So alot has happened in two weeks. Let me fill you in on where we are at.
In finally meeting with and working for the school Jillann and I are assigned to, we figured out a number of things.
When our team first was assigned to come to Baku, our visa work began. At that time, Amanda and Jillann were assigned to work at the Swiss Education center with a local Azeri staff. Bill and I were assigned to work with an American school called Aferin. At that point we were expecting letters of invitation from the school and a visa to work in the country for a year.
After this paperwork was already being worked on, both schools requested that they have a male and a female teacher instead of two of the same sex. So, we switched our teams, making Jillann and I work together at the Swiss, Azeri school and Bill and Amanda work together at Aferin, the American school.
Because the paper work was already processing, by the time we were leaving, even though we were working at different schools, Bill and I recieved our year long visas from the American school while Amanda and Jillann assumed that their visa situation would be worked out by the school when we got there.
SO, last week as Jillann and I sat down to begin working with our new school, we learned that the reason they hadn't gotten the girl's visas yet was because the school was not registered with the government. In order to get visas you must have certain documentation that they did not have, so there we sat, waiting for them to register their school so they could get visas for AT LEAST Jillann. Amanda was now trying to get her visa worked out through the American school.
So, figuring out that the school wasn't even registered was our first big problem. Then, as the week progressed, we seemed to be experiencing curveball after curveball. The Swiss school was wanting to bend or break several requirements in our contract, including having us teaching more than 20 hours a week, working at different schools, not paying us for August and also not paying us period until October 1st. As far as we were concerned we could manage not being given money until a certain time. We are not here for that so it was manageable. But with all the other breaches, we finally sat down with them on Monday and told them about our contractural obligations with our company and how if we couldnt meet those, we would have to find another place to work.
So, we ended our relationship with them and we hope and think that our relationship with our former head teacher, R, will continue. Be lifting him up as I will be calling him tomorrow to see how he is!
Anyways, as of right now, since we had to walk away from our relationship with the Swiss school, the school that was providing housing and visas for the girls, we are now pursuing other options for getting a visa for Jillann and also talking with another school that we feel VERY GOOD about working with. Hopefully, they will be able provide the girls with rooming and some living expense for Jillann and I.
So please be lifting up our situation, we are currently without a school, but have a couple options to work at. Be lifting up our friendships with people here, and having wisdom on how to go about developing those relationships. Lift up the hearts of those we will be teaching and coming in contact with over the year. Please be thinking about us! I know this message is boring, but it was important for me to let you all know what is happening here and why I am not teaching yet. Thank you for reading, remember us in your thoughts. We know that our Father will be guiding us and will be getting all the glory!
Let me know if you have any questions.
