Getting paperwork done in a 3rd world country: A Tolkien worthy odyssey
6 years and you are almost done with your paperwork? Wow man, you were lucky it was so fast!
A few months ago I was happy drinking a beer with @heiditravels, @nomadnessie, @gargon, @pgarcgo @juanmiguelsalas and many more, I think @lukestokes was also there. I was in Lisbon, having dinner by the beach with my new friends when I got a message from my motherland telling me I should come back because my legal paperwork was almost done and I had to come back to sign papers and do the final process.
I had never been to Europe and I had to come back much more earlier than what I was planning. In Februrary I had in my mindto go to the US to visit some friends and I couldn´t do it because i had to be around my country in case I was needed. I wanted to go to Germany in February to visit a person I hold dear and I wasn´t able to. I missed the London cryptcurrency show a few weeks ago. I missed a content creators event in Las Vegas. I missed several meetups, including one happening right now in North-eastern Europe. I wanted to go to Cuba a few days ago because I got a very sweet deal and in the end I ended up doing none of those things I wanted.
I am sick of missing things because paperwork in 3rd world countries takes too much time, too much money and any drop of faith in the system you might have.
Whenever I get into conversations with my 1st world friends, mostly from Northern Europe, they complain about first world problems like weather or taxes. Then I tell them my whole situation and the reasons behind them - which I can´t discuss on the blockchain or my government might take me as traitor or whatever excuse they can think of - they immediately become grateful and they start valuing their own country.
I know one thing for sure, when I finish this paperwork I´m leaving this country and I am not sure I´ll ever come back to live here - I might come back to visit family once in a while, but I am sure as hell 95% of chances I won´t live here anymore.
So, my 3rd world friends, I know a lot of you read my posts, why don´t you tell me here on the comments what´s the worse thing you´ve had to deal with in your 3rd world country?
My 1st world friends, read the comments here, after that I´m sure you´ll stop taking things for granted.
Oh my where do we even start with the problems in the Philippines
Taxed to death
public transporation or the lack of it
inept government officials
salty countrymen who thrive on pulling down successful people
I have 4 years waiting for my passport. Over a small mistake in the registry, my gender and civil status were changed to "Male" and "Married" instead of "Female" and "Single". I had to request a modification, but it took all my might to get that approved. Had to deliver a letter certifying that I was female (humiliating, since at that point I was ironically being very feminine, thanks to my uterus), and that I was single (even more embarrassing according to a "friend"). When that was verified through the online platform, I had to wait for a closure on the investigation process. It took a whooping 4 years to get the "Your process is completed".
I had to get a new passport date, so I requested it as soon as I had the chance. I did the online request on April, and I got the date on the 02 of may. For the 02 of may, but I got it at 10:00pm. I missed it already, and I was F-ed. Or so I thought. The system reassigned my passport date for today, 18 of May. I went, there were over 179 people waiting under the scorching morning sun (I was the lucky 180). But hey, surprise surprise: I had to wait a whooping 4 hours to get the bad news: since my country has an election process coming, all passport dates were postponed for the 24 of May due to the system being used only to issue IDs for people to vote. I lost my morning to bureaucracy. I still don't have a passport, and I'm really tired of waiting for it.
-A.
Holy crap I can't imagine having to wait 4 years for a passport!
It happened something similar to my aunt, she has a weird last name and the dude in the registry messed up, she didn't notice and went years with that mistake, when she found out it took a lot of money and time to change it...
I could speed up the process paying up someone to "Manage" through the bureaucracy, but I'm not going to do so. First of all, because it's illegal to pay for speeding up a legal process (jail time and all, here), and second of all because I can not and will not be part of the corruption that has my country in the gutter.
Although I'm well aware that it's kind of an idealistic notion, I'm a believer that if we take the steps to make a change in our perception and actions upon what's wrong and what's right, even something so small makes a significant difference. And even if I have to wait a bit more, I'll do so with a clear conscience, because I did nothing wrong, did not contribute to the corrupted system, and still got what I wanted in the end. Now, I'll wait for Thursday to get my passport. I'm sure I'll get it eventually! hahaha
-A.
Where do I start? Please google the most corrupt nations on Earth and I bet you will find my country.
Should I keep going?
Let me put a full stop to this long depressing reply even though it doesn't end there... :( You can call me the overwhelmed Kenyan!
-Electricity comes like an August visitor. When the light bulbs come on, children shout in excitement because you don't get to see that often.
-You must provide your own source of drinking water, refuse and sewage disposal
I could go on and but let me stop here today
#Nigeria
This is so true. I made the opposite move and nobody will ever hear me complain about First World Red Tape anymore. Asides from the fact that in this development nation the red tape is much longer, requires many, many more forms and processes are much slower (let’s just blame the hot weather, shall we), the red tape also needs to be repeated across many more departments because every department wants to be involved and possibly get their claws in the cookie jar too.
Nowadays, whenever I hear a First Worlder complain about burocracy I can but resort to my most eloquent English and retort: Cry me a frakkin’ river.
LOL! I so relate to that last part... Though mine is more like 'Burrrn' :D
Is it the erratic power supply or the bad educational system? Oh my! We can so go on strike in tertiary institutions here. A course of 4 years results in an actual 7 years. Here, getting a job is a testimony and a well paid one at that is a double testimony.
Nigeria is a country with so many challenges and your survival strategy is a skill.
LOL!
Why do they do this to our beloved Africa, I wonder!
Hahahahaaha! 😁😁😁😁
Really I can't help it
Oh wow that very same thing Happens in Mexico, the most important public uni went on a strike a few years ago and most students took more than 6 years to graduate from a 4 year career :/ I know your feeling mate
Oh yeah, you get it...
Pues en mí país del tercer mundo hay muchos problemas. Los escribo en español porque sé que hablas español y porque son tantos que me da pereza escribirlos en inglés:
No escribo más (y te aseguro que los hay) para no desanimarme jajaja
Hey, que te faltó que las cosas tienen 3 precios diferentes: en efectivo, con tarjeta y con transferencia. Y que te sacan la cuenta ahí mismo por una cosa, con el precio variable del dolar a lo largo del día. Vivimos en un país muy loco, amigo mío. Tan loco, que ya pasamos directo a novela distópica.
-A.
Jjajajaj sí , pero si seguía la lista sería interminable. Por mi salud mental lo dejé hasta ahí jeje.
accidents.
cuts or broken bones i think are the worst thing in the world as it has pain and can take lot of time to repair
Your article explanation is very well your job is fanatstic