My name is Viola Namyalo a female Ugandan aged 22. I am a humanist and I have been working with the Uganda Humanist Association together  with the Humanist Association  for Leadership Equity and Accountability( HALEA) for over five years, empowering youth and Young mothers. We have been providing youth and young mothers with school fees bursaries, scholastic materials, entrepreneurship skills at our Pearl Vocational Training college and Menstrual Hygiene Management tips.

As an active humanist in Uganda, I got a chance to attend the 2018  International Humanist and Ethical Union General Assembly in Auckland, New Zealand. Transport and Accommodation costs would be catered for. My  job was to get a visa.

At first I thought getting a via would be easy, but I was wrong.

After getting a chance to attend the General Assembly in Auckland, I was so happy. With thus,  I started working on my visa application in April , because New Zealand has no embassy in Uganda, I opted for an online application and sent my passport in Pretoria, South Africa for further checking .

After a period of one month, my application had been assessed already, I was looking forward to reading the decision. To my surprise, it was a no. The Immigration argued that my bank statement had limited balance. In addition, they said that I had no strong family background in Uganda hence, they were not satisfied that I would return to Uganda once granted Visa.

The hosts of the General Assembly were not happy about the decision, they decided to apply on my behalf through Yana Gild. We started the application process again, but this time round, everything was done by Yana Gild. Yana worked so hard , she advised me to add more documents of my family members together with my academic documents in order to illustrate that I have a family in Uganda and besides, I am a student who will come back to continue with my studies and also continue with my work.  Yana did everything and submitted the application online.

After a period of two weeks, we got a reply from NZ Immigration . Unfortunately, it was a second no.  The NZ Immigration argued that I had no international travel history, they were not sure whether I would return to Uganda once granted visa. This made me, Yana and the New Zealand Association (the hosts for the General Assembly ) so sad.

However, Yana and the Humanist Society of New Zealand never stopped the fight despite the fact that my application was declined for the second time. They opted for political means. I cannot tell how they did their thing, but all I remember is that, they got the decision for my Visa changed in just a few hours by the Minister. I was so amused to receive an email from Yana telling me to receive my Visa in an attachment below.  This made me so happy.  I had lost all the hope to New Zealand, but because of Yana’s hard work and support I finally made it to New Zealand.

All I can say is, thanks a lot Yana for working so hard with the Humanist Society of New Zealand. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it to New Zealand.