My Journey to USA

It was super exciting to me to know that I was going to visit the greatest country in the World and live there for a year. I was shocked, surprised, happy, thrilled; simply put, I was over the moon. The journey didn't start on August 12, 2019; The journey actually began in August of 2018, when my uncle Ray sent me an Ad that was inviting young people to apply for an opportunity to volunteer working in the US or Canada. Back in 2018, I wasn't sure whether I was going to be accepted or not, but my instinct propelled me to apply. My parents had a huge influence on this, God bless them 🙏. I remember them saying, "Mlue, just apply, you never know where God is taking you." Mlue is the shortened version of my second name Mlungisi. I was a bit skeptical because the application process appeared to me as such a tedious and overwhelming process. At first when I saw the Ad, I thought I was going to work in the US and make a lot of money, that sounded awesome to my ears but wait, that is not the case. It was an exciting offer, but first I had to research about this organisation that's taking young people overseas. I took my time to investigate before sending my application. You have got to be careful about these things. There's so many stories I had heard about human trafficking, I just didn't want to be a victim. I learnt about this organisation, Mennonite Central Committee, a Great organisation. I read everything I could find about the programs they offer, the work they do to make the world a better place. Everything I read and learnt about them was beyond what I had imagined. They looked authentic, however, I was still hesitant on applying because I wasn't going to make money, the program is a year of service, A Voluntary Program 🤦🏾‍♂️. One section of my brain was saying, "This would be a waste of your time." Another was saying, "Frederick, you could go to the US." I talked to my parents about it, again they said, "Mlue just apply." I prayed about this, and the whole program felt right in my heart. I felt drawn to the Mennonite Central Committee IVEP program, the more I prayed. Slowly I began to stop thinking about the program for the wrong reasons. Then I applied, like I said earlier, the application process was overwhelming. To cut the long story short, I was called for the first interview, and I got accepted, Yayyy🤗! I met with other accepted applicants. There were four of us, unfortunately only 3 got VISAs. The VISA process is one challenging exercise in Zimbabwe but if you just trust God, nothing is too difficult. At first attempt, all of our applications for VISAs at the US Embassy were denied. When I got denied, I felt so much pain, and somehow I felt that was the end of my journey. Luckily, my MCC Representatives in Bulawayo in collaboration with my MCC Reps in USA gave us another chance to re-apply. It was during that time before I went for yet another VISA interview that I had to invite God's hand to work in my life. I had never prayed like that in my life before, and God showed his mercy on me, and today I am serving as a Volunteer Technology Assistant at Dock Mennonite Academy. The story goes on but for now I will stop here. . .

.

. #IAmIVEP #MCC