South Africa Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Lydster: go to the South African consulate

Happy birthday!!

Last we checked, my daughter and I were getting ready to go to the South African consulate in New York City in mid-January. She was there for about 45 minutes. Her father had to stay downstairs, as did a couple of other parents, and there were no chairs; they specifically did not want us to sit on the floor.

Everything seemed to be in place, but we still fretted a bit. That evening, we went to see Maybe Happy Ending with a niece and her Significant Other, the first Broadway show I had seen since Newsies in 2014, and also with my daughter.

Shockingly, her visa arrived in a week —yay!

Jersey

On February 5th, my wife, daughter, and I went to Newark. My wife rightly hated driving in New Jersey, and the closer we got to Newark, the worse. One particular car was in the right lane of three heading south while we were in the middle lane. The car from our right decided to be in the same space we were in, so my wife had to evade the vehicle, not even having time to see if a vehicle was in the left lane to avoid this fool.

We stopped at a hotel near the Newark airport and took a shuttle to the airport a couple of hours later. The shuttle driver’s driving made my wife nervous. “Jersey drivers” is an earned epitaph.

We arrived at the airport and went through all the processing more quickly than I anticipated. My daughter sat waiting for two hours before boarding, a bit annoyed that we got there so early.

Our daughter had a 14-hour direct flight from Newark to Cape Town, South Africa, and got a ride to her college. Before beginning classes, she experienced many cool and fun orientation stuff, including sightseeing. She seems to be enjoying herself.

School days

Classes began on February 17th, and she’s enjoying dance, history, and art. One of the things she mentioned about her art class was that most of her classmates have been attending classes together for the past two years. She’s the only American there, and they’re asking her questions—”Why does your country do THAT?”—but they’re otherwise pretty chill about it.

She has had a couple of allergy scares, one while eating pizza and the other a pasta dish. Food labeling is not as robust as it is in the United States. And she’s had some difficulty with her credit and debit cards, even though we called her banks before she left the country.

Last year, my wife and I went to her college in Massachusetts and spent time with her both before and after her birthday, although not on her birthday. This year, she’s 7,845 miles or 12,625 kilometers. We knew this was going to be the case. It’s a good thing she’s doing what she wants to: exploring the world.

Yet I feel a soupçon of melancholy that she’s so far away. Happy birthday, my dear daughter. Enjoy your special day.

Lydster: Apostille

certified

Thanks to my daughter, I’ve learned a new word, apostille, which I’ll describe in due course. She decided to study abroad in the second semester of this college year. There’s a database she consulted to discern where to go based on her interests in art, black studies, environmental studies, and social justice.

She found one college in Botswana and three in South Africa: one in Johannesburg and the others in Cape Town. So she picked one, and then the process began. Because her current college compiled grades in a non-conventional way, she didn’t get approved for this process until late October. This seems like a reasonable amount of time, except that one has to get a visa to be a student in South Africa.

She made an appointment and was given January 21, 2025, to appear at the South African consulate in New York City. (One has to go to NYC, LA, or DC.) After writing a letter of appeal, the time was changed to January 14, and her February 5 flight was still a tight deadline.

The extensive list

Before the consulate visit, she had to check off items on this list. One item was a Notarized copy of the birth certificate. What does THAT mean?

Since my daughter was away at college, I went to Albany City Hall to get another copy of her birth certificate. We had the original, but I correctly surmised we’d need another one. It was a good thing I went in that direction. Once I got the birth certificate ($17), I got this page from the city clerk’s office. “Once a certified record is issued by the city of Albany, that record must go to the Albany County clerk’s office. The fee is $3 per document. The record must be issued within the last six months.” Fortunately, the city and county clerks are only a short distance apart on Eagle Street.

“The documents must then go to the New York State Secretary of State, Miscellaneous Records the country where the document is to be sent must be specified. The fee is $10 per document. ” That is at 99 Washington Avenue, not too far away.

The word at the top of the page the city clerk’s office gave me is Apostille. It is “a document used in international law that is issued by a government in accordance with the Hague Convention, and that certifies that another document has been signed by a notary public.”

Plus

She also needed a “Machine-readable valid passport with at least two (2) unused (blank) pages labeled Visa when presented at the Embassy or Consulate; one page for affixing the visa or permit by the embassy/consulate and the other page for endorsement of entry/departure stamp by the South African Immigration Services. Passport must be valid for 30 more days after the intended return date from South Africa.”

As it turned out, I had… persuaded her to get a passport in February 2024, which allowed her to dream about going abroad.

Two (2) passport photos with white or light background

She got this when she was home for Thanksgiving break. These are for the visa.

Medical report on prescribed form (physical). The certificate must not be older than six (6) months at the time the applicant submits an application.

It was also completed during the T-day break.

Original FBI certificate (full criminal background check report) and original police clearance certificate from each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer after attaining the age of 18 years (for the last 5 years) in respect of criminal records or the character of that applicant, which certificate shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission.

Ditto. This was done in Half Moon, a small hamlet in the metro area that is not especially nearby.

What else?

Certified/notarized copy of bio page of the passport
Proof of financial means in the form of recent three months bank statements stamped by bank, and notarized letter from the parents stating the financial responsibility.
Proof of sufficient financial means available to the learner while in South Africa
Certified copy of ID of person taking financial responsibility, with three months statement and stamped letter from the bank.

Our financial institutions (banks, credit unions) handled “certified/notarized” slightly differently.

Proof of itinerary/reservation of round trip air tickets. Please do not purchase air tickets until you obtain a South African visa.

How do we prove an itinerary without buying a ticket? We purchase a (more expensive) refundable ticket.

But we HAVE insurance, don’t we?

Proof of medical cover, renewed annually, for the period of study with a medical scheme registered under the Medical Schemes Act.

This confused me somewhat, as the entity arranging the trip provided a policy through a company that “provides a complete network of travel insurance coverage—medical insurance, 24-hour emergency assistance, trip and baggage delay, loss of baggage, and much more!” However, the company was NOT registered under the Medical Schemes Act.

On January 6, I purchased a qualifying insurance policy. I had a copy of my receipt, but we didn’t have a copy of the policy. I wrote to them again on January 10th, and they sent the policy to my daughter, saying they had sent it previously. Unfortunately, it was password-protected, and we had no idea what the password was. Luckily, my daughter wrote to them again, and they gave us a clean copy we could print.

So, on Monday, January 13, my daughter and I took a train to New York City in anticipation of the trip to the South African consulate with what we HOPED was everything we needed, including a US Postal Service self-addressed, pre-paid courier envelope “to facilitate return services” and a “non-refundable fee of $36.00 money order for processing.”

More soon.

Paul Simon’s Graceland, plus 25

When the Graceland album comes out in the fall of 1986, there are a lot of positive reviews, though there is some discussion of cultural imperialism, talk Simon occasionally faced directly,

On June 5, the 25th-anniversary edition of the landmark Paul Simon album Graceland will be released. It has a few demo or alternate tracks, plus something described as “The Story of ‘Graceland’ as told by Paul Simon,” which could be interesting. But what is really intriguing is the DVD that comes with it, Under African Skies, directed by Joe Berlinger, which I saw on A&E a few days ago. It not only discusses the making of the album, and shows the reunion of many of the artists; it also addresses the huge controversy over the album and the subsequent tour.

There was a United Nations cultural (and other) boycott of South Africa at the time of the recording of Graceland, because of the oppressive apartheid policies of the government. Paul Simon’s record label guy Lenny Waronker said that the African music Simon had been listening to could have been produced by studio musicians; Warnoker says that Simon looked at him as though he were crazy.

From HERE:
“I was very aware of what was going on politically,” Mr. Simon says in the film, though later he admits he really wasn’t. Harry Belafonte had urged him to get the blessing of the African National Congress before going, which he didn’t do. Mr. Simon bristled at such constraints and decided that the welcome and cooperation he got from black musicians was all the approval he needed.

The album gets made, but the release date is pushed back. Simon is already scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live, and does so, with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, performing “Diamonds on the Soles of Their Shoes”, to thunderous applause.

When the record comes out in the fall of 1986, there are a lot of positive reviews, though there is some discussion of cultural imperialism, talk Simon occasionally faced directly, as shown in the film. Then he decided to go on tour:

From HERE (And check out the videos):

Nearly 25 years ago Paul Simon staged one of the most controversial pop shows in history. When he performed in April 1987 his Graceland concert was seen by some as an affront to a United Nations and African National Congress (ANC) cultural boycott on the apartheid-era in South Africa.

Others saw it as a celebration of the country’s rich musical diversity. At the time Simon was joined by South African musicians Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. But outside leading musicians joined protestors which included Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, and Jerry Dammers, famous for writing the anti-apartheid anthem, Nelson Mandela. Together they demanded an apology from Simon.

Graceland ends up winning the Grammy for best album. Moreover, Simon eventually gets invited by the Mandela government to perform in South Africa after the boycott was over.

From HERE:

At the end of the film, Simon reflects on the controversy with Dali Tambo, founder of Artists Against Apartheid and son of the late African National Congress (ANC) president Oliver Tambo. He is still convinced Simon was wrong to break the cultural boycott, and Simon remains firm in his belief that art and music are a force for good that should never be repressed.

They end their debate with a hug, but you can see that this debate may never be resolved.

Lots of good insights in this film from Belafonte, Masakela, Paul McCartney, and Oprah Winfrey, who initially supportive of the boycott of the album until she heard the music, which transformed her life. I also had a bit of ambivalence over the album at the time, and I was really happy to see Simon’s rationale at the time.

I’m always loath to get an album that I’ve gotten before, in this case, on both LP and CD. But if you haven’t gotten the CD, or your LP is starting to skip, the documentary Under African Shies makes the purchase worthwhile. the film is also available separately, on Blu-Ray, for a price twice that of the CD/DVD combo.

The Boy in the Bubble – Paul Simon