Gabon is another African country that makes a lot of profit from its natural resources. Already I can see lots of progress here as far as infrastructure. Things look well kept here and cleaner than some of the other places that I’ve been. Socially, people here seem to be well aware of their surroundings and about life in general. Things are not always equal though, about 90% of the income here goes to the richest 20% of the population.
Lucky for me, the air conditioning was working at the airport when I arrived. This is always a great relief because it means that I won’t have to sweat while running around trying to get all of my bureaucratic paperwork taken care of. You may have noticed from all of my writing, that the paperwork part of landing and taking off is by far the very worst part of the whole mission. Not only do I dislike all of the time and money that it takes to complete it, but it seems to me that this nonsense is just a destructive force to the lives of normal human beings that would think of visiting these countries. The paperwork and all of the fees that go along with them seem to only benefit the elite in these countries and is something that they use to control the lives of ordinary citizens and keep them in the dark.
At least the staff here in Gabon was efficient and organized. I was able to complete the paperwork in a timely manner, even though I did not have a visa for this country. Thanks to god for my pilot’s license. I have found out over time that in some of these countries, I am able to use my pilots license to bypass getting a visa. Instead of normal procedures, I tell them the airport staff that I am in transit for a technical stop (which is not far from the truth). This allows me to complete only the administrative paperwork and pay for the landing fees and not have to deal with the other nonsense that getting a full visa can entail (more paperwork, fees, wait times, etc.). Folks, if I would not have figured out this loophole to jump through, I promise you that I would not have been able to accomplish even half of what I have been able to get done on our mission.
Remember that my vision is this: to go to each and every country on the planet and deliver our message to the people of each nation in the most efficient and cheapest way possible. I am not trying to play tourist and visit each country for weeks on end. It is for these reasons that I do not wish to spend my time trying to please every countries requirements and get a visa for each one of them. This would take months and sometimes even years of planning and MUCH more money. Additionally, many of the countries that I have been visiting don’t have the most democratic governments. The fees and requirements that they have are often created so that only a few people profit anyway. If I were to be completely honest and up front upon arrival to each country, I would likely be kicked out and many countries would not even allow me to visit due to my mission and the issue of Kosovo being sensitive subjects to their government.
Fortunately, once I have entered into each country, I have found that ordinary citizens are usually quite touched to hear about our concerns and are often very helpful in raising the issue to their government. Once I expose people to our nation and make the voices of our people heard, most individuals that I come in contact with are interested in learning more and helping Kosovo in whatever way that they can. I can’t tell you how many times I have been grateful to meet ‘locals’ who have helped the mission out in ways such as making me a meal, offering me a place to stay, arranging meetings with someone that they know that would benefit us, etc. Even though some of the countries that I visit may be one of the last one’s to recognize our independence, this still will not prevent me from bringing our message to the ordinary citizens there.
In fact, it is through the media and the individual people in each country that I have been most successful in raising awareness about our country. Like I have mentioned before, I have found that most of us are all alike no matter where we are born. We all desire the same things out of life: a safe place to stay, a roof over our heads, food to eat and to make sure that our families are taken care of. By talking with local individuals and local media about Kosovo’s independence, I become a kind of a thorn in the side to these governments that will not go away. I just keep bringing up the name Kosova every time and in any international political agendas.
Ok, back to my work in Gabon folks. After the airport business, I got a taxi and went to seek out a hotel right away. I could already see that my surroundings are very clean. This is such a relief to me and it makes me think that I might get a good nights sleep soon. On the other hand, I will soon find out that that night of sleep is a little on the higher priced side.
The next morning I am up and seeking out the local media. It was a little difficult to be received by them and some even kept giving me the run around. Of course, you may start to guess at which ones those would be – correct – the government channels and media outlets gave me the hardest time.
In Gabon there are two main newspapers, one private and one public. L’Union gave me a great interview. Thanks to a wonderful friend and absolute gentleman, Mr. L. Joel Akouango who is a great leader. He was a soft spoken man with many beliefs about the world. He showed a great sense of care toward our cause and was willing to write a nice article expressing a lot of sympathy about Kosovo. Mr. Akouango also introduced me to his journalist, Mr. Juste Kombile, who was very knowledgeable about Kosovo and gave me a very solid interview. I would like to thank his boss, Mr. Akouango for allowing the interview.
Thanks to Tele Africa team and Mr. David Claverie, a French gentleman currently in Gabon. He approved a meeting with Mr. Charles Stephane Mavoungou who actually completed the interview with his team. Not only did he do the television interview, he also did an interview with me for BBC Radio Africa and an interview in French for the radio station 94.0FM. The Tele Africa team was so efficient, that I was able to see my interview on the evening news. The next morning, my taxi driver even mentioned to me that he was able to view it too on the morning news.
Regarding the government, I want to thank Mr. Paul Bie Eyene, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He took some time to meet with me to discuss Kosovo’s independence. I was able to deliver Vlora Citaku’s letter to him and in return, he assured me that he would deliver it to his boss on the same day. I would also like to thank Mr. Gaston Brun Beraud, a Consul Honoraire of Cote D’Ivoire for Sao Tome e Principe. I met him while he was traveling in Gabon and he offered to attempt to use his connections in an effort to help expose Kosovo to the Gabonese, Sao Tome and Cote D’Ivoire governments.
Finally, I can’t forget to thank my taxi driver, Mr. Patrick Etoukomoye Osseine. He was very nice to me and very helpful while he drove me around his country.
One thing that I want to mention here is that, here in Gabon, Josip Broz Tito, the former President of Yugoslavia had a big presence during the 1970’s. Though 30 years have passed, ‘Tito’ for sure is still respected in many African countries today.
