyptian Air will re-book the flight with proof of his transit visa. In trying to at least see if we could re-book the flight we found that Egyptian Air is overbooked for the next month on this route and can only put him on standby.

A trip to an airline told us that a new flight would be $1400, way more than I could afford, even if I could access it. And 7 times what he thinks his family may be able to send him.

This is the short version, skipping the many visits to various embassies, travel agents and the post office for some expensive phone calls.

At this point he has until Sept 14 before his visa is up, but he has no money, and once Kari and I leave tomorrow he is on his own with only what money we can leave him. Absolutely no one is responsible for him right now....except us.

God, if this were me in this situation, I could email my parents or phone them, and have them send me the money for a flight home. I could go to my embassy (Nigeria doesn't have one here) and at least seek refuge. He is completely alone.

I just don't know what to do....but I can't do nothing.
Previous post Next post
Up