Getting a visa to travel to the United States had never been stress-free and straight forward as when I used my media connection. One phone call to the head of the media and public relations department at the US Embassy, literally opened doors for me.
Unlike regular visa applicants who were required to book a date, pay visa fees and ensure they arrived at the Embassy as early as 6am. for the interviews that normally started at 8am. onwards, I was given a 10am. appointment for the following day and asked to drive and park inside the building. The latter was a priviledge reserved for very important people (VIPs) like politicians and senior government officials among others.
This was a big contrast to 30 years earlier when I visited and my student visa application was rejected by an ugly no-nonsense officer by the name of Ms McGee. The heavily guarded Embassy at that time was on the ground floor of Mitchelcotts House, opposite current Supreme Court building. My appeal was later accepted and I was issued with a visa to travel to Tucson, Arizona, to study journalism at University of Arizona. Meanwhile, Ms McGee was later transferred after public protest and debate in the National Assembly moved and supported by most Members of Parliament.
Fast forward to 2008 when I went back to the Embassy I was given a through pass without any stress. A senior officer in the Public Relations department went to receive me at the special VIP gate. He then walked me through security and into the fortified building. Once inside, the officer took me to a visitors lounge where he served me with a cup of coffee as his counterpart in the visa section ushered me into his office.
As I sat in the spacious office, the head of visa section congratulated me for being honored Ford Foundation by sponsoring my trip and accommodation to cover the historic presidential elections pitting Senator Barack Obama of Illinois with his Arizona counterpart, Mark Ken. I was amused at the royal treatment he accorded me going as far as asking me: "which visa do you want us to give you, tourist or business?" I opted for the latter after he explained that it would enable me to work as a professional during the 30-day stay.
Within 15 minutes he had ensured I had cleared the formalities and then told me to return for my visa the following day in the afternoon, at 3pm! I couldn't believe my good fortune as he ushered me out of his office where I met my boss, the Managing Director, waiting to be served. It was then that I dawned on me that my visa application letter had been sent to the visa section side by side with the MD's and the head of the visa section may have mistaken me for the NMG MD, this the royal service!
The following day, I was back to the Embassy at 3pm. to pick my visa, five hours before catching my midnight flight to Atlanta through Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, in The Netherlands for the eight hour flight from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Our four-hour stop over at Amsterdam was refreshing and relaxing as I had time to walk, stretch, have a snack and window shop as I watched the clock closely.
The trans-Atlantic flight was uneventful as I spent most of the time enjoying the meals, drinks, movies and music before switching off to slumber land.
On arrival at Atlanta International Airport, one of the immigration officers flipped through my passport and the visa and asked me whether I knew Obama's family. I responded in the affirmative saying with a proud confident smile: "Barack is my relative from back home!" It was with that confidence that I walked out of the ultra modern spacious airport where was received by the Foreign Editor of the oldest newspaper in the US, Atlanta Constitution Journal. We got to know each other better as he drove me to my hotel, which was not far from his office.
I had the afternoon off to unwind from jet lag and prepare for the hectic presidential elections and high-tech campaigns by the Democratic candidate and his Republic rival. It was another honor and priviledge to be welcomed to the ACJ offices which were on five floors of a massive building in downtown Atlanta. But I was shocked a few days later when I asked the Foreign Editor whether I could go out to cover the presidential campaigns just to be told that: :"it's not necessary because we have Associated Press (AP) that does most of the reporting for us!) By then I had noticed that half of the newsroom had computers and phones but reporters and photographer as I was used to back in our Nairobi newsroom.
Meanwhile, I passed my time on the internet and would take long lunch breaks to visit the major tourist attractions there. The major ones are the headquarters of CNN, Coca Cola Company, others were the Atlanta Aquarium and The Olympics Garden, Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum and Library among others.
During the second weekend in Atlanta, I asked my host to give two days to visit two in-laws in Memphis, Tennessee, some 350 Km. away by Greyhound Bus. He tried to convince me to take a flight saying it would be faster, but I declined telling him I wanted to enjoy the six hours on American countryside as a bus passenger. The daylong trip through two states was extremely refreshing, relaxing and a journey down memory lane remembering my five years in Tucson, Arizona, as a student.
From Atlanta we crisscrossed the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi. Memphis is the home of most popular American musicians like Elvis Presley and his palatial home called Neverland and was the city where civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in broad daylight. A main street in the city is a tourist attraction both during the day and at night because of the shops selling records, CDs and memorabilia of Rhythm and Blues and Soul music superstars of the past and the current ones. A world-class mausoleum was built in the city in honor of him and it's a very popular tourist destination.
Among the treasures in the mausoleum is the Garden of Peace where they also have statues and quotes of world leaders like South African President Nelson Mandela, who was detained for 27 years by the apartheid regime, and India's Mahatma Gandhi, who used non violence to bring down the British Empire in his country after studying and graduating with a law degree in a British university.
After the four-day holiday, I boarded another Greyhound Bus for my return trip to Atlanta city where I was touched by the beautiful buildings, gardens, forest and rivers along the way. One feature was of the many branded churches built along the highway with a different scripture quote for the week for their congregants, members and road users.
Back in ACJ offices, we worked all night on the election day and called it a night after the CNN and other media houses declared that "Barack Obama was going to be the 45th President of the United States, after his rival George McCain conceded defeat."
It was jubilation in the newsroom as we joined other Americans on TV and at the Democratic Party headquarters to celebrate the historic win of the first black American to win the presidential polls in it's over 200 year history. Two days later, I was back at Atlanta International Airport returning to Nairobi via Albany, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and then attended a debriefing session at Ford Foundation headquarters, before flight back to Nairobi.
On arrival at JKIA, I could not believe how fast the 30 days had flown and the long trip, new friends I met, and many lessons learnt professionally and personally. In short, the 30-trip was worth every cent paid by my sponsors. Thanks to them and my employer, NMG for allowing me to part of that history and experience.
Comments