My name is Lauren Gumbs. I am the wife of one of your most professional, talented, and cosmopolitan exports- Keith Kayamba Gumbs.

I choose to write now because I am deeply concerned and appalled at my husband''s status as a St Kitts & Nevis citizen. Kayamba and I travel all over the world and quite frankly no one knows anything about St Kitts & Nevis. There is no foreign representation outside the major countries such as England and the US (oh and the random one- Taiwan). There are no consulates or foreign affairs departments to contact if in trouble in another country. Immigration routinely acts as if Kayamba is holding a fraudulent passport. He suffers humiliation and disrespect every time he enters and exits a country. This happens in front of not just myself, but in front of his entire team of footballers, management and officials. Immigration takes him aside and asks him questions or they will hold up entire lines of people while they go over and over his passport and call in other officials. In this modern climate of fraud, it is more likely Kayamba is mistaken for a criminal than the professional ambassador he is. Shame St Kitts. Shame! You can''t imagine the frustration of paperwork for visas. He only just got a new passport but travels so much he is due for a new one. However, he can''t even download forms to apply for a new passport online and is considering having to make another trip back for that and a new police record.

In addition, as citizens of the world, we buy products online, we register in organizations and we apply for other things. Why is it that in the section where you choose nationality, St Kitts & Nevis does not appear? Is St Kitts & Nevis having some sort of public relations crisis? Why does is not exist on country lists?

Just two days ago I was filling in a form on the United Nations website. I had to enter in my spouses details. There was no St Kitts & Nevis. On the UN website!!! Would the program accept that my husband had no nationality? No it wouldn''t. For goodness sake, we aren''t even able to successfully buy things online without being able to enter the country for the billing address! Should he pose as a Trinidadian? An Anguillan? They''re always there no problem.

The latest experience nonetheless, was what prompted me to write an email. We are living in Palembang Indonesia. However as you may be aware there have been some terrible earthquakes north of us. Luckily for us our city is ok. But what if it was not? What consulate can Kayamba contact? How can he get a new passport, legal aid, representation, a visa so he can get to another country for medical aid?  

I then tried to register us on the Australian department of foreign affairs and trade site, and again: my husband has no nationality. 

You''re very own Keith Kayamba Gumbs is a star here in Indonesia. He is a bonafide star and an asset to your little known country. People here only know St Kitts exists because he waves his St Kitts flag when he scores a goal and the next day it''s all over the newspaper. This man has acted for free as an ambassador for St Kitts and Nevis, since he was fifteen years old and began travelling. I can assure you he has visited more countries than any of the Ministers of government, your own Trade Minister, and anyone else you care to poke a stick at. He has no criminal record, he has no infringements, he has no blemish on his character, and he also has no diplomatic passport and is thus denigrated and stigmatized in every place he travels to. I cannot stress enough, the good name he has brought to St Kitts with both his achievements and his unwavering professional conduct. Kayamba is respected and admired across the Asian and Caribbean football community, but in the eyes of national institutions, he is denied ease of access while travelling and as a consumer, he even experiences less buying capacity.

I believe that Kayamba needs a diplomatic passport, some official status as an ambassador, and I think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has some real work to do in raising the profile of St Kitts & Nevis. They need to contact countries and make arrangements so that appointed consulates can take on St Kitts & Nevis and they need to make sure that people like Kayamba have the resources to move and operate in the world.

Sincerely,

Lauren Gumbs