Sometimes things do go according to plan

Well, that's it for this year. As planned I flew to Kuron this morning for the Holy Trinity Peace Village. Payload included a few hundred kilograms of food items plus 3 passengers.

Kuron is one of my favourite places to fly to, partly because of the beauty of the natural surroundings but also because of the warm friendly welcome we always receive there. Today I got to share the experience with my wife! This morning, for the first time in our six years with MAF, Liz joined me for a flight without the children and 'just for the experience'.

It was great to be able to share my work day life with Liz, and now it's time for a break as the MAF office closes for 2 weeks....

Nimule and Kajo Keji

Today I flew down to Nimule and Kajo Keji for UNFPA. I was collecting one lady from Nimule and another two from Kajo as they were leaving the field for their Christmas break.

As our Christmas break gets closer many of our national staff are also making plans to travel to be with family and today three joined the flight to Kajo Keji.

One more flying day for me and then MAF Juba will be closed until the new year! If all goes according to plan I'll be off to Kuron tomorrow...

There's a live goat in the plane - it must be Christmas!

Yesterday I had another double rotation to Motot for Tearfund. As usual it was all freight on the way out, but on the first rotation I had three Tearfund passengers returning to Juba for their Christmas break.

On the second rotation I had a rather unusual passenger on the return leg, in the pod rather than the cabin. A live goat was being sent down to Juba to help (!?) with someone's Christmas celebrations.

We don't tie all our passengers to the vehicle when we get back to Juba, but it seemed wise in this case...

Kajo Keji

A short day today, flying wise. I flew down to Kajo Keji (which, as those who follow this blog will know, is just half an hour away to the south) for the Baptist Convention of South Sudan. Ten passengers out of Juba and another nine on the return leg.

It's always good to see passengers who I've flown before and the group returning to Juba today were the same men who I flew down to Kajo Keji on December 3rd for a training course. As MAF pilots we usually pray before each flight once the passengers are seated but today, while I was preparing my paperwork before boarding the passengers, I noticed that they were gathering in a circle to pray a prayer of thanksgiving already.

Pedal powered water pumps

Today I flew a double rotation to Pibor, just one hour to the north east of Juba. The flights were for an organisation called ZOA and we were carrying some food items, seeds and small scale farming equipment.

The first load was made up mostly of hoes (or at least the metal ends of hoes) and the second was mostly a type of pedal powered water pump for small scale irrigation (see http://www.kickstart.org/products/super-moneymaker/).

A plane load of pedal pumps

Food supplements for Motot

Today I flew a double rotation to Motot for Tearfund. On each flight I carried just over a ton of something called 'Supercereal Plus' which is a food supplement similar to Plumpy Supp (which I've written about here before).

To give some perspective: the distance from Juba to Motot is exactly the same as the distance from Heathrow to Ambleside in the Lake District, but there is not one mile of paved road between the two...

A bag of fresh fruit and vegetables

Some call this the burning season because there are so many grass fires around the country, and due to the atmospheric conditions the smoke tends to hang around in a hazy layer from the ground up to about 8 or 10 thousand foot. As pilots we are usually spoilt with the beautiful views we get from the cockpit, but during this season even the most spectacular landscape fades into the hazy background.

Yesterday I had another fairly busy shuttle day. Stops in Torit and Kapoeta on the way out to Loki and then Kapoeta, Kimatong and Torit on the way back home. Organisations served were MSF Belgium, War Child Holland, American Refugee Committee, Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, Presbyterian Relief Development Agency, Christian Mission for Development, Nile Hope, Carter Centre, and World Mission Inc.

Funnily enough, one of the most satisfying parts of the day was delivering a bag of fresh fruit and veg. to a missionary in Torit. The AIM AIR pilots in Loki regularly do some shopping and deliver fresh produce to their partners in various remote places where such things are hard to get hold of. Yesterday my routing meant it was more convenient to send a bag with me and I really enjoyed playing a small part in that ministry.

All the stops

Yesterday was a busy day. When we fly to Loki for our twice weekly shuttle we normally stop in one or two places along the way. Yesterday I stopped everywhere along the way!

My routing was Juba-Torit-Lohutok-Kimatong-Kapoeta-Kuron-Lokichogio-Kapeota-Juba and with quite a few short hops I felt a little like I was back in Tanzania flying the Malambo Safari. The flight times were something like 30 minutes, 10 mins, 10 mins, 10 mins, 30 mins, 40 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour. I really quite enjoyed it although I was rather tired by the end of the day.

Organisations flown included Life Bridging Works, ECS, Persecution Project Foundation, Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron and Carter Centre.

Akobo, where it all began

My first flight today was down to Kajo Keji for the Baptist Convention of South Sudan. Most of the passengers had Arabic sounding names and I learned that they were going to Kajo Keji for an evangelism training programme. Some were pastors and I understood that most of them were from Muslim backgrounds. Let's pray that they will be shining lights back in their home communities when they return.

My second flight was to Akobo for ECS (Episcopal Chrurch of South Sudan) and it was my first time to go there. I was intrigued to land at Akobo as it was one of the very first MAF bases in Africa back in the 1950's (I hope I have my history correct there!).

Unfortunately it was a rather frustrating stop in the end, thanks to over eager 'officials' on the ground demanding money. At least I can say I've been there, but I can't say I'm in a big hurry to go back.

Motot times two

A double rotation to Motot today for Tearfund. The flights were freight only, which consisted of 1,860kg of timber and some building equipment which will be used for building latrines and a feeding centre.

The rains have mostly finished now so the runway at Motot is dry and the weather was very pleasant, so all in all a rather nice day's work...

When last did you take your ostrich for a walk?

I flew the shuttle to Loki today, stopping in Kapoeta, Torit and Kuron on the way out. It was a good day's flying and it was nice to bring our Programme Manager and his family back to Juba after their break in Kenya. Organizations included ZOA South Sudan, Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron, MSF Holland and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Just before departing Torit this morning I saw one of the most unusual things I've seen in a long time. Have a close look at the picture below and you'll see that the guy in the middle of the picture is walking alongside an ostrich! The animal was walking with the man in the way you would expect to see a pet dog going for a walk and even appeared to pause when it's owner stopped to chat to someone!

Nyal for Comboni Missionaries

One flight today out to a place called Nyal for the Comboni Missionaries. Freight only, including some fishing twine and hooks, salt, sugar, rice and 300kg of soap...

Since we have not been to Nyal airstrip in quite a long time I walked the full length to carry out an inspection. The ground is dry and cracked after nearly a month without rain, making the surface firm but quite rough, and there are several sinkholes on the runway near to the one end. I took out my phone to get a picture of one of the holes and this little girl who was hanging around with her friends seemed really excited to jump into the picture. (actually, a second later she jumped into the hole, or perhaps she was pushed by her friends, but that picture came out a little blurry)

Bibles for Yei and teachers for Juba

Today I flew a double rotation to Yei for an organisation called Windle Trust (actually our neighbours here in Juba). I collected 24 people who had spent 3 weeks in Yei for a teachers' conference.

12 teachers from Yei to Juba

Since we were flying empty out of Juba, we used one of the empty legs to take 255kg of Bibles down to Yei for the Bible Society.

2 pods full of Bibles for Yei

A shuttle to the south and west

Today I had no cargo for a change, only pax. I flew six legs in total, all in the south and west of the country: Juba - Kajo Keji - Yei - Juba - Ibba - Maridi - Juba, (about 4 hours of flying) and carried 26 passengers. The passengers represented 10 different organisations involved in projects ranging from Bible translation to medical work and reconcilliation.

A little bit of hard work never killed anyone (or so they say!)

Yesterday's shuttle to Loki was a little more complicated than I expected, but it all worked out in the end. It was originally planned that we would swap aircraft in Loki and I would bring the Kenya aircraft back to Juba, via Kapoeta to drop one passenger and collect another.

Plans changed at the last minute and I was asked to bring the Juba aircraft back instead, which meant transferring the 700kg of freight for Juba from the one aircraft to the other. Moving boxes around in 35 deg C is a bit of hard work and I was very grateful to have the help of Fred, our assistant in Loki.

The last minute change also had fuel implications as I was half way through re-fueling when the plans changed. With one wing tank significantly fuller than the other we needed to pull the aircraft forward about 5 metres onto a slight side-slope in order to allow the fuel to balance itself...

Thunderstorms and low cloud made our arrival back in Juba a little bit interesting too, although the worst of the weather had passed while I was away. After 7 or 8 minutes of orbiting to allow other traffic to land we were back on the ground in a very wet Juba.

Jiech for CMD

Today I took 800kg of freight to Jiech for CMD (Christian Mission for Development). Mostly food plus a couple of signs for a school and 6 or 7 wheelie bins!

On the whole a pleasant day's work, although the ATC (air traffic control) back in Juba on my return was particularly dismal, even for Juba standards...

A warm welcome in Liethnom

Spot the visitors in the middle of the crowd

It was around 36 deg C when we landed in Liethnom yesterday afternoon and we were about 3 hours later than originally planned, so you might expect that the welcoming party would be rather small. But despite the heat and the long wait my passengers were very warmly welcomed by a large group of local people.

The small group had travelled all the way from the USA and will be spending this week giving teaching on pastoral work, children's ministry, women's ministry and trauma recovery with a group called ALARM. At the end of the week they will join in the graduation ceremony for the group graduating from the ALARM Pastoral Leadership Training Institute in Liethnom.

Photo by Reinier Kwantes

Dedicating our new C182

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, we have a new aircraft in our fleet here in Juba - the little diesel engined Cessna 182. Today a group of us went to the airport to dedicate the aircraft to God and for His service.

Bastiaan, our Programme Manager led a short devotion after which we formed a circle around the aeroplane to pray. Please join us in praying that this and our other aircraft will be used well in God's service.

Mundri

Yesterday I flew once to Mundri in Western Equatoria to collect 7 people who have been involved in reconciliation work there this week. Mundri is one of the places which has been badly hit recently by insecurity and fighting and where many civilians have been forced to flee their homes to live in the bush for their own safety.

We had made several trips to Mundri during the week to take some bishops and other pastors there for meetings aimed at restoring the peace, and yesterday I was booked for a double rotation to collect the group and return them to Juba. Plans changed at the last minute, however, and we were asked to only collect a small group as the bishops would remain over the weekend to finish the work.

I asked one of my passengers if the visit was a success and his answer was a very positive 'yes' and he explained that some people had already started returning to their homes. Let's praise the God of Peace and pray for His servants who continue to work for peace and reconciliation in this troubled country.

Medicines, beans and a very large dish.

One flight to Doro Maban yesterday for Medair with some additional freight for SIM (Serving In Mission). It's good to see our partners working together and sharing a flight when they have the chance.

The freight (around 700kgs) was mostly made up of medical supplies and food, plus a rather large satellite dish. The dish came in two halves and it was quite a tight squeeze even getting each half through the cargo door of the caravan.

On my return to Juba I parked next to the newest aircraft in our fleet, the diesel engined C182. This little aircraft seats only four and we hope it will enable us to serve organisations for whom the cost of a caravan is just too high. I parked on one side of the C182 and another of our caravans was on the other side. It gave the impression of two bigger brothers standing protectively over their little brother, which I thought was nice.

Kajo and Maridi

Two flights today. First rotation down to Kajo Keji and back for ECS and the second out to Maridi in the west for UNFPA.

The ramp (aircraft parking area at the airport) in Juba was quite a mess this morning, even for Juba standards. Just before I started up there was a crowd of at least 70 people with about 20 cars gathered along the sides of the main taxiway. It seems they were there as part of a funeral party and once 'their' aircraft had left they walked and drove off down the taxiway, while aircraft were using the same taxiway.

Where else in the world can you see large aircraft sharing their taxiway with speeding Toyota Landcruisers and large crowds of pedestrians? Only in Juba, I suspect....

Juba-Kapoeta-Lokichogio-Kapoeta-Lohutok-Juba

Another shuttle today to Loki to swap an aircraft with our colleagues in Kenya.

On the way back from Loki I had the pleasure of flying another South African family who we got to know during our holiday at the coast in Kenya. I took them back to the village of Lohutok where they will continue their work with Persecution Project Foundation.

The late rains continue and it's great to see the countryside so lush and green as we fly between the rain showers. Unfortunately the rains are too late for the subsistence farmers whose crops failed this year and many people will suffer as a result of the poor harvests.

Back 'in the saddle'

It was good to be back to normal flying duties today with a flight to Mabior and Motot for Tearfund. 2 pax from Juba plus another 2 from Mabior. The freight from Juba included 29 sheets of corrugated iron for roofing and a couple of hundred kgs of gravel (!) plus some posters and books (and, of course, a couple of boxes of soap).

The rainy season seems to have come late and for the last couple of weeks there has been some rain most days in Juba, just when the season should be ending. Today was a beautiful day for flying though and I was home before any of the towering cumulus turned into thurnderstorms.

Back to reality

Well, we had a wonderful 2 week break in Kenya, including 5 nights at the coast, but now it's back to the realities of living in Juba.

Our Caravans are being upgraded with new avionics (Instruments, GPS, radios etc) and the first aircraft to be completed is now operational here in South Sudan. I have not had a flight of my own yet this week but I have flown with 2 of our other pilots as we familiarize ourselves with the new equipment. It's great to have more modern instrumentation, particularly a traffic warning system, and I look forward to having the aircraft to myself for a few hours tomorrow :)

Sadly yesterday there was a bad aircraft accident close to Juba airport. A heavily loaded Antonov crashed immediately after takeoff into the banks of the Nile and about 40 people died in the crash. Lets pray for the friends and families of those who lost their lives.

Paperwork

Being a MAF pilot probably sounds like fun (and most of the time it is ;-)) but one of the less fun parts is being assessed regularly and the paperwork that goes along with it. The last couple of days have been paperwork days and soon it's time for another Base Check (an assessment flight with another MAF pilot to practice emergencies and general handling).

There won't be any more blogs here for a couple of weeks though as we're off to Kenya for some R&R very soon :) ...

Renk

Yesterday was another trip to Renk for Medair. Half a ton of medical supplies and one pax on the way up, just one pax back to Juba.

Beautiful flying weather again with some big thunderstorms building up half way back to Juba, which is part of the reason I'm on the ground doing office work today. We had 3 flights to Motot planned for today but Motot is just where all that rain was falling. Today Motot is too wet so the flights are cancelled...

Loki shuttle- not quite as bumpy as usual!

This morning's shuttle to Loki stopped in Lokutok and Kapoeta on the way out. Lokutok is a beautiful place at the base of some small mountains to the east of Juba and one of the more pleasant airstrips we go to. This morning there was a lot of cloud about with some big rain showers in the area which made it cool but also a little bit challenging around the hills.

I collected a South African family of 3 from Lokutok who were heading down to Nairobi together. Always nice to meet some South Africans along the way :)

Loki shuttle- bumpy as usual

Another shuttle to Lokichogio today, via Kapoeta. Not a lot to say really. Pax included a couple of our colleagues/friends going down to Nairobi for R&R and a family of 3 from Kapoeta who work with the Toposa people who were also heading down to Nairobi for a while.

Doro / Maban

It was a beautiful day for flying today. I took a load of freight up to a place called Doro/Maban for Medair. The freight included fresh food for the team, medical supplies, a couple of hundred kg of beans and 270kg of Plumpy Supp. Plumpy Supp is a peanut based nutrition supplement  which is used at feeding centres for malnourished children.

More soap to Motot

Another double rotation today. First another ton of soap to Motot for Tearfund, followed by a short hop down to Kajo Keji and back for ECS.

You may well be asking yourself what they do with all that soap, and I DID ask today when I was in Motot. I suppose the answer is a bit obvious: WASH!

In the NGO world WASH stands for WATER, SANITATION and HYGIENE and Tearfund is one of the many organisations running WASH programmes around South Sudan. The soap we have been delivering to Motot will be given to households who have received the WASH training.

It's still a long way to Renk

Another trip to Renk today for MEDAIR. Mostly freight (medicines, some fresh food and a hospital bed of some sort) on the way up with just 2 pax. On the way back down I had 6 pax and some freight too so it was a bit fuller that usual for the return leg.

The weather looked a bit more like dry season today and there was no significant headwind in either direction. All in all a rather pleasant day for flying...

Healing the Wounds of Ethnic Conflict

This is the title of a booklet I was given today by one of my passengers to Maridi. The flight was booked by ECS (the Episcopal Church of Sudan) and the 10 passengers included some senior members of the clergy who will be spending several days in the area for a workshop on healing and reconciliation. Pray that this work will be effective and will bear fruit.

The flight to Maridi was the second rotation for the day. The first rotation was to Motot and you'll never guess what made up 85% of the freight.... that's right, soap!

Thunderstorms and diversions

Its dry in Juba this afternoon but it certainly wasn't dry around Jiech a few hours ago. I flew 950 kg of freight (mostly beans and tarpaulins) to Jiech for CMD (Christian Mission for Development) this morning. The report we received was that the airstrip was dry and landable but there was a 2m puddle at the northern end to watch out for... Well, I would have put it a little differently, but the strip was landable and I was able to deliver the freight, getting the aircraft rather muddy in the process.

From Jiech I was supposed to route to Pagil and I reduced the payload for the next leg due to the muddy conditions. We rushed to to get away before a large thunderstorm moved in and then headed to Pagil. Flying through some heavy rain helped to clean the mud off the windscreen but it was also raining in Pagil and we were not able to land so I diverted back to Juba. It was quite a bumpy ride through the rain for the first 20 minutes or so and I think the 2 pax were quite relieved to see some clear skies eventually.

A ton of soap, literally!

Today was another double rotation to Motot for Tearfund. Once again no pax (that's pilot talk for passengers), only freight. Today's loads included fresh fruit, veg and eggs for the team based up there, stationery, and more than a ton of soap, among other things.

Motot is one of the airstrips which can get really wet and soggy in the rains and we have had to cancel many flights there in recent weeks. This week it is dry and so our partners are making the most of the opportunity to get supplies in.

Round one

...and the ton of soap.

Doctors for Africa

Last week I did a double rotation to Mundri to evacuate 16 people for an organisation called Doctors for Africa. This morning one of my colleagues flew a small team from that same organisation back to Mundri where they wanted to carry out an assessment of the security situation. This afternoon I went back to collect the team and bring them back to Juba.

On flights like this one it is so sad to hear about the many people who have had to flee their homes due to the fighting and for fear of being attacked. Pray for those who will spend tonight in the bush because they are too scared to return to their homes...

Motot x 2

Today I flew a double rotation (pilot talk for going there twice) to Motot for Tearfund. No passengers today, just freight. The picture above shows the second load unloaded in Motot.

Each of the green bins pictured is a water purification kit. The bin serves as the clean water storage, with a tap fitted on the side, and inside each bin are boxes of water purification granules with instructions for use. Each bin contains enough granules to purify 12,000 litres of water! and today we delivered about 45 units. I've just worked it out and that equates to 540,000 litres of clean drinking water!!

Unfortunately we had a rather alarming end to the day due to a shooting incident very close outside our compound. I was still at the airport finishing up paperwork but it was very frightening for all those who were here at the time. Praise God no-one on the MAF compound was harmed and all seems to be back to 'normal' this evening. Liz's Bible reading this morning was very appropriate- Psalm 5:11&12, what an encouragement!

Loki again

Business as usual today. I flew the shuttle to Lokichogio, via Kapoeta to drop off 3 passengers. We swapped aircraft in Loki and I returned direct to Juba. I must say I'm glad it's Friday...

A shuttle, some shuffling and nobody on the radio...

Today I was scheduled to fly once to Kajo Keji on the border with Uganda as a part of our Western Equatorial Shuttle. 4 passengers out of Juba and another 4 from Kajo to Juba.

Yesterday afternoon our Ops department received a request from Doctors for Africa to evacuate 16 people from a town called Mundri, about half an hour's flying time to the west of Juba. My Kajo flight was shuffled around and we planned 2 trips to Mundri in the morning to collect these 16 new passengers.

Despite a slow start due to some issues with ATC (air trafic control) in Juba- ie. nobody answering on the radio! we managed to get the 2 evacuation flights done, followed by the shuttle.

Apparently the 16 young South Sudanese passengers from Mundri had been forced to spend some time in the bush due to the insecurity in the area and some had tears in their eyes when they were met in Juba.

Lokichogio

I forgot to write about yesterday's flight, must be because there's not much to say. Each Monday and Friday we fly to Loki in northern Kenya to link up with MAF Kenya and to enable us to swap aircraft when needed as our aircraft are Maintained by MAF in Nairobi.

Yesterday I took one passenger (for MAF) and 150kg of freight (for MEDAIR) to Loki and came back empty with a different aeroplane.

On the ground today for a security training excercise... (someone else is flying to Renk).

Soggy runways

This morning when I woke up for work I knew I was going to Jaibor, Keew and Lankien for CMA (Christian Mission Aid).

Well, I just got back from work a while ago and didn't go anywhere near any of those places! 2 of the 3 airstrips were judged as wet and un-landable (perhaps not a real word but gets the idea across) by the charterer, so Ops were able to offer the aircraft to another organisation. After some quick work by the ops team to prepare the new flight I took just over a ton of soap to Pibor for ZOA-International.

Holy Trinity Peace Village, Kuron

Today I had the privilege of visiting the Holy Trinity Peace Village, Kuron. As a MAF pilot I get to see a lot of this country, but more often than not it is from quite a distance. Most days I will cover quite a lot of ground but only really get to see the airstrips at our destinations and not the actual work that is changing people's lives.

When I landed in Kuron today I was invited to have a look around with the group of people I had flown in and, since there was no hurry to get back to Juba, I accepted. Over the next 2 hours we bumped over some rough roads to see a Vocational Training Centre, a Health Centre (the only one for more than 60km in any direction), a Youth Centre (a large hall where conferences can be held and including accommodation) and the Administrative Centre. If I understood correctly, all this seems to have grown out of the vision and motivation of Bishop Taban, clearly a man of God with a heart for peace in this country. Now that's something worth flying for.

Bishop Taban (with a big fish!)

Youth Centre

Vocational Training Centre

Medical Centre

Its a long way to Renk

We've been back from Home Assignment for just over7 weeks and today I flew to Renk for the 7th time since we returned. It's a long way. The run up to Renk for MEDAIR is the longest flight we do here in S Sudan and it's about 3 hours each way. Although it's a rather long flight, it's great to be part of the work that MEDAIR are doing and it really hits home what a difference the aircraft can make: the 3 hour trip would apparently take about 5 days by road and part of the 'road' is only passable in the dry season.

Instead of the usual prayer from the cockpit today it was great to stand under the wing of the aircraft with 6 or 7 others while one of the MEDAIR team members prayed for the flight and for those who remained behind to continue the work.