A LIFE SAVED AND A QUICK EMIGRATION UPDATE

Good evening

It's Thursday and that means an update in respect of our Portuguese emigration. I detailed the process extensively in my Blog on the 20th of February, so ithis is a quick status update. Of course, if I add any requirements, I'll detail them. If this helps one person in South Africa to successfully emigrate, I'll be happy.

• House: SOLD – awaiting deeds registration

• South African documentation from authorities: Yay. I travelled to Pretoria (50kms away) and fetched our Driving Licence Confirmations rather than rely on a courier service which would have added at least a week on to the timeline.
• Police Clearance Certificates. Previously obtained.

• Documentation verified by South African authorities - Apostilled: Our Driving licence confirmation and police clearance certificates were delivered to DIRCO today, 13th of March 2025.
• We can expect the Apostilled documents within two weeks.

• Financials in place:
• Enough funds in a Portuguese bank account: Yay! The account has been opened and the required funds to open it have been deposited.
• Required funds for monthly living expenses deposited into an investment account: Application completed.
• Funds proceeds from sale of house deposited into bank and investment accounts: To be finalised
• Portuguese Tax Number - Número de Identificação Fiscal (NIF): We’re still awaiting our NIFs which are in Portugal with the Portuguese legal authorities.

Once all the above are ‘in the green’ it’s a go to get our visa applications in. I’ll detail what we have to have in place for the visa application when we get there.

A life saved

No poem today. While on the way home, the highway which I would normally have taken was completely gridlocked so I took one of the backroads to an adjacent highway.

On that extremely busy highway, I saw a black Labrador limping slowly on the side of the road with an obviously broken right leg and damage to all three of her other legs. At any moment, she could have walked into the traffic. I stopped as soon as I could find a safe place (about 500m down the road) and called the SPCA to fetch her. I then went back to stay with her until they arrived. By this time she was half lying, half sitting in some brackish water which she had been drinking.

What a sweet girl. She snuggled right up to me when I got to her. She happily accepted a lot of cuddles, hugs and petting while I waited for the SPCA to arrive.

I waited with her for about an hour. Although she was such a friendly soul, she was definitely in pain and distress. She was panting heavily when I got to her and that continued for the whole time that I was with her. I had initially contemplated trying to get her into my car but she was resting on the tarmac, not in any hurry to stand up on her poor injured legs again. In any event, I knew that she would be too heavy for me to carry to the car a few metres away, so I just waited with her.

During the entire time that I was comforting the injured dog, not one person stopped to help. A sign of the times in South Africa. There were obvious dangers associated with getting out of my car. Hijackings are commonplace and if the car wasn’t the target, my belongings could easily have been easy pickings. Sadly, this is not an exaggeration and I was hyper aware of my surroundings. There were some pedestrians (a common sight even on highways) who saw me and came towards me quite deliberately. They hesitated when they saw that I was with a big black dog – the most feared kind – and crossed over to where they didn’t have to come close to me. I’m so grateful for that.

Was I stupid to stop, knowing the dangers? Yes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. That old girl’s life was saved because I chose to be brave.

An hour later and she was getting frantic, tried to stand and clearly wanted to move. I helped her up and stood right beside her as a crutch. We were right on the verge of the highway and I was worried in case she became spooked and went into the really heavy traffic so I directed her towards the car and opened the back door, hoping that I could coax her close enough to try and lift her. An amazing thing happened. As I opened the door, she immediately tried to climb in but was crying from pain and leaning heavily on her broken leg. I managed to help her into the car and she sank down on to the floor as if she belonged there.

Once we were both safely ensconced inside the car, I called the local SPCA again and found out that their premises were only about a kilometre down the road. With a location in my GPS, I started to drive her there. About 500m along the highway, I saw the SPCA rescue van which was waiting for me at the first location pin they had received. They had not been given my update GPS position where I was with the injured labrador.

What a relief it was to see them. The two officers were so gentle getting her out of the car and into the van. At least she'll be safe now. Although her injuries are extensive, I do think that she will be alright. However, even if they do have to do the worst, it will at least be in a safe environment.

If we were not emigrating, I would absolutely consider adopting her and I’m praying that someone rescues her and gives her a loving forever home. She’s gorgeous.

I have to wonder whether Our Holy Saviour led me to my rescue dog. My gospel reading yesterday included Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Today, I left home too early to have my usual gospel reading time:

Luke 10:25-37 - King James Version

 ²⁵ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

²⁶ He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

²⁷ And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

²⁸ And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

²⁹ But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

³⁰ And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

³¹ And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³² And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

³⁴ And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

³⁵ And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

³⁶ Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

³⁷ And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

That is not enough for me to believe that I was led to the labrador in distress although it’s rather a significant clue. The fact that my usual highway was gridlocked and I took the specific offramp that I did is clue number two. Number three was my actually seeing her on the side of the road. Additional clues are that I was driving in the extreme left lane, which is the slow lane. In South Africa, we drive on the left hand side of the road. If I had been in any of the other lanes, I may probably have missed seeing her. Add to that the fact that not only did I stop my drive to call the SPCA but I returned to stay with her while waiting for the rescue van to arrive. 

Yes. I do think that I was prompted to save her life. Thank you, Father God, for affording me the privilege of doing so.