3 days Ago By Nick Galvin
A group of young performers from Uganda and Kenya will tour Australia after all, following an 11th-hour backflip from the Department of Home Affairs to issue visas that had previously been denied. The U-turn came just three days before the group of 14 singers, dancers and instrumentalists were due to leave Africa on a tour that will take them to more than 21 venues along Australia’s east coast. Ugandan singer Faith Nassande is one of the choir members finally granted a visa to travel to Australia.
The Ubuntu Africa Tour is the sixth such tour organised by KwaYa Australia, a Gold Coast-based not-for-profit group that arranges cultural exchanges and relief efforts. Three months ago, KwaYa applied for temporary visas for the performers, aged in their early to mid-20s, as well as their adult tour leaders. KwaYa president Marsha Gusti was left heartbroken when the department rejected all the young adults’ visa applications, only giving the green light to the two older members of the touring party.
She said that, among the reasons given by DHA in emailed responses for each of the refusals, were that they were not convinced the performers were “genuine entertainers” and that because they had not previously visited Australia, there was no evidence that they had complied with a previous visa. “My heart went through to my feet,” she said. “You can’t imagine how I felt.
And you know what else? I was mortified and embarrassed as an Australian.” KwaYa stood to lose $80,000 in costs already incurred as well as a further $600,000 in donations earmarked to sponsor children in Africa. It’s been a rollerc-oaster of emotions for the young performers from Uganda and Kenya.
Credit: However, shortly after details of the choir’s plight were published by this masthead, Gusti was contacted by a Department of Home Affairs official. “He said, ‘We don’t normally make these phone calls, but I thought I should call you,’ ” she said. Gusti was told the decision to reject the visas could not be reversed but fresh applications with extra information would be considered.
This was despite, she said, being assured some three months ago that all the applications were complete and receiving the official go-ahead for the performers to provide photos and fingerprints. Gusti and her team scrambled to resubmit the applications and, late on Tuesday afternoon, the first of the visa approvals began to drop in to her inbox. “My heart is still pumping,” she said.
“We pulled off a miracle. I feel like I’m in an alternate reality. I can’t believe what’s happened.
The kids are jumping out of their skins!” Gusti said the roller-coaster of the past week and the scramble to resubmit applications had been unnecessary. “I reckon they could have pressed the button and approved them on what they already had,” she said. “But this is the way they’re going to excuse themselves.
They’re going to say, ‘Look, they didn’t provide enough information. So once we got that information, then it was fine.’ That’s how they’re going to save face.
But we don’t care. They’re coming. That’s all that matters.
” Gusti said she was working with lawyers to have the visa refusals removed from the performers’ files, as that could affect future travel. Contacted for further information, a department spokesperson responded: “The department cannot comment on the specifics of individual visa applications for privacy reasons.” Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox.
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