The new look

Greetings!

I'm trying out a new site for the blog:

jsmundy.aimsites.org

Please let me know what you think! AIM is providing blog space now, so we're giving it a go.

The new look

Check out the new blog! http://jsmundy.aimsites.org/

AIM has started making blog space available so I'm trying it out. Please let me know which you like better!.

Cheers!
J

Animals and Runways

This week has been a big one for animals on runways. Wednesday I took the nurses to Olturot for a mobile clinic. It took me three attempts to land because the locals were driving their herd of camels down the runway. Not across, but along. Sigh. I had a long talk with the village elders after that. The gist of it was "When you hear the airplane coming, please clear the runway. I'll go around once in case some one hasn't realized, but if the people are still driving their animals along the runway, and I have to go around a second time, I'm not coming back." They thought that was pretty reasonable and said they'd see to it. We'll see. I went back there the next day to pick up an injured man and bring him to Gatab. No animals near the runway. Maybe they listened.

Then yesterday morning there was another clinic at Nolpilipili. As I was landing I saw a boy driving a few donkeys across the runway. No hurry, not chasing after animals, just going here to there. I buzzed the kid and his donkeys and brought the nurses back to Gatab. I've been telling them for months in Nolpilipili to keep the animals off the runway. "We'll do it. We'll fix the fence..." etc., etc. I'm curious to see what the reaction is. I'm a little surprised I haven't heard already.

The reason for all this is summed up by an incident another flight organization had recently. The pilot was on the ground, repositioning the airplane. Due to the runway conditions the pilot had to keep a bit of speed up. The pilot saw goats running up on the side of the airplane, the side toward which the pilot was turning the plane. Then the pilot saw two herd boys running after their goats. Straight toward the propeller. The only option to splattering the two herd boys with the prop was to put the airplane into a ditch. Herd boys safe, people on plane safe. Plane damaged to the tune of $100,000 to $250,000.

Here at Gatab a go-around from a landing isn't always an option. Nor is it always possible to abort a take-off, and never after a certain point. Thus the reason I'm building a fence around the runway here (having it built, I should say), as mentioned in previous blogs. Anyway...I'm curious about the reaction in the villages to the last couple flights.

What price man?

I flew down to Loiyangalani a few days ago and spent the night. There'd been a cattle raid at Moite, a lace about 75-90 km north of Loiyangalani on the shore of Lake Turkana, by the Gabra (one of the tribes in north Kenya). One of the Turkana men had been shot, in both legs and through one testicle. The raid was Saturday night.

Monday about noon the merchant who'd been hired to go get the injured man got back to Loiyangalani (it's the closest airtrip). I took him to Wamba hospital, and have since heard he's doing well. Tough man...shot twice and survived 2 days with just minimal treatment.

So...what price a man? About 20,000 kenya shillings to get him from Moite to Loiyangalani, and another 23,000 for me to fly him to Wamba. That translates to a total of 43,000 shillings, or about $750.

The man's father told Jim Teasdale, who arranged both the merchant and the flight, "I'm not wasting 20 goats (selling them) on someone who's probably going to die anyway."

Another part of the mind-set. A man's status in the tribe is allabout how many animals he owns. The drunkard who no one likes, who never finished primary school, but who owns 500 cattle is listened to before the MP (member of Parliament) who went to Harvard and graduated with honors, but only owns a paltry 100 cattle. Along with status, animals are wealth. But beause of the tie in between status and wealth, the owners are VERY reluctant to ever sell the animals.

Not a mind-set I deal well with, but it does explain oher things, like why it's so difficult to keep animals off the airstrip at Gatab. I don't own any animals, so my status is rather low, comparatively. And they value the lives of the animals more than that of the herdboys, or me and my passengers on the airplane.

I know that sounds rather cynical, or bitter, but it is true. The question that remains, is how, as a Christian, does one respond?

The easy part of the answer is to keep working on keeping the animals off...finish the fence, enforce the no animals policy, etc. I have a duty to yself and my passengers, and the herdboys with their animals, to keep them safe while I operate the airplane. I'll leave the harder part of the question to your imagination. I'm still working on it, for one thing.

Loading Up

When we went to Nairobi last time we flew...AIM Air needed the Gatab airplane during the week we were in Nairobi. The DC-3 was going from Nairobi to Sedar (near Kurungu, just south of us at Gatab) empty to pick up folks, so Jim Streit our general manager, offered to put some freight on the DC-3 for us. Seven flats of juice (84 liters) 20 liters of cooking oil, 10 kg canned dog food, 100 kg dry dog food, 20 two liter bottles of soda, and a few other things... Also by the time the DC-3 left Nairobi it had the Middletons and the Maples on board for Kurungu, and the Hamptons, to go to Kalacha, and all of their things. So from empty to 3 1/2 tons of people and cargo. Wow.

Nairobi was EXPENSIVE! We had alot of things to get, and when you're shopping for nearly 3 months, the bills get largish. There were groceries, of course, plus 2 solar panels, and some tools, and some car parts and .... you get the idea.

Then it was time to go. Somehow we had to get all these groceries, plus me, Susan, Alex, Beth, and Samantha into the airplane....

That's one of 3 such carts, that Alex is tugging into the hangar.

Samantha amused herself while we were loading by playing peek-a-book over a pile of groceries and cargo.

Then of course came, 'Will it all fit?' 'Of course it will.' It took some doing, but it did.

Just Stuff

It's quiet here at Gatab just now. The Kenyan schools are on break between terms, so all the children at Haven Home have gone home to their families. The weather has been very dry. We've had no rain since mid-July, and that was a one day event. So...the baboons are back in the garden, plus a porcupine that comes in the night to nibble the vegetables.

The fence around the airfield is nearing completion. We're about 2/3 done. It's already starting to have an effect, too. Lots less critters on the airstrip. This is good. MAF (mission aviation fellowship) just had an incident at Mfangano Island (a Kenyan island in Lake Victoria) due to people and animals on the airstrip. I've been to Mfangano Island. The people there use the runway as a main road, and seem to delight in playing chicken with the airplane...how slow can I go and still get off the runway in time seems to be the game. Not one of my favorite airstrips. Anyway, the MAF pilot was turning the airplane around at the end of the runway, saw some goats run past, said 'oh well, diced goat' then saw the herd boys coming (on the side the plane was turning to) and put the airplane into the ditch next to the runway rather than dice the herdboys. Good decision, but it's probably about $200,000 worth of damage to the C-208. This is why I'm building the fence here at Gatab, since that sort of incident ranks high on my nightmare list.

Alex, Beth and Samantha are in the middle of home-school. It's going well so far. Alex is enjoying the science experiments. All of them enjoy the reading. We're using the Sonlight curriculum which is reading based rather than text book based (though they do have math and science texts). Susan is doing well with it...it hasn't driven her crazy yet, anyway!

No flying this morning...we're fogged in. Gatab looks alot like the popular image of London at the moment...misty and grey and you can see about 100 yards is all. This is good as it means water put into the ground as the fog condenses on the trees and bushes.

A Week in Gatab

I had meant to write this post two weekends ago, but then, as is usually the case, other things came up. Here’s a week….

Sunday: Having breakfast and relaxing early, before church (Sunday school at 10, church from 11 to 1230) Joel, one of the nurses at the hospital comes to the door. “There was a policeman stabbed in a fight last night, we need you to take him to either Nairobi or Wamba.” About a half hour later the police have settled on Wamba, so I take Joel, the wounded policeman, his wife, and another police officer to Wamba. Susan stayed home from church to provide flight following on the radio, since there’s no one at AIM Air Sunday morning. We get the policeman handed over to the hospital (it’s a Catholic mission hospital, and a very good one) and walk into town with the other officer while he makes his report. On the way back to Gatab I’m loaded with luggage from Njelly and Potris, two nurses from Gatab who are doing upgrade training at Wamba. Their course is about done (exams in September).

Monday: No flying today, but I spend the day working on the airfield fence, and on our car. We’re building an ano fence around the airfield to try and keep cattle, goats, and people off. The huts and gardens are getting closer and closer to the airfield and more and more animals are on the airstrip and it’s starting to get dangerous. Ano is a plant commonly used for fencing here…you dig a ditch about a foot deep and plant cuttings, and it takes off. The car: we had an electrical fire in it a while back: the radio put in by the dealer we bought it from wasn’t properly mounted, just braced up with a couple plastic bags. It chafed some wires and caused an electric fire. I got most of it fixed, but the heat/defog wasn’t working and the warning light that the spare wheel is open is always on. I’ve gotten the heat fixed, now for the warning light. Meanwhile Susan and the kids are doing school: the second full week of homeschool. So far so good. Susan is also dealing with a steady stream of ladies coming to the door: Nangopa, who works in the garden for us, Ntepesan, who works around the house 3 afternoons, and others who come wanting to sell bead necklaces or are asking for work. I didn't have a picture of Alex helping with the car repair (which he did), so I grabbed this one of him helping with loading empty fuel drums in the airplane a while back. That's Peter, my airfield worker in the middle, and Steve Hoekstra on the right, he and his wife came to visit us back in April for a few days to get a break from Nairobi.

Tuesday: Flying again. The hospital is doing HIV/AIDS training for people from the local villages, so I fly to Nolpilipili, Olturot, Ngororoi, and Loiyangalani to pick up three to five people from each place and bring them back to Gatab for the training. So four separate runs that day. I’m busy all day flying since at each place I end up waiting around an hour for the people to get their things together and get to the airplane. When I get back I have to take an hour or so and lay the string marking the next section of ditch for the airfield fence. Susan and Alex and Beth and Samantha are all doing school, of course, and of course there’s a steady stream of people to the door. Later in the day (around dinner time actually), we start getting phone calls and emails about changing the scheduled flight. I’m supposed to go to Nairobi on Thursday, but...

Wednesday: Off to Nairobi. Monday night the (grown) nephew of the missionary family in Kalacha (42 miles north east of Gatab) died unexpectedly due to a heart infection leading to a stroke. The family was looking at driving down, but we moved the scheduled flight to Nairobi up a day so they could make it to Nairobi easily and cheaply and in time for the memorial service at Kijabe (just outside of Nairobi). So Gatab to Kalacha, load 5 people up and head for Nairobi. Wednesday evening is station prayers, which Susan and the kids went to at the Heidorns (the other missionary family here at Gatab).

Thursday: Since we have a whole day, it’s aircraft inspection time. The certificate of airworthiness for my airplane is up for renewal so we do the test flight, the compass calibration, the altimeter calibration and radio inspection. God even arranged for the KCAA to do their inspection….they didn’t have time today, originally, but the airplane in the hangar next to ours wasn’t quite ready for them so they came and did mine. A couple minor issues (put slip marks on the wheels, and put tire pressure labels…) and off we go. The paperwork is submitted two weeks early so there should be no delays in getting the renewal. Back in Gatab, meanwhile, Susan and the kids are at homeschool again, and Susan is dealing with the usual stream of visitors asking for work or help or to sell something. Thursday I also get some grocery shopping done.

Friday: Originally I’m supposed to take a family of four (mom, dad and two small kids) from Nairobi to Gatab, and two adults from Nairobi to Loiyangalani, stopping at Eldoret on the way to pick up another lady to take to Kurungu. And if there’s room stopping in Maralal to drop some tools off to the missionary there. Whoo! No way all those people will fit in the airplane. God makes arrangements though: The family of four cancels, and the lady in Eldoret cancels too, as she is ill. So I just take the Russels to Loiyangalani, and about 450 pounds of freight up to Gatab (building materials and tools for the Heidorns and about 100 pounds of groceries for us). And we make the stop in Maralal to drop the tools off. In Gatab it’s home school again. Beth is getting lessons in bead work from Ntepesan as part of her home school as part of arts and crafts. We’ve also started taking pictures of the Haven Home (children’s boarding home) staff for health insurance ID cards…along with family portraits. Susan has gotten stuck with these since I’m off in Nairobi. That's the Leparsantys there to the right.

Saturday: The HIV/AIDS training is over so I have runs back to all the villages to take the people back. The people and all their groceries! All of them have taken advantage of the fact that the gardens here in Gatab have extra and have bought produce, and most have also visited the dukas (kiosks) and bought rice, sugar, and flour. All four takeoffs from Gatab are at max weight for Gatab. Susan and the kids are NOT doing homeschool today, it being Saturday. Instead, Alex is bagging grass to build an archery target, and Beth and Samantha are puttering around the house. Susan is in the garden talking with the workers. We’ve had issues with baboons raiding the garden for the last two weeks. Baboons are NOT cute. They are vicious and destructive. The workers throw rocks at them to drive them off, and the baboons pick up the ones that miss and throw them back! Samantha has not been allowed in the garden without an adult for about a week and half now. We’re probably going to have to get someone with a gun to shoot several of them, which will drive off the rest. More pictures, too, of Haven Home families.

Sunday: Flying again. A group of four came in on Saturday (flew into the lower airstrip at Gatab) and I’m flying them to Ngororoi so they can hike up to Mt Kulal’s caldera and from there back into Gatab. One used to live here on the mountain as a boy and is friends with Pastor Job. I’m flying the men so that Job doesn’t have to drive them, and can be at church. I get back in time for church. After church the kids and I get ready to go camping up in the forest on the mountain. However, a group of tourists has driven in, one of them with a break down. I spend about 2 hours helping get the land rover repaired. Then Alex, Beth, Samantha and I hike up into the forest and camp. A quiet night, which all four of us enjoyed immensely. Susan and Hunter (our dog) stayed home and also had a quiet night.

So, there’s a week! Fairly typical in a lot of ways. Just living here takes longer and takes more effort than back home. It’s harder to get things done, and as missionaries we’re always getting interrupted and asked for help with this or that, as well as trying to live out our faith in Christ in a way that honors Him, and allows us to credibly present the gospel. It’s a balance that takes some effort, and LOTS of wisdom.

Praises:
Wycliffe’s wife and son are in school and enjoying it immensely. This is a chance for this family to work their way out of poverty. Wycliffe works for us in Nairobi, you remember from our last letter. That's them in the picture.
More than a year of safe flying.
Transition to home school has gone well.
Finances: Thank you for your generous support!

Prayer requests:
Safety in flying, and in travel.
Wisdom in working with the people in Gatab
Home school continues to go well

Rain

Rain! It rained last night and this morning! It’s the first rain we’ve had since the middle of April. Everything has been turning brown…either from drying out or from being covered with dust. It’s really green this morning just from the dust being washed off all the bushes and trees.

Spiritually Gatab is a dry and dusty place also. This is rather harder to define than lack of rain and brown grass, but is no less true. It’s also harder to define due to differences in culture through which we view what goes on here. For instance, a day does not go by in which we are not asked for money. Understandable, given that compared to most of the people here we have lots, no LOTS of money. But it changes us from being missionaries, bringing God’s word, into a savings and loan. And into the bargain, looked at from within the culture, plenty of the people here are well off. The wealthiest man on the mountain owns around 5000 head of cattle, at an average worth of around $400 each. While he is doing better than everyone else, he is by no means the only one with more than 1000 cattle. It is hard to discern where the real need is (and there is plenty of real need) and where it’s just a case of what can we get from the missionary.

Another struggle is the damage that ongoing relief programs (US AID, World Food Program, etc.) have done. Relief has changed from relief to welfare. The day the relief food truck comes the people who are supposed to be working for us don’t show up, or take off early, and still expect to be paid for the entire day. Plus it’s created a dependency. One lady asked Susan for money about a week before the truck came and things were running short (flour, rice, etc.) We have sukuma wiki (greens, primarily kale and collards, but there’s a local version too. A staple of the local diet) coming out of our ears in the garden. Susan had decided when one of the ladies asked her for money for food she’d offer sukuma. “Oh, I have that in my shamba (garden),” she was told. “Really? What else do you have?” “Tomatoes and beans and bananas.” The people have become dependent on the relief food for things that they can’t grow here, and don’t want to sell animals to buy.

There is also mirah (a local plant, chewed as a mild narcotic). And multiple wives, and…

But there is also rain. Daniel Lemadada is one of two Samburu pastors in Kenya (Job, the pastor here at Gatab is the other). He is working on getting a church going at Ngororoi. The picture is he and his wife Susan the day I dropped them at Ngororoi to live. Ngororoi is about 8 miles from Gatab, about a 10 minute flight including taxi, takeoff and landing, and about 3 hours by road. The other picture is from yesterday’s clinic flight, unloading the airplane with some supplies for Daniel and his family. Despite difficulties, despite a tiny church body, despite the people driving animals right past his house and raising huge clouds of dust, Daniel is there ministering, proclaiming the gospel, and making disciples for Jesus Christ.

Peter is one of the workers at the airfield. Mornings he works on the fence (the picture shows Lemyamyam and Paulin) I’m having put in around the airfield to keep livestock and children out, and afternoons he patrols the airfield to run off livestock and helps with the airplane as I come and go. We have another man who works mornings on the airfield chasing off cows and helping dispatch the plane. Peter is faithful, and cheerful. He’s always there, always willing to work, always at morning devotions. He helps Swahili (and laughs at my mangling the language). He loves his family and works hard to take care of his wife and child.

God sends the rain.

Goats and Fences

I should have had the camera....flying to Nairobi the other day on the scheduled flight I had 4 people...and 2 goats. You know you're a missionary pilot when you start loading goats in the airplane. We stuffed them in gunney sacks and tied them up and then stuffed them in the baggage pod of the airplane. As Manai (the station foreman) quipped, "Jina lake ni 'lunch.'" Their name is lunch. They made it to Nairobi and the guys at the hangar promptly took them in hand for the next day's lunch.

We've also started building a fence around the runway here at Gatab. We're building it out of ano, a local plant that you take cuttings of and plant in a ditch. Lately there've been more and more animals and people on the airstrip, and the houses are getting closer and closer to the airstrip. Time to push back before there's an accident. The options were to either do a wire fence, or the ano fence. The wire fence would be very expensive, something like $2000 for the materials alone, and it would be likely to have sections stolen. The ano fence is much cheaper, (ano is free, we're just paying for labor), but it's not quite as goat and cow resistant as the wire. Still, it should work . Step one was going around the airfield with the assistant chief, one of the village elders, Pastor Job, Jeff Heidorn (the station manager) and Manai and laying out where the fence would go so that everyone was in agreement. Easily done. Now as we build the fence we're constantly having to explain to the people who live nearby what and why we're doing. It's going to take a while before they get the idea I'm serious....every day someone complains about restricting the path the cows take. Send the cows around.

Nairobi next week...inspection time for the airplane.

Back to work

Well, it's been back to work, back in the air. We've had the airplane back in Gatab for about 10 days now...and yes, I've been busy flying hither and yon. It's not been frantic, as it sometimes has been, but it's been good.

Two days after I got back with the airplane, I was at station devotions (every morning at 7:30, about 15 minutes worth for the Haven Home kids and the station workers)... Alex comes running into the church, tugs on my sleeve and whispers, "They need you in Loiyangalani, a policeman's been shot." I was in the air less than ten minutes later, and landed at Loi by 0750. Not to blow my own horn, but I'm pretty pleased with my response time.

The policeman was there as part of the security detail for the German ambassador, come with a bunch of other ambassadors to Loiyangalani to promote tourism. The officer was getting out of a truck when he managed to fire his rifle, which had been set to burst instead of safe. So, an accidental discharge...three rounds fired, which managed to put holes in both legs. He was lucky not to have hit the bones. So...I flew him and another officer to Wamba, arriving there about 9:45 in the morning. The officer was in surgery until 7pm that night. Pretty serious wounds. But the latest word is that the officer will recover just fine.

I was in Loi yesterday, (spent Saturday night there after taking the Teasdales back) and after church on Sunday had a chance to speak with the OCS at Loiyangalani (the police chief for the town). He was very grateful for the help AIM Air provided. I'm glad I was there to provide the help.

The British army has been in the area the last 2 weeks too. A medical support unit has been doing training pre-deployment to the mid-east. So they've been trooping about the desert here doing general health clinics, and dental clinics. Great folks in the unit. I flew the dental team to Gatab for a 2 day clinic, and then back to Loi. The Brits have some really excellent troops, and these folks are among the best.

As side note...it was great fun to be around the military again. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the military, but it felt right to be around such folks again. Not that I plan to rejoin, but it was a good refresher.

Sunday was another flight to Wamba to take an old man from Loi to the hospital at Wamba. Today was no flying, tomorrow is Olturot, and Wednesday is Nairobi.

Back to work. A good thing, that.

A quiet week

It's amazing how much less hectic things are when the airplane isn't available. We drove up last week (1st and 2nd of June) with the Teasdales, as far as Kurungu, then they split off to go to Loiyangalani. The airplane is still in Nairobi. Anyway, no airplane = no flying, and it's amazing how quiet the place is. I was able to get some good work done, though, catching up on paper work and airstrip development. I was also able to recover about 50 meters of the Luai airstrip, hacking back thorn trees from it. So, a profitable week.

I flew down to Nairobi yesterday in the Caravan, and will fly back up to Gatab in the206 on Thursday. I expect I'll be swarmed by people as soon as I get back with the airplane. Ah well. It was a good break.

Back Upcountry

That's today's project. We leave early Sunday morning for Gatab (a 2 day drive). So today is Pack The Car day. This will be a challenge. Five people, a dog, and 2 months worth of groceries all in one landcruiser. Oh for a trailer.

In Nairobi

Time to shop...for groceries for the next two months. Plus we have a bunch of administrative stuff to deal with like turning books back in to the school, taxes, flight physicals, and so on.

So far so good...knocked out several of the minor things already, and we have company for the road back up the first week of June, and a ride back for me to get the airplane.

Not much exciting to put in the post today, we're just dealing with the niff naff and trivia of life.

Gatab vs Nairobi

Gatab wins, no question.

I spent a few days in Nairobi last week, helping install a new engine on my airplane (the previous one having reached its overhaul time). Driving home, I got as far as the u-turn after leaving the airport before thinking/saying "I hate driving here."

Anyway, that observation aside, we'd already decided to stay in Gatab until the Barnetts return. So we may be here until November or December.

We had some fun, or rather Susan did, with goats on the airstrip last week. She and the kids were down at the hangar (I was in Nairobi doing the engine change) with the dog. The airfield worker/guard went up for lunch, and as soon as he left a bunch of goats were let out on to the airstrip to graze. We've (all the missionaries here) been saying for years "keep your animals off the runway!" Hunter (the dog) decides to take matters on. She gets free from Alex and tears off after the goats, circling them like a wolf would to pick out lunch. Eventually the goats are driven off to the family's property and Hunter makes her way home later.

Later, a man comes to the house and tells Susan one goat is injured and another missing. "They were on the runway. They're not supposed to be on the runway. My husband told you a few weeks ago (when the dog chased a bit a goat on the soccer fields behind the runway) that if that had happened on the runway (yes, this is the same family and same herd of goats) he wouldn't have done anything." The man said something else. Susan reminded him, "Didn't John (the station manager) and the other missionaries tell you not to have your animals on the runway?" The answer, "Yes, but we didn't know there'd be a dog!" Hunter's earning her keep.

A similar situation at Nolpilipili...I went there yesterday to pick up a sick woman to bring to the hospital here. The last time I'd been there I'd told them "fix the fence and keep the cows off the runway or I won't come back. " They'd fixed it, as I saw a week or so later when I went back to pick up a child who'd been bitten by a snake. I landed and stopped...and saw that next to where I'd stopped (the old road) they'd pulled the fence aside. Cow tracks all over the runway. I had to chase two groups of cows off the runway while I waited for my patient. Grrr. I'm not going back until it's fixed. This Saturday is the grand opening of the Nolpilipili church. Lots of folks from Gatab want to go, including a group of 5 ladies who want me to fly them down. They're going to be disappointed, I suspect. Unless the fence is fixed, the airplane isn't going.

We leave Sunday for Nairobi, flying down. We'll be there for 2-3 weeks to resupply and take care of administrivia. Kenya taxes, school stuff, US flight medical, previous internet provider last bill, and so on and so on. Our return date is in flux, depending on when we can find someone to drive back up with. The roads are not secure, so traveling alone is not a good idea just now. Some of the tribes are fighting (Turkana and Pokot south of Baragoi, Turkana and Gabra around Mt Kulal), and there are common thieves, highwaymen, working the road from Maralal to Rumuruti. It's much safer (as well as more fun) to travel with someone else.

So...back to Nairobi for a bit. And then back to Mt Kulal and civilization.

To and fro around the North of Kenya

Mt Kulal rises up from the west side of the Chalbi desert, covered in cedar trees. But that’s not what this post is really about. It’s been a few weeks since my last post. The first of those weeks was dull. Humdrum, routine. Nothing to write about. “I got up, went to work, went home, had dinner, spent time with the family, went to sleep. Did it again.”

The last two weeks have been a little different. Easter Sunday I flew down to Kurungu to pick up two children (and their fathers) to bring to the hospital here. One had a hugely distended stomach (parasites the Dr thinks) the other could barely breathe. I was honestly afraid he’d stop breathing half way to Gatab. But he was still with us. Pneumonia, the Dr said later, and he would not have survived another day without treatment. Four days after Easter I flew him home again. I could barely tell it was the same child…way way way better. The other child’s treatment is on-going (it’s a 4 week course).

There was a quick run to Loiyangalani…I took the Heidorns down there from Gatab. A quick 15 minute flight. Not quite. I got stuck overnight in Loi due to weather both at Gatab and at Loi. Loiyangalani is desert…and the heavens opened that night. It was a magnificent thunderstorm to watch. But it meant I spent the night away without my overnight bag. I’m just going to take it on every flight from now on. The good part was spending the night with the Teasedales, the missionaries there in Loiyangalani.

The next day I flew to Luai (the lower Gatab strip) to pick up Daniel Lemadada and take him to Olturot for church (he’s the pastor there). So I went to church in my ripped, dirty sweaty jeans and a t-shirt. No one minded. They were just happy to have the pastor there.

I took Daniel to Marsabit the next day to get his daughter (she’s on school break). While there, we ran into Hakim. Hakim is a Muslim who runs quite a slew of businesses in northern Kenya. A very good businessman, honest, reliable. He set up a charter for a flight to Sololo to take a woman up who’d been in a car accident two days before to Nairobi.

The car wreck was bad…the driver lost control at high speed (trying to get the right speed to ride over corrugations in the dirt road) and the car rolled at least 3 times. Pastor Job’s wife Lydia (he’s the pastor in Gatab and Lydia works in the hospital here) was in the car, with other people from Marsabit, going to a medical conference in Moyale. Moyale is almost in Ethiopia. In fact when you land there you land in Ethiopia and taxi into Kenya. Lydia probably saved several lives that day dealing with the injuries from the wreck. She was bruised and shaken but not really injured herself. I flew to Sololo and picked the woman up. It took 3 of us to get her into the airplane. The flight was routine (but long).

Back to Gatab the next day, then back to Nairobi for a scheduled flight (full airplane). Then back to Gatab. But wait…as soon as I got to the hangar at Nairobi (the scheduled flight) Hakim is on the phone again. Can you do another flight to Sololo. Today. Ummm, let me organize things and get back to you.

John McNeely did the flight in our C-210 (it’s faster, the 206 would have been out after dark which is not permitted here in Kenya). He got there and found 2 patients. Only one came back with him, the driver of the car that wrecked. The other man died in the ambulance as it pulled up to the airstrip.

Back to Gatab..a routine but full flight. I get here and as pastor Daniel put it “we swarmed you like locusts.” I didn’t even get to the house before people were stopping me asking for a ride here and there.

Pastor Job had chartered the plane to go to Sololo to get his wife. She wasn’t up to riding in a matatu after her last experience with one rolling three times. Don’t blame her. Five people want to go to Marsabit though, and there are three to pick up and bring back to Gatab. Ok, this will all work. Gatab to Marsabit drop 5 pick 3 then to Sololo to get Lydia and then back to Gatab. Easy.

Not really. I can’t get into Marsabit, the clouds are halfway down the mountain. I can’t see the approach to the runway let alone the runway. So it’s off to Segal about 10 miles north where I drop the 5. We call the 3, make some arrangements. Off to Sololo in the meantime. Then Kalacha comes on the radio. Can you come here and get a sick woman and take her to the Gatab hospital. Um. Sure? After Sololo, I’ll refuel there too and then go back to Segal get my three and go to Gatab, no sweat.

Lydia’s not at Sololo. The bus from Moyale hasn’t filled yet so it hasn’t left. Stay put, I tell her. I’ll be to Moyale in fifteen minutes. Meet me at the upper airstrip. Twelve minutes later I’m there. She’s not. She thought I meant the outer airstrip, about 3 miles away from where I am. “I’ll be right there,” she says. “No, stay put, I’ll be right there.” Five minutes later I land and she’s getting in the plane. Whew. To Kalacha.

Lydia checks the lady in Kalacha out. “We can’t handle her in Gatab with the Dr away (he’s in Nairobi at the moment). She’ll have to go to Marsabit.” No problem, I have to go to Segal to get the three. Off we go (refueled too, btw.)

I land at Segal. Five people. Hmmmm. The first five. What happened? Dunno. But a truck stops about the same time. Three run off to get on the truck, the other two jump on the airplane. Off to Marsabit. At Marsabit there’s one person waiting to go to Gatab, not three. Whatever. I have other problems to worry over. The lady can’t possibly walk to town. Ah…Hakim! I call Hakim, “Can you please arrange a cab to come pick this lady. They have money for the cab, just can you please send one.” “Hakuna shida (no problem),” Hakim says.

We load the last person and go. Back to Gatab. Whew.

A couple hours on the ground and it’s off to Loiyangalani. This time with the family to visit Teasdales and Hines. It was a fun (but HOT!) weekend with them in Loiyangalani. The kids played in the wading pool, the adults tried to stay cool, and chatted. Relaxing.

Back to Gatab, and cool weather.

Sunday, a day of rest

I sympathize a lot more with pastors now. Everyone else has the day off on Sunday. That’s their big work day.

Today is Sunday, supposedly a day off, a day of rest, a day to go to church and praise God and hear His word expounded on. Well, all that happened, but the start…

Yesterday I flew the airplane to the lower airstrip. Gatab has two airstrips, Gatab and Luai (the lower strip). Gatab will sometimes fog in of a morning. Like yesterday and Friday. So, yesterday afternoon I moved the airplane to Luai because today I had to fly Phillip (one of the dorm parents at Haven Home here in Gatab) to Loiyangalani to preach. The Teasedales and Hinds are all in Nairobi this week, so there was no one in Loi to preach. So…Phillip steps in. And everyone heard the airplane was going to Loiyangalani and wanted to go too.

So yesterday Susan and the kids and the dog and I all drove down to Luai. It takes about 25-30 minutes to go the not quite 6 miles. The road is very steep and very rough. We ran up and down Luai for a bit (Hunter loved it) and then drove back up. Or rather Susan did, the point of the trip being so that she could see the road before she had to drive it solo. This morning she drove the car back after dropping me and my passengers at Luai, but that’s getting a little ahead of the story.

This morning, waiting outside the house are 8 people. No way all these people will fit in the airplane. Not possible. Some of them will have to stay. They are Not Happy. A little hemming and hawing and Susan asks, “Do 2 flights?” Brilliant! I knew I married her for some reason! Everyone is suddenly happy. So we load them all up in the land cruiser. Three of the guys are on the roof rack, three people in the back seat, two in the back of the car (three really, the mama had an infant in her arms) and off we go down the rocky bumpy steep road to Luai.

Load the airplane, two trips to Loi…stay the second time for church. I get there a little late, but only a little, and no one minds. The start time is a little nebulous here anyway. The preaching is all in Swahili, translated into Turkana. I get about 1 word in 10. Oh well. It’s a good chance to pray at least. Lord, help me learn this language!

Loiyangalani, but the way is hot. Hot. HOT! It was about 40 C today, or about 105 F. Hot. Fortunately there’s always a breeze there. A breeze? More like a gale. Winds were about 25 mph when I landed, and picked up as the day went on. About 30mph when I took off.

We had lunch in Loiyangalani and then came home about 3 this afternoon. It was good to get back to the mountain, and some cool weather.

Sunday, a day of rest? Actually, it really was. I had a great time today.

The Northern Frontier District

That's what the part of Kenya that Gatab is in used to be called. It's not anymore, but in some ways the name still fits. This is where the Chalbi desert is, and Lake Turkana. The vast majority of the land is desert, either alkali like the Chalbi or volcanic like most of the rest of the area. There are very few towns here, (there are some) but most people, and there are not many, live in small traditional villages.

Gatab, on Mt Kulal, is like an oasis. It's one of the green areas. The mountain collects what moisture makes it across the desert from the Indian Ocean, so there is water, and trees, and green.

We've been here about 3 weeks now. I drove up from Nairobi on the 16th of February, getting in on Monday the 18th. I could have done the drive in two days but we got a late start Saturday. Nathan Rozema, one of the short term volunteers at the hangar drove up with me. We stayed in Nanyuki Saturday night, and in Maralal Sunday night. It's only about 300 miles, but after Nanyuki the roads are dirt, and often little more than a four wheel drive track. It was about 16 hours of actual driving. The same trip, by airplane, takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Anyway, we're here in Gatab now. The airplane is getting regularly used, and everyone I talk with says how relieved and glad they are to have the airplane here. So far it's been lots of little flights, with one long one. I flew from Gatab to Moyale to pick up Tim Kelty and take him to Nairobi. Moyale is way up north east, right on the border with Ethiopia. In fact I landed in Ethiopia and taxied back into Kenya...the airstrip cuts across the border. Then back to Gatab. About 7 hours of flying yesterday. Most of the flights have been Loiyangalani and back, Nolpilipili and back...15 miles or so each way, but 10 minutes in the airplane takes the place of 3-5 hours by car. It's often less expensive too.

Susan is settling in here too. She's busy getting the garden in order, and learning to deal with the local women. The vast majority of whom don't speak English, and many of whom speak very little Swahili. We're taking Swahili lessons again, and it's helping. We can always find someone to translate from Swahili to Samburu. English to Samburu is a bit harder to find a translator for.

Alex and Beth are coping with home school. They've made the adjustment and so far seem to approve. Right now the Woodworths and Heidorns are down in Nairobi, so playmates are a little in short supply. Samantha in particular has hit it off with the younger Woodworth kids (David and Kayla) and spends most of the day with them.

So...Gatab. No stores, no movie rentals. No traffic!

A successful missionary bush pilot...

A few things come to mind, in no particular order:

1. Stuff 12 cubic feet of stufff into a 10 cubic foot space (baggage pod of 206, luggage bay of 210).
2. Chop down sisal trees.
3. Tell passengers, "No you can't take those 200 kg of bags with you and all these people on one flight." Politely.
4. Be terrified and not let your passengers notice.
5. Not be ill when the guy next to you spends the whole flight filling a sick-sac.
6. Refuel an airplane with a bucket and a funnel.
7. Dodge goats.
8. Dodge camels.
9. Sit in a seat designed (apparently) by Torquemada for 8 hours and still be able to work the rudder pedals.
10. Calculate weight and balance, shift cargo, recalculate, and still get off on time.
11. Unload 5 people, their bags, refuel the plane, load 5 people their bags, calcluate that weight and balance all in 30 minutes.
12. Understand 3 radios, and the intercom simultaneously. One of the radios is in swahili.
13. Give the passenger emergency briefing without scaring the passengers silly.
14. Find a runway you've never been to based on a map that was out of date when it was printed 20 years ago.
15. Pray.
16. Share the gospel. (You have a captive audience!)
17. Fix a land rover.
18. Land with a flat tire.
19. Change a flat tire while the goats and herd boys watch (and laugh).
20. Be cheerful when you can't get home that night becuase your passengers are over an hour late. And dinner is goat stew and 3 day old chapaties.
21. Give a passenger briefing to a Moroni (a Samburu or Turkana warrior) who's never been in a car, let alone an airplane before, and who doesn't speak a word of English.
22. Rearrange the day's flying schedule over the HF radio when you can only make out every other word.
23. Love the people you're flying around, even when they completely trash the schedule for the day.
24. Fold maps.
25. Unfold maps.
26. Tie down anything in the airplane, including goats.

More to follow

A Day At AIM Air

A bit of a trite title, but it does fit.

It actually started with the night before with about a half a dozen phone calls. Can you go to Marsabit tomorrow to get a man who'd been shot and get him to the hospital in Nairobi? Can you do the flight? Can you help me do the flight? Matt Olson, our general manager (samaki kubwa as they say here) decided he'd do the flight since the man was to be dropped at Kijabe hospital and the Kijabe airstrip requires a special checkout which I haven't had yet. I'd go along to help with the passenger so Matt could concentrate on flying. Meet at the hangar at 0545.

At the hangar we decided we'd have to take ALL the seats out of the plane except for the pilot's, so that the man could lie down. So...I ended up staying on the ground and coordinating with Kijabe hospital.

In Marsabit, Matt had to fight his way through the weather to land (low clouds, not uncommon there). But he got in. Immediate blood pressure spike: the medevac patient was still in Marsabit hospital. The missionary there went to get him as soon as Matt landed, but it can take a small forever to clear someone out of a hospital here. Like all day. The plane had 2 more flights to do that day which had already been delayed to do the medevac. In the event, it turned out to be a bit over an hour wait. Matt was airborne again and off to Kijabe. The doctors were waiting for him, so Matt takes off to return to Wilson.

Take off normal, gear up... gear up.... another spike on the blood pressure. We've been having issues with the landing gear on the C-210. Thought we had it fixed, but apparently not. So Matt flies home, turns the circuit breaker back on and puts the gear down (it always has gone down and locked, thankfully). It's now about 1230...I was supposed to have taken off at 9am to go to Mwanza.

This late I can't do both trips (Mwanza, back to Wilson then to Olerai) plus with the landing gear problem I don't want to go to Olerai, it's a rough strip and the 210 doesn't seem to like rough. But, we have the Lokichogio 206 down and it's just finished its inspection. So...the solution is get Tim Carpenter to take 5Y-SIL to Olerai while I do the Mwanza run. But Tim isn't in the hangar, and his phone is turned off. Gah!

John McNeely (another of the pilots) takes on tracking Tim down. He also preflights the airplane so it's ready to go. I head off to pick up my passengers to go to Mwanza. Matt goes back to being the samaki kubwa.

The run to Mwanza is routine. I hear Tim heading off to Olerai so I call him on the AIM Air frequency and give him a briefing on Olerai since it's been a while since he's been there. Get back to the hangar around 6, put the plane away, go home.

A life saved, missionaries delivered safely. The shattered schedule put back together. A typical day at AIM Air.

Tto God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Rom 16:27

Where's the church?

This is to follow up the last post. I left the church's role with a very one sided and cynical observation. The point Pastor Ondachi was trying to make was to show how deep the problem of tribalism runs. He made it well.

On the good side, though, the church has not been standing idle. Mamlaka Hills Chapel has been providing food, all the food, for the refugees (internally displaced persons is the official title) in Jamhuri Park. They have run a short term mission trip to Burnt Forest in the Rift Valley to bring food and comfort and help start rebuilding. Other churches have taken in refugees, providing housing, food, clothing, transportation, medical care...the list goes on. The Church has not been idle. It's not seen in the news, but it's been the Church that has led the initial relief and reconciliation efforts. No fanfare, just quietly seeing that people are taken care of.

That's the physical side. On the spiritual side the Church is alone, but that's ok. One wouldn't expect the UN to even admit there is a spiritual side, let alone do anything about it, after all. The Church, though, has called for repentance, forgiveness, and unity. For instance, one local church gathered together elders from about a dozen of the tribes most involved in the disputes and violence. During the service the elders served communion. To receive communion you had to go to an elder of a different tribe. Fairly easy for the wazungu (the white people). Other churches are banding together to send hundreds of pastors to where the worst violence was.

Are all the people of the Church helping? No...we're sinners. But many are helping, and most importantly of all, the vast majority are praying , repenting, asking God to step in and heal.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Post Election Kenya

I haven't mentioned the post-election chaos here in Kenya, except in passing. Part of that is because I'm just not sure what to say. There's the usual things: how tragic it is, how Kenya has gone back 50 years, why can't they just get along...

I still don't know what to say. The pastor at our church here has a similar problem, but unlike me he's expected to say something. My hat's off to the man, Charles Ondachi is his name, by the way. He has had a great deal to say, all of it very firmly grounded on scripture. Before I go on...the church's website can be found at www.nairobichapel.org Mamlaka Hills Chapel is one of the plants from Nairobi Chapel.

One of his first sermons (that I heard, we were up in Gatab for the first 2 weeks after the elections) he said, in effect, "Everyone has been crying for peace, truth, and justice. Be careful, you may get what you ask for." Pastor Ondachi particularly picked at the idea of clamoring and demonstrating and whatever else for justice. "Is God a just god? Absolutely. Then look at Genesis 15:13 'Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.' Is God just? Absolutely. Is what happened to the Israelites just? Well, no. But God is just...maybe we just don't get it?" He also pointed out that the middle class will be the ones to pay the most for man's idea of justice. "The poor have nothing to lose. The rich will take their riches and go somewhere else. But you and I will be stuck here watching our lives go up in flames." Especially, he noted, since many of those shouting for justice are guilty of being unjust to those around them. If God gave us justice we would be destroyed. We should be asking for mercy, Pastor Ondachi noted.

He also pointed at one of the main causes of the troubles: tribalism (hyphenated Kenyanism?).

Where is the church in all this? Sadly, one of the examples was what one lady told him happened near Eldoret, "I saw the pastor running to torch the next house."

No answers, only questions and sorrow.

The next week's sermon was drawn from Romans 12:9-21. Love what is good. Don't be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. Verse 9 reads "Let love be without hypocrisy." in the new king james. The NIV reads "Love must be sincere." Either translation will do. Pastor Ondachi pointed out that tribalism makes love insincere, and not really love at all.

This week? Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." I'll let you look up the reference.

I personally don't know what the answers are. The problem is political, legal (the government has been and is rife with corruption), there are property issues going back decades at least, there is tribalism. I'm sure there are other issues that I don't even know to guess at. All these things must be dealt with. Pastor Ondachi has said, and I think he's right, "What we had before was not peace, but calm." He asked the question, "has God allowed this so that there can be real peace?" Maybe. Hopefully.

God is just. He is in control. He is love. He loved us so much that Jesus died a horrible death on a cross for us. All things work together for the good of those who love God.

Don't believe that what you see in the news is the whole story of what's happening here in Kenya. Yes there are problems, no question and the situation of the country is far from good. But the people of Kenya are not what you see in the news.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Still busy

More flying. This past summer I'd have LOVED to be this busy flying. I still love it. But I have had to ask to be taken off the flight schedule for a few days to prepare for going to Gatab. Yep, we're still going, and we're looking forward to getting up there, and serving there.

The last couple days, as the title of the entry suggests, were busy. I flew to Ileret (as far north as you can go and still be in Kenya) Thursday via way of Loiyangalani for fuel. I took two Kenyans up to Ileret along with 300 kg (660 lbs) of flour, sugar, cooking oil and assorted foods. The flight was supposed to have left at 0830, but it was 1300 before we got going. The C-210 had been down for maintenance (landing gear problem) for about a week, and almost came up on time. The test flight went poorly (the gear pump motor continued to run even after the gear were down and locked), so the maintenance team jumped back on it. Huge kudos to Ryan Williams and Ryan Huizinga. They had the adjustments made and me on my way in just a few hours. Even so, I didn't have enough daylight to get home with two refuelings (I had to fuel at Loiyangalani going up and returning) so I stopped into Gatab to spend the night (there's fuel there too, and it's only 15 miles from Loi, and I had mail to deliver to Gatab, so...) No hardship there. :)

The next morning (Friday) I returned to Nairobi via Kabarnet where I met up with the MAF flight and took 4 passengers (the MAF plane was going to Rusinga Island, not Nairobi right away, and was full from Rusinga to Nairobi) to Wilson. The 4 were Samaritan's Purse folks, coming back from meetings with other SP people in the Nuba mountains in Sudan. Good flight.

Home then, get some clean clothes, have a shower....back to the hangar and fly to Mwanza, Tanzania. An easy, good flight. I stayed the night in Mwanza and met with Dale Hamilton and his family. Dale is our float plane pilot and has been serving in Tanzania, at Kahunda island, for 20 years. They're very excited, they're finally (after 18 years of praying for it) getting a doctor to serve there at Kahunda. They were showing the doctor and his wife around this week. They (the doctor and his wife) go to tropical medicine school in the UK starting next week sometime until late May. They go back to the US for a few weeks, and then in July return to Kenya to start orientation with AIM.. Nice folks. I look forward to flying them around.

This morning it was Mwanza to Kigali, Rwanda, to pick up the Irish news team I'd taken there last week. They had a great time, and were just all smiles over the footage and stories they'd gotten. We're supposed to get tapes once they're edited and compiled. Should be really good. Dave McAllister of CBN put the trip together (and went along on it), and he was just overjoyed. Both with the story and with the reaction of the (unbelieving) news team. They visited a government hospital, Dave was telling me, and later a mission hospital. "What's the big difference?" they asked. "Everyone's so upbeat and nice here (the mission hospital) and so grumpy over there (the government hospital). How come?" "Ever hear of a fellow named Jesus Christ?" was Dave's return question. There was more to the story than that...it was a nearly continuous week long exposure to real Christians in action, living out their faith. Pray for that news team! They've seen the gospel of the kingdom of God in action.

Back to Nairobi this afternoon. I dropped Dave and co at Jomo Kenyatta airport and got them settled with their flight back. Pretty easy actually, since they're in transit...very little paperwork. Back to Wilson (a whole 7 minute flight). Put the airplane away (get it ready for another pilot to take to Loiyangalani actually) and get home.

A busy couple of days. But very good ones.

Pedal Faster

That seems to be the order of the day lately. We've been -extremely- busy flying. I haven't had a weekend off since Christmas, nor have any of the pilots, nor the maintenance guys.

Life goes on in Kenya, but lots of people are not willing to travel by road just now. So we fly them, so we fly lots. For example, in the last few weeks we've been to Olerai near Bomet about 10 times taking people to Tenwick hospital. Before that it'd been an occasional flight to Bomet.

This past Sunday I was supposed fly 4 folks from Ireland to Mwanza, Tanzania, and then on to Kigali, Rwanda on Monday. Their airplane showed up 2 hours later than we'd originally been told, so we met at 0600 at Wilson and I flew them to Kigali via Mwanza (for fuel), then back via Mwanza to Wilson. Then up to Gatab with a stop at Kambi ya Samaki (fish camp) to drop an AIM missionary before dropping a short term missionary at Gatab. All told, 9.6 hours in the air and a 14 hour day. Tuesday, back to Wilson with a stop in Naivasha to get a family and bring them to Nairobi.

Still Tuesday...off to Musoma, Tanzania to get the Coptic Bishop and two of his people and take them to Kisumu. In Kisumu I picked up Father Elisha of the Coptic church and his family and also James, one of the AIM staff at Mayfield. James is from the Kisumu area. Kisumu was one of the spots of the worst rioting following the election. When flying over it I saw 4 cars moving. The last time I'd been in Kisumu you could barely get through the streets due to the traffic. I'm still not sure how James knew I was coming, the flight had been moved up a day, and I didn't even know he was in Kisumu.

We have to be on the ground 15 minutes before sunset. I took off from Kisumu with an eta in Nairobi that would put me on the ground 25 minutes before sunset (I was scrambling at Kisumu to get paperwork done and get in the air in time to get home before dark. It seems that the officials here slow down when they realize you're in a hurry. I had to find the flight plan officer to file my flight plan. The lady who I paid the landing fee to had to call her supervisor to find the receipt book....argh!!! I'm losing daylight here people!)

My tail wind lasted about to the edge of Kisumu. After that it was a 10-15 knot headwind. egad. I wanted to get out and push.

Sunset Tuesday was at 6:52 pm local. My wheels hit the pavement, according to the GPS and to tower, at 6:37 pm. Whew. Made it. Tuesday was 7 hours of flying.

Today I actually didn't fly, but I did catch up on the paperwork from the previous flights. Tomorrow it's off to Loiyangalani, then Ileret, then Gatab, then Kabarnet, then back to Wilson. Friday and Saturday it's back to Mwanza and then Kigali to pick up the Irish. They'll have been there a week following an adult and a child who have had cataract operations. The operations are the result of a charity effort held in Ireland, and the four people are a news crew from a TV station and a long time missionary who's helped arrange the trip. It was interesting flying them out. I love the accent.

Next week... that's too far away. Lots of flying on the books already, certainly some of it will change, probably more will be added.

This is what I came to do. I pray that God will find my efforts acceptable, and that He will be glorified.

Olerai and what can you put in a 206

Olerai. We've been doing a bunch of flights there the last few weeks taking doctors and nurses to Tenwick hospital in Bomet. The Bomet runway is down for repairs, and Olerai farm is the closest runway.

Olerai...sounds like there should be a song...Old MacDonald, Olerai...

After getting back from Olerai I got to go to the Coptic Hospital, run by the Coptic Orthodox church to look at some equipment they want taken to Musoma in Tanzania. They're starting a new clinic there. Saturday Matt O. is taking 4 doctors over to Musoma. Wednesday I go and pick them up, and since I'm going there anyway, they wanted me to take an examination chair and an anesthesia machine.

The chair is HUGE! It must weigh 150 to 200 kg and it's going to fill the airplane. I just hope the weight works out so that I'm not out of balance. They want the anesthesia machine to go too. It's lighter, maybe 60-100 kg but fairly bulky. IF (a big if) it can be disassembled far enough both items might fit. Maybe. I bet I end up taking only the chair. I'm not looking forward to loading it.

I also spoke with one of the passengers going to Musoma. A lady from New York, and she's terrified of flying, especially in a little airplane. I tried to assure her she's getting the best, Matt O. was a USAF instructor pilot, Cessna's service rep told us that he'd never seen aircraft in the field maintained as well as ours, and other words of reassurance. She was not reassured. Oh well. Good luck, Matt.

The north country

I spent today wandering all over northern Kenya. First to Kurungu where I picked up 4 people to take to .... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

About 6 this morning one of the Gatab missionaries called and said T. Knowles in Ngurunit had called, looking for a flight to Nairobi. He'd gotten an infection in one leg that was getting worse, to the point where his leg was starting to go numb, and he needed to get to the hospital. John called me because he wasn't sure who else to call. Guess I'm a a bona-fide upcountry missionary pilot now if I'm the one they call.

Plot, plan, figure, replot, refigure. Yep, I can do this. Pick up JL and his 3 at Kurungu, drop them at Korr Catholic Mission airstrip, go to Ngurunit, get T. K. stop at Korr Main to fuel (it's 2 miles west of the Catholic mission airstrip, but we're weight limited because it's short, where the Catholic airstrip is a gross weight runway), then hop over to the Catholic airstrip to get the rest of the guys, go to Samburu South, drop them, continue on with T.K. to Nairobi. Piece of cake.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, that's why he's called the enemy. I taxied down to customs to clear paperwork, as normal. Started to taxi off...nope. Flat tire. Flat tire!?? Sigh. Call the hangar, the maintenance guys (God bless Ryan Williams, the piston fleet supervisor, he's great!) get everything together and come to my rescue. I'm on the way, 45 minutes late, but on the way. Great weather today. Unlike last week (see the last couple posts).

I get to Kurungu. Bookings had tried all morning to get hold of JL and tell him the flight was moved up. No luck. I sit for an hour before he finally gets there at the original meeting time. We get moving, and I drop them at Korr Catholic. One of his guys came with me to help fuel, since I had no idea what sort of condition T.K. would be in. T.K. is waiting for us at Ngurunit. Back to Korr Main to fuel (with a bucket! Pour from the 55 gallon fuel drum into the bucket, hoist to wing, pour through filter - funnel. Repeat. We put half a drum in the plane, loaded up and bounced over to the Catholic airstrip. Everyone loaded up, took off.

The rest of the flight was routine. Oh one more thing it was HOT in Korr. HOT I say. How hot you ask, HOT I say. It was about 40 C, about 104 F. HOT!

A few bonuses about the flight...I had a beautiful view of Mt Kenya today. It was clear as a bell up above the clouds in the morning. In the afternoon I flew between Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares (not a usual route, it's frequently clouded over, but today was great weather, so...) and got to look up at it from the west. Great views.

Another bonus was the nature of the flight to get T.K. That's the sort of thing that AIM Air is all about, providing a life line to missionaries out in hard to reach places. I'm not glad T.K. was ill, but I'm thrilled I was able to help him, and grateful that God let me in on the work.

A final bonus. Seems like we've been taken in by the northern missionaries as one of their own. I'm the one they called in an emergency. Really cool. Really humbling. A bit scary. It's a huge responsibility. Today everything worked out extremely well, despite the rocky start. Tomorrow, we'll see what God brings.

Weather

I thought the rainy season ended with December. I guess someone forgot to let God know, since He's still providing lots of rain.

Usually, if you get out of Nairobi and into the Rift Valley you can get wherever you need to go with no trouble at all. Not so on Friday last week. Egad. I ducked, I dodged, I went east, I went west, clouds, rain.... The weather was poor leaving Nairobi, but I got out. The Rift was full of rain, and it goes off to the north west, so I had to leave it after a while to head east toward Kurungu. More rain, very low clouds...I spent a while wandering around low level (now I know why we do route checks!) . Finally, a break. I dodged a couple more rain showers and was able to get into Kurungu. Wow. I unloaded, and went back. The return trip was easier, and so was the second flight up to Kurungu (I had 2 loads for there on Friday), but I ran out of daylight for the return trip, so I overnighted there in Kurungu, South Horr really, with my passengers and returned on Saturday. The weather was better on Saturday, but I still had low clouds and rain showers to deal with, and had to fight my way into Nairobi.

It was great fun, but I'm -really- looking forward to getting my Kenyan instrument rating in a couple weeks.

Gatab, Ngororoi, Loiyangalani, Nolpilipili and other exotic places Continued

Where was I? Oh yeah...flat tires. That was the most "excitement" in the flights there at Gatab. Well, maybe not. I flew on Saturday the 5th down to Olerai to evacuate a family from Bomet to Nairobi. As I landed I could see their police escort drive off...things in Western Kenya have not been good (they are calming down now. Many thanks to all of you for your prayers! Please, keep praying for peace, real peace, for Kenya.)

But, excitement aside, it's deeply satisfying to fly here, whether in Gatab or more generally for AIM Air throughout east Africa. The airplane makes it possible to save lives, and to get missionaries to places to touch lives. Flying from Gatab is particularly rewarding, though. The airplane there is a lifeline for the northern district mission stations, providing transport for fresh produce, or for a medical evacuation.

Life in Gatab is very like life on a farm...there's always something that needs doing. The house needs maintenance, the neighbor needs help with a project, the airstrip needs maintenance ... I spent a fair bit of time helping John Woodworth with some of his projects. Alex went a little further up the hill and helped the Heidorns build their house. Susan stayed busy with running our house. There are some new challenges there. First being electricity. The house runs from a bank of 8 batteries recharged by solar panels and a small windmill. The windmill has the advantage of keeping a charge going all night (the wind blows hard most nights there). I got rather obsessive about turning off lights. The batteries are old, over 7 years most of them, and none will show a charge using a hydrometer. The electric load is light, the biggest draw being the refrigerator. But, if a light is left on the fridge may not be running in the morning.

Susan is looking at how to shop for long term...the missionaries up at Gatab typically shop for 2-3 months at a time, since it's a 2+ day drive over what passes for roads here to get to Nairobi and the grocery store.

I haven't said much about church in Gatab yet. That bears a few words. Church the first week was a bit puzzling...the songs are all in swahili or maasai (samburu is nearly the same, the two tribes are closely related). The prayers and sermon are in swahili and a translator gives them in samburu also. The service is long...2 1/2 hours on average. When you walk an hour or so to get to church there's no hurry to go home. Plus it's the social highlight of the week. I'm not sure how deeply the teachings of the church affect people in their daily lives. The other missionaries in Gatab say that they've had an uphill struggle to make church more than a social event. There is some change, slow, but the idea of discipleship, of living what you say you believe, is starting to catch.

Then, of course, there was the Christmas pageant. Herod was my favorite character, swaggering in wearing a gold lame shirt. Mary and Joseph bickered, the wisemen fought and argued...but the story was told. And indeed, in some ways it brought the story to life even with the laughter. These were real people 2000 years ago, warts and all. The Bible says Mary was a good woman, true, but nowhere does it say she was perfect. Doubtless she and Joseph argued. Likewise the wise men, however wise, must have had their differences. And they all, as we did that day (Christmas day) came together to glorify God.

Gatab, Ngororoi, Loiyangalani, Nolpilipili and other exotic places

Well, we're back in Nairobi. It's been a bit longer than planned, but that's ok. We left for Gatab on the 21st of December, intending to return on the 7th of January, but because of the political situation AIM Air management asked us to stay in Gatab as a reserve for AIM Air...Gatab being peaceful, the airplane easy to get to, and with plenty of fuel (over 1400 gallons on hand). So we ended up coming back on the 13th.

We had a great time there in Gatab! In fact, we're going back to fill in for the other pilot family (they are on home assignment at this time) until they return. No, we're not sure of the timeline.

I got to fly to some interesting places...the Nolpilipili airstrip is banana shaped. Ngororoi is one way..you land uphill (about a 10 degree upslope) and takeoff downhill. The church in Gatab is planting churches at Ngororoi and Nolpilipili, so I flew the pastors there. We also did medical clinics there and in Olturot.

Gatab. The mission station was started about 40 years ago by Howard Anderson, and Paul Teasedale. There wasn't a village there...the village grew up as the missionaries provided water (they dug wells and piped water from the well heads and springs). They started a church there, AIC Gatab. Later a plane and pilot were stationed there to support the northern mission stations: Gatab, Loiyangalani, Kalacha, Korr, Loglogo, and others. Later a hospital was built, AIC Gatab Hospital, and a secondary school, and Haven Home, a boarding home for the school.

Three other missionary families are in Gatab: Jeff and Peggy Heidorn, John and Becky Woodworth, and Friedhelm and Esther Focking. Friedhelm is the doctor in Gatab. John is the station manager and an elder at AIC Gatab. Jeff runs Haven Home. There is also Katharina Dych, the lab tech at the hospital.

Alot of the flights from Gatab are medical in nature. I flew several people to or from the Gatab hospital. When we got to Ngororoi, we were told there was a lady who'd been in labor 2 days. She got flown to Gatab hospital, obviously. Medical flights save, the doctor there estimates, about 2 lives a month on average.

The flights from Gatab tend to be short...30 minutes is a very long one. But the time savings is immense. Loiyangalani is only 15 miles away, about 10 minute flight. It takes 5 hours to get from Loi to Gatab by road.

Excitement...well, every landing at Gatab is exciting. One in particular was...I landed and the right main tire went flat. I never did figure out why. There were no thorns in evidence on inspection, the tube valve was fine... The landing was routine, but on roll out the plane kept pulling right no matter how hard I got on the left rudder and brake. I figured out the problem half way through roll out, but there's not much to do about it except get the airplane stopped. Which I did. John W. helped me get the tire changed and the airplane back to the hangar. It's great having help like that around.

Well, this post is getting long, so more in the next one.....