“I’VE BEEN A TOUR GUIDE FOR A LONG TIME, BUT THIS WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL” When Damon and Carole took a trip to Namibia, little did they know they’d meet a new friend in their tour guide, Benjamin – let alone invite him home to share a glimpse of their lives in Minnesota
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n April 26th, Audley clients Damon and Carole Sierk wrote to the immigration office in Nairobi, Kenya. They were determined to help their guide and new friend, Benjamin, obtain a visa to visit them in the United States. In this letter, they wrote: ‘In February of 2018 we were on a threeweek safari in Kenya and Tanzania. One of our stops was at a camp on the Masai Mara, operated by the Asilia Co. We were met at the airstrip by Benjamin and he was to be our driver and guide for the next three days. When we shook hands at the airstrip, an instant bond formed between us. His intellect and knowledge of the area made our stay on the Masai Mara a wonderful memory. Through our many conversations, Benjamin informed us that he had never been on an airplane or out of Kenya. This information planted an idea in my mind, and now to reciprocate all that Benjamin gave us, we would like to invite him to come to the United States, and spend time with us in Northern Minnesota by a lake surrounded by tall trees.’ Receiving a visa for travel from Kenya to the United States is no easy feat, but the Sierks were determined to share their home with
Benjamin, just as Benjamin had shared his with them. They would be joined for two days by Audley Country Specialist Katie, who planned the Sierks’ initial trip to Kenya.
BATTLING THE RED TAPE
Three months after the initial application was submitted, and accompanied by an additional letter sent by Senator Chuck Grassley of Sioux County, Iowa, Benjamin was presented with a five-year travel visa to the United States. Approval meant the continuation of a friendship that would extend beyond Africa, all the way to the Lake District of Minnesota. Friendship is hard to explain but for Damon it was simple: “I instinctively knew that we got along. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and from the moment we met at the airport and he joked that our forty-minute transfer to camp would last four hours, I knew he was someone I wanted to know better.” Benjamin’s journey to Bemidji, Minnesota, began five days before he arrived at the home
“DAMON AND CAROLE WERE WILLING TO KNOW MY HEART AND I WAS READY TO SHARE WITH THEM AS MUCH AS I COULD” Benjamin Kisemei
of Carole and Damon. As Benjamin said, “You start a journey with one step forward,” and so he began his travels to America, walking six miles from the lodge to his village. Once there, he waited for a motorbike, which took him two hours to the nearest paved road and then onward another few hours to the closest city. He waited in the city for two days where he picked up travel money that the Sierks had sent, and bought supplies for the
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