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.