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.