{"id":570,"date":"2010-04-24T12:09:22","date_gmt":"2010-04-24T17:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/?p=570"},"modified":"2010-04-25T19:03:20","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T00:03:20","slug":"us-visa-interview-preps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/us-visa-interview-preps\/","title":{"rendered":"US visa interview preps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are in Kinshasa for the <a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/visa-passport.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-572\" title=\"visa-passport\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/visa-passport.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"154\" height=\"102\" \/><\/a>next week or two to help the 8 CEUM delegates with their interviews for US visas next week.\u00a0 The first round of visa interviews is next Tuesday, April 27.\u00a0 We will go to the Embassy with the delegation and introduce them to the interviewer.\u00a0 Then they will each be interviewed for 3 minutes during which they need to present themselves as credible candidates to visit the US and state clearly that they will return to Congo at the end of their visit.<\/p>\n<p>Keith Gustafson visited the US Consul last week and received very good advice about how to conduct yourself during the interview and the kind of questions they may be asked.\u00a0 We have gone over the questions and the kind of answers the interviewer will expect.\u00a0 Over the next several days the delegates will rehearse their answers so that they can respond clearly, succinctly and demonstrate that they did not just memorize something, but actually know something about where they will be going in the US and what they will do there.<\/p>\n<p>Of those who are going, four are leaders in different ministry and community development programs.\u00a0 These folks will have a couple months of intensive English plus management training.\u00a0 They will also attend the Community Health Evangelism training in mid-June.\u00a0 The other five invited to the US are President Sanguma, his wife Sabuli and 3 year old son Precious, the VP of the church, Rev. Elenga Liwawa, and the head of women&#8217;s ministries, Rev. Lily Yakote.\u00a0 The leaders will attend the Covenant Annual Meeting in St. Paul in June.\u00a0 Lily will stay on and attend the Women Ministries Triennial in later July.<\/p>\n<p>One area in which we&#8217;ve been able to help our colleagues get ready to visit the US is preparing them for international &amp; US airport security, which is markedly different than what we had flying down from Gemena this past week.\u00a0 There was no screening of any kind of anything that went on the plane.\u00a0 We have set aside extra quart ziplock bags for each person.\u00a0 And, we plan to introduce them to some of what to expect in American culture.\u00a0 That is always shocking the first time for visitors. \u00a0 <em>Some examples:\u00a0 dress for women and girls; informal dress for men, especially pastors; the informal way we address each other; abundance of sugary food; Americans preoccupation with their pets and more.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Though it&#8217;s a little exaggerated, this comic gives an idea of the stark difference between airport security from place to place:<em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_577\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><em><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/cartoon-airport-security9.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-577\" class=\"size-full wp-image-577 \" title=\"cartoon-airport-security9\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/cartoon-airport-security9.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" \/><\/a><\/em><p id=\"caption-attachment-577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two different security systems<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand?moderation_action=report_form&object_type=post&object_id=570&width=250&height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are in Kinshasa for the next week or two to help the 8 CEUM delegates with their interviews for US visas next week.\u00a0 The first round of visa interviews is next Tuesday, April 27.\u00a0 We will go to the Embassy with the delegation and introduce them to the interviewer.\u00a0 Then they will each be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US visa interview preps - Ekstrands in Congo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/us-visa-interview-preps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US visa interview preps - Ekstrands in Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are in Kinshasa for the next week or two to help the 8 CEUM delegates with their interviews for US visas next week.\u00a0 The first round of visa interviews is next Tuesday, April 27.\u00a0 We will go to the Embassy with the delegation and introduce them to the interviewer.\u00a0 Then they will each be [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/us-visa-interview-preps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ekstrands in Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-24T17:09:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-04-26T00:03:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/visa-passport.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete &amp; 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