The complete story involved a couple of trips to the police. First Abdul, our local helper when there to get the form. I filled it out and sent it back with 2 passport photos, a copy of my Hungarian driver's license and the amount they required for the exchange.
There was always something coming up last minute so I was ready for a week every day to go and get my new document, but it never happened. The next week I got sick so I was in bed. The next 3 weeks I spent partially in the hospital (3 nights at ICU after my surgery) and mostly in my own bed.
Week 4 came and we went back to the police only to find that my application was rejected. The reason? You gonna love this... On my application I stated the Place of Birth as HUNGARY. The police thought I wrote HUNGRY (without the "A") and told us that there is "no such country" and if I am hungry I shouldn't waste the precious time of the local police force to inform them on an official document. HAHAHAHA MEGA LOL!
Well, except that I was not amused! Abdul suggested that I type up an "official looking document with stamp and everything" stating that there is indeed a country called Hungary where they issued a valid driver's license to me. So we did.
The next trip was almost successful. We made it all the way to the last office where they actually print the license. The only problem was that they just switched to the new system and the lady working at the computer never used the program before and had no idea how to crop and resize the picture. We wasted another 2 hours waiting for them to figure it out. Defeated we left and I started to wonder of maybe this is God trying to tell me I really shouldn't need this paper. :)
And week 6 came. Abdul called me and said we should go right now, so I quickly combed my hair and rushed to the local police station. This time everything worked just fine and 10 min. later I was a proud owner of my very own, valid, Sierra Leonean driver's license!!! :)
She asked me which category I want. I said "ALL!" and thought she is joking only since on the paper it clearly said "B". Well, she ticked all of them for me, except the tractor, because it would cost more. :))))
Check it out Dad, I can drive your bus, too!!!! :)
And the best part: this license is valid for the next 5 years all over West Africa! So watch out Salone, Reka is ready to hit the roads! :) People, START PRAYING!
1 comment:
i think you should've paid extra for a tractor. i mean, you never know. :) glad you finally got it!
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