Making it all Official

After a few days of 'resting' and finding our feet, we headed to the local Home Affairs office to bring our South African citizen status up-to-date. Dieter had already applied to have his passport (which expired quite a while ago!) renewed a few weeks ago. This was my second application for a South African passport in the last 15 years, and hopefully this time I will actually receive one! Ryan and Jed's passports expired over 5 years ago, so those also had to be renewed, but Ethan and Aimee have never owned one. In fact, we've had to begin right at the beginning and first register their births in a foreign country. The passports will apparently be ready in  4 - 6 weeks, but the birth registrations will take 3 - 6 months. Only then can we apply for the little ones' passports.

The whole process, which lasted about an hour and half, required all of us to be there in person and took about an hour and a half. There was sufficient seating  and people are expected to sit until a counter is open and someone can help them. Things moved really quickly and people were relaxed and cooperative. The thing that surprised me the most was the attitude of the Home Affairs staff! The staff were friendly amongst themselves and keen to help the public. It was far different to the abrupt, distant approach I was used to prior to 1994 or the very unorganised, lethargic chaos that followed with the change in regime. It was a very pleasant experience!

The boys and I spent alot of the afternoon doing math and then one of the neighbours came to visit with her daughter. Ethan and Aimee had a lovely time running around the garden with their new friend! She speaks Afrikaans, but understands (and speaks) English quite well. The 3 of them looked so cute together and I just couldn't help taking photos of them playing and enjoy their picnic. Its so nice to have found a friend. We're looking forward to finding more of those real soon!