Intercontinental Engagement

Hello, my name is Shannon. I am starting this GoGetFunding account, as an act of faith. I have no idea whether or not people would want to help me, but I have to try something. Each day I am separated from Mthwa, my fiancé, gets harder and harder. Lately, I have found more days spent in tears, because not only can I not see my fiancé right now, but there are days and weeks we cannot even talk, because it costs so much on both ends. Every time he wants to message me, which is our primary way of communicating now, he has to pay for air time. Airtime is similar to what we call minutes for a minute phone. Airtime can be converted to data bundles that allow you to access the internet.

Where he lives, jobs are scarce. In fact, most people try street vending to put food on the table for their families. They make very little, many making less than $1/hr there. Mthwa has been trying to work with a company doing multi-level marketing, but it is really hard to do that with no money to make the calls, or for transport to various cities. It seems like he has to put more money in than he gets out. For me, I have been a student from kindergarten until now, and am approaching the completion of my Masters of Counseling degree. I have not been able to work full-time while going through school. Now that I have completed all of my academic courses and have only Practicum and Internship left, I still cannot work full-time, though I would like to, because Practicum and Internship is a 20hr/wk job, which is non-paid. Often I pray, “Lord, how are we going to be able to get married if I can’t even work full-time, and if Mthwa’s business is taking off slowly? How long do we have to be apart?” I know Jacob worked for Rachel for seven years, but I can’t wait that long. It is heart-wrenching that even though I have Mthwa, I don’t have him here, and I can’t talk to him every day. I don’t even know when we will see each other again. The whole process of marrying someone from another country is so expensive. I am not talking about a wedding ceremony with bride’s maids and flowers; I am just talking about getting him here to Michigan and obtaining a marriage license and certificate.

We are going to do a process called a K1 Fiancé Visa, which takes anywhere from 6 months to a year to process. That alone is going to cost us just over $1000. Then we need to raise money for the plane fare, marriage license, ceremony, and other expenses. Overall, we need to raise $4,000 to start our new life together. We have decided not to do a formal wedding, because it would be too expensive. In addition, if we don’t get this process started by the end of February, we risk not being able to see each other for an entire year. It would devastate me if I have to complete yet another year without seeing him, and not knowing when we will be reunited. Being separated from the person you love is hard in itself, but to add to it the fact that you can barely talk to each other is just heartbreaking. I am praying for a miracle. That’s all I can ask for, and that is all I can do. For now, I will continue to work towards my goal, and pray that people such as yourself will be compelled to bring us closer together.

If you would like to know more about our story, I created a blog on WordPress that will document our journey. Here is the linkhttp://wp.me/4bjkf. Your donations are greatly appreciated with sincerity.