@Deorro chukua stool nukumalizie hekaya za wazee.
We were finally in Hong Kong.The runways were busy so our pilot was asked to circle the city for another thirty minutes or so or until he got the clearance from the control towerWe were circling the city at very low altitude and i could not but marvel at the spectacle that was Hong Kong city.Clearly this city looked beautiful and organized unlike our very own Nairobi that was a mumbo jumbo of confusion.
Finally the plane touched down.I was still apprehensive of what awaited me,for one i did not have a yellow fever vaccination certificate secondly i did not have a visa for Hong Kong though i had one for China.I had done some online research about visa requirements for Hong Kong and the best i came up with was that as a Kenyan i did not need one to enter Hong Kong since it was part of the Common wealth.
After about fifteen minutes on a long winding Que i finally came before the immigration officer-a twenty something year old skinny Chinese lady. I handed her my passport and she quickly flipped through the pages,i was waiting for that magical bang of the stamp on my passport but some demons seemed to advise her otherwise.After flipping the pages back and forth for a minute or so i saw her summon someone i presumed to be her supervisor,the supervisor too went through the ritualistic flip through before summoning me to some sort of back office.Inside the office i found two men of African descent sited on a bench,the supervisor motioned me to join the gentlemen on the bench,i obliged.Soon after a barrage of some spooky Chinese Immigration officers entered, they were about six or seven in number but considering the size of the office and the circumstances we were in they seemed like a crowd.
"Last time you came here you were traveling on a different passport,where is that passport?"before i could answer
“Why have you come to HongKong?”
"Am just transiting to China through Hong Kong"i answered.
“Why did you not travel to China Directly?”
"There are no direct flights from Kenya to China"i answered
“What is the nature of business you are going to do in China?”
I could also overhear the questions they were asking the Ghanian man and the Nigerian Man.The Ghanian man was in Hong to Buy watches he was asked how much he had on him,he had a measly $800,he was asked to show the money to the officers.The Nigerian man was there to Visa friends an then try and apply a US visa in Hong Kong,he had at least $1,200 green buck on him.
We were each taken to an even smaller room where were photographed,front,left and right side of our faces.I foolishly thought that after being photographed we would now be allowed entry.After an hour or so an officer an officer came and informed us that we had been denied entry and that we would be deported to our countries of origin on the next available flight.I was devastated,totally crushed.The Ghanian man wanted to weep,i could see the pain in his eyes clearly this journey was an epic one to him,he was not here to buy watches,it was something more than that,probably it was a matter deeper than that.I conjectured that he had come here to eke a living.The big Nigerian protested Bitterly and loudly but the Chinese would hear none of that.Some forms written in Chinese characters were brought to us and they asked each of us to individually sign his form.We all refused,honestly i did not know what i was signing,i asked one of the officers who could speak some passable English what was the written on the forms.He rudely told me to sign,i told him i would not sign what i did not understand.The Ghanian and the Nigerian likewise refused to sign.With mounting frustration the immigration guys called some uniformed officers who came with Handcuffs and asked us avail our wrists to be adorned with state jewelry.Things were now getting hotter.Apart from my girlfriend nobody else knew where i was.I could envision myself rotting in some Chinese jail ans tears welled in my eyes as i tried my outmost best t contain them.
I approached one of the officers who in my opinion seemed a little bit friendlier than the rest,the name tag on his lapel read "C.C.LUK"I calmly asked him what his name was;CHI CHI LUK he told me.I asked him to please explain the contents of the form,he told me he could not explain the details but reassured me that signing the form meant no harm and given the circumstances that was the best decision that we could make otherwise the other alternative was to put us in Jail and await a date with the courts.I asked him again if he was being truthful and he told me to just sign and i would be free to go to wherever in Africa i came from.falteringly i appended my signature and motioned my Ghanian and Nigerian friends to do likewise.
We were quickly escorted to the boarding gates and each of us furnished with two boarding passes.It is worthy to mention that at this juncture we were minus our passports which had earlier been confiscated.When i inquired about our passports i was told that the passports had been handed over to the Pilot and they would be surrendered to us once we arrived at the countries of origin.We stayed at the “No mans land” for more than twelve hours before our flight to Adis left.The Nigerian told me once in Adis he would demand his passport back and buy a direct ticket flight to China ticket ,but this was not to be.
@ deorro nimechoka kutype lakini hayo ndio yalikuwa masaibu yangu,