a little look-back

South-Maasai Project

I have mentioned before that I have been tasked to coordinate this project from our Arusha base. We plan to help the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) with medical and outreach safaris to some remote villages. Thanks to your prayers we made some good progress during our visit in August. We were able to utilize local machinery to work on one of the strips which enabled us to complete the work in less than a week! Without it, the Lerumo strip would have been postponed until next year.

New Airstrips

We also cut some grass and filled some termite holes to repair the airstrip of the region’s main town, Orkessumet. The monthly safaris will be based from here, we will pick up the teams from the ELCT Hospital and take them to the other villages. In August we flew to Orkessument, drove to Lerumo for a ground inspection and then went back to do the first landing. Now the strip is ready to use pending the paperwork...

Since our visit we received news from the third village, Kitwai B, that they are also ready for a ground inspection of the airstrip. We will schedule that visit as soon as possible.

The next, and ongoing, step is getting all the paperwork ready so that we can submit it to the Civil Aviation Authority. The process is time consuming as the paperwork goes back and forth for village-, regional- and district signatures. After that the application process will also take some time. As soon as all this is in order we will start the safaris. Please pray that the process will keep moving and that we can start with the work as soon as possible.

Flying solo again...

I did my first solo MAF flight over the weekend and today my first solo flights with passengers! This was the first time as the only pilot on-board since I left Malawi in November 2009! Although I have some limitations as I still get to know the country, it is a great feeling to finally be part of the team. Today I did some shuttle flights and tomorrow I fly part of the Sandawe Medical Safari to Magambua and Berise which includes a Daktari wa Macho (eye doctor) and some nurses who will provide some basic medical services to mothers and their babies.

Operational...

5 May 1971 was the day my dad started his first job. 5 May 2003 I did my first training flight. 5 May 2008 I started my first flying job in Malawi and 5 May 2012 I flew my first operational flight for MAF!

It was a great feeling to finally start flying in a MAF program after the long road of preparation. With all the exams, briefings and tests completed, I am now doing supervised flying; that means I have complete responsibility but there is another MAF pilot who supervises the flight. The first flights I did were part of what is known as the Kilimatinde Safari; over 3 days we take evangelists from Dodoma to what is essentially an airstrip with a tree. Then we get a medical team from Kilimatinde Hospital and take them to the same airstrip.

“As I sit here in Chidudu waiting for the medical team and evangelists to finish their work, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. Once a month this large thorn tree and mud hut becomes the centre point for the nearby communities. On the flight in I could not really make out a central village. There are clusters of bomas, each with a kraal and a few huts, scattered around the area and that must be where these mothers with their babies walked from. As babies are weighed, recorded, injected and some basic medicine is handed out, I realize that there is a joyful atmosphere despite the sound of crying babies. The evangelists play gospel music over a crackling speaker powered by a car battery. They preach a little, have a session with some kids under the shade of the plane’s wing and spend their time talking and sharing with the mothers. There is a sense of peace and contentment despite the circumstances.”

It is in this type of work that our vision is truly seen…

“Isolated people physically and spiritually transformed in Christ’s name”

the news in a nutshell

Time does go by quickly when you are on the move...

After a very quick, blessed and fruitful 3 weeks in South Africa, I arrived back in Dar es Salaam a week ago!

It was such a blessing to see my little nephew when he was only 10 days old! Now, he is already one month and growing fast... Next time I see him, he will at least be 1 year, but thanks to technology I will be able to 'see' him from a distance. I take my hat off to the missionaries of yesteryear who left family and friends for years without any contact.


The actual reason I went down to SA was to do my MAF International Africa conversion course; my first base and route check. I was also able to incorporate it with my SA pilot's license renewals, but it made for a very busy week and a half in Johannesburg! Thanks to some excellent MAF instruction, all went well and I returned last week deemed to be proficient to fly for MAFI!

All that is now needed is to get my Tanzanian license, fly with the MAF pilots here to get to know the areas and place I will fly to. Yesterday I logged my first flight in a Tanzanian registered MAF plane when I did my type conversion with our training captain. Today I wrote my type conversion exam and by next week I should be in possession of my Tanzanian pilot's license! Tomorrow I head back to Dodoma, to spend some time in the engineering department while I wait to get on some flights.

If you look at the fuel gauge on the blog, you notice that I have reached 88% of my support goal! I thank God for each one of you who have become involved, whether through prayer, encouragement or contributions, each bit is vital as we, the Body, reach out to the world in need.

That's the news in a nutshell. Once again, thanks for all your support and prayers, without it none of this would ever be possible.

FoxFox

Almost another month has gone by, and I am on the move again! So, after I finished language school I came back to Dodoma. I was lucky enough that there was a MAF flight booked from Iringa, so instead of a 10 hour bus trip (for which I already had a ticket), I got a 45 minute lift to Dodoma! 

Come to think of it, I'm always lucky that way (or I just plan it well). I managed to get on a flight from Arusha to Dodoma when I came here the first time, although that's pretty easy since we do that route weekly. But it worked out that there was a flight down to Iringa the Monday I started language school, and the one back (that's not a regular route). 

I have so far managed to avoid the notorious buses. I came pretty close though, I bought a ticket for Iringa to Dodoma and thought that it was for the Saturday. On the Friday evening I heard about the flight I could get on the Monday, but since I already had the ticket, bags packed and goodbyes said, I decided stick with the bus. So, at 06:30am with all my bags, accompanied by one of the families from camp who wanted to see me off, we walked the 1.5 kilometers from the camp to the road. Long story short, I didn't read the ticket otherwise I would have know that it was for the Sunday! After explaining to everyone at camp why I didn't leave, I decided to make a plan to get on the flight instead...

So, I've been in Dodoma now for two weeks, mainly studying for my Tanzania pilot license exam. It was also an opportunity to learn more about what happens here at the operations base and to get to know the people better. I also got to attend a Dangerous Goods course, which was interesting. And I learned to do Flight Following (FoxFox), we track all our aircraft with long distance HF radio, we get position reports from the planes, give weather reports and more importantly we are ready to act quickly in case of an emergency.


Later today I go to Dar es Salaam (on a flight of course), Dodoma is the first stop and we will go to Sumbawanga, Mbeya and then Dar (see map). So, it's 5.6 hours flying time in the Caravan! On Tuesday I will go to get my Tanzanian flight medical exam done and on Thursday I write the TCAA exam. Saturday I fly to Johannesburg and then Cape Town for a week! I will get to see friends and family (newest member born 4 days ago)!


Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Together in His service.

Kujifunza Kiswahili

The past month has flown by so fast, if it wasn't for this extra day I would have missed it completely! Learning Swahili has been an overall good experience so far, it has been a lot of information to take in and it will still take me some time to confidently speak, but I feel I have a good foundation to work from.

Darasa

We can all identify that a language is much more than a method to communicate, so much of our culture is embedded within our language. As a friend has recently said: "spoken language is a tool for building relationships, and plays a key role in the identity and life of both individuals and communities." As much as knowing Swahili will practically help me on a day to day basis of working and living here, it will be the key to building lasting relationships and speaking to the hearts of people.

In just over a week I will be moving on from here, not because I think that there will be nothing else for me to learn, but I have to go study for the theory exam for my Tanzanian Pilot's License. Which I have to write in Dar es Salaam before going to South Africa.
I will keep you updated...

My banda

Thank you for your continued support and prayers

Karibu Tanzania!

The friendly greetings and welcoming people of the past couple of weeks have truly given meaning to "Karibu Tanzania." Great effort was made that I could spend time with all the international staff families in Dar, Arusha and Dodoma. It has been quick visits and there are still many more people involved with MAF who I have not met, but it has been a great start! God has also provided excellent people around me at just the right times to help me ease into my new surroundings. Although there has not been time to really settle in anywhere, tomorrow’s move to Iringa will be the fifth place in 2 weeks; it has been great to get a complete overview of all three MAF bases.

Maasai Evangelists we took to Loliondo

The highlight of this time was without a doubt the opportunity to join on an evangelism outreach among Maasai people. Better known as the Malambo Safari, it was wonderful to experience firsthand MAF’s role in assisting local Maasai evangelists to reach their own people with the Gospel. A true picture of the slogan: “Giving Wings to The Gospel.”

Maasai Evangelists at the Seminar

Now that I’ve had the chance to whet my appetite and experience what I can look forward to, I am ready for the 8 weeks of language school.  Tomorrow I head to a place called Riverside Camp close to Iringa where I will stay as I learn to basics of kiSwahili. I look forward to it, I know it will require quite some effort and patience, but it is a vital part of getting ready and essential to maximize my effectiveness in the long run.

Please continue to pray for the whole induction process and also for the remaining 20% of my monthly support. Check out some of the photos I’ve uploaded to Facebook (1st of Tz & Malambo) and I’ve added a map so that you can see the places I talk about and a schedule to see when what is supposed to happen.

Thanks for your continued support; I would love to hear from you too...

the time has come!!

The first 10 days of 2012 has flown by and the time has come for me to start the next phase of this wonderful journey and adventure. What a privilege to be able to go out and serve God's kingdom in this way!

My bags (and crates) are packed and ready go! I am also ready to go, saying goodbye is not the easiest thing in the world and going at this solo has its challenges. I look forward to what God has in store for me and to go and serve Him and the people of Tanzania.

From now I will do my best to update more frequently with shorter new snippets.

Have a Christ-filled-blessed day