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.