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Monday August 28
Today we did our first flight to Dadaab and Wajir, two places in Northern Kenya on the border with Somalia. On board we have 10 passengers working for World Vision, Operation Blessing, Samaritan's Purse and Catholic Relief Services. The landing on Dadaab is uneventful, as the airstrip is tarmac and plenty long. Dadaab is area is a huge desert where the main thing is the fierce wind that seems to blow all the time! While we are refuelling from the drums that are stored at the airstrip I am approached by Adam, a hydraulics specialist who works for Samaritan's Purse. He needs to travel to Nairobi, and wants to know if we have space for him. When we land on Nairobi WIlson later he shares how grateful he is for MAF. two weeks ago he nearly lost his life on the dangerous roads in the Dadaab area. Being able to travel is not only more convenient it is also a lot safer!
On the picture you can see how barren the area of Northern Kenya is.
Urgent need..
On our flight from Sudan to Nairobi last Friday we stopped in Torit to pick up two passengers. To our surprise one of them was delivered to the airplane by an ambulance. It turned out the patient was recovering from a severe operation, and needed to be transported to a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. I was assured he could walk and sit, but that statement was a bit of a stretch. We got him on board. Despite the fact that he was a head taller than me, he was skin over bones, and must have weighed only 50 kg. During our stop in Loki, while the other passengers were sorting immigration issues, the patient started calling from the back of the plane. I checked what the problem was, and soon enough understood that he had to pee urgently. However the patient was not convinced that I understood, so he lifted his hospital gown with one hand, and took his lid in the other and waved it around to make himself more clear! he was clearly not going to wait, so I handed him as fast as I could a sick sack. He filled it without any embarressment. Luckily the doctor just arrived back in time to take care of the bag for me!
Friday August 26
We had a great week in Juba and had a good taste of the work that is happening here. It is an exiting place to be, but still hot! Today we are flying back to Nairobi via Torit, Paloeta, Loki and Eldoret. I am looking forward to a weekend in Nairobi and visiting Jody and Mark. (Anneke's sister). I promised to cook for them, as I need a good meal after a week of hard sudanese bread rolls (shall I eat it, or club someone with it?). Next week we will be flying out of Nairobi, hopefully some flights to Dadaab. THe picture (right) I took in Waat. It took some convincing, but I got a beautiful smile in the end! Please check my facebook to watch a short video clip
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=562963221
Waat? "a damsel in distress"
Waat is an airstrip that is usually problematic after rain, as the surface (Black Cotton Soil) becomes a slippery mud when wet. We had landed before in Malakal where a girl, working for Save THe Children needed a bit of saving herself. She was stuck in Malakal and wanted to get out. Preferably to Waat but otherwise Juba. We were mostly empty for the return flight and so we took her on board. THere was a report from another pilot that the strip was wet, but we promised to give it a try. After a thorough inspection, which involves rolling the wheels over the surface without really landing, we decided that there was sufficient length of hard surface left for us to take off. (before you land you have to make sure you can take off again!). We spend some time after landing walking and measuring the available runway length and took some pictures. Plenty of candidates that wanted to pose!
Wednesday August 24
Monday morning, Nairobi airport. I had one foot on the step of the caravan to get in when I heard that I wasn't going to Juba for three days but for the whole week! The planning changes so often here, it is hard to keep up. I told the manager I only had clothes for 3 days, but it didn't matter. Somone in Juba could wash for me. The flight was uneventful and at the end of the day we arrived in Juba. The next morning we flew a team of Medair to Paloich, 2.5 hour flight to the North. I was glad we decided to fly with a copilot (Jeff from South Africa) to allow us to fly IFR, as we definitely needed it! One rainshower after the other was waiting for us, and we had to fly around some of the heavier weather. tomorrow we do the same flight, again for Medair. On the way back we will fly Sudanese churchworkers to Juba.
Sunday 21st of August
The return flight from Juba to Nairobi was quite an exiting one. We were flying a team of SIL (Wycliffe Bible Translators) to Nagashot, a place as exiting as the name sounds! Nagashot is situated on top of a mountain at 6.500 ft. Whereas Sudan is mostly low lands Nagashot is an impressive area of mountains and steep cliffs. Before the flight I wondered why the missionaries were not using the airstrip at Chukudung, 10 km further. I understood better when I arrived overh ead the airstrip; travel to Chukundung by car was almost impossible down or up the steep mountain sides. Because Nagashot is a challenging airstrip I was only allowed to land after a briefing by one of the other pilots who had previous experience flying in there. We also spend 10 minutes doing a flight inspection before committing to landing. When we finally landed it was a rough landing on the hard undulated surface. It was great to be part of the amazing ministry of the SIL team.
Saturday 20th of August
We had a busy week. Since we received the permissions to fly we have being doing just that! On Wednesday we did two flights with a team of nurses in training from the US. We flew them to Migori in the west of Kenya where they will be working with Team Works Ministry of Pastor Chacha, as well as just across the border in Tanzania. On Thursday we flew via Lokichokio to Kapoeta and Torit to Juba in South Sudan. Lokichokio was the UN base from where all the aid was managed during the war in Sudan. On board we had a mix of church and relief workers whom all are working for a better future of this young country. 
MAF is so busy in South Sudan that we have opened a base in Juba. On the compound of a friendly mission organization an office was constructed out of containers, and a few pre fab houses were build for the MAF families. Despite that already a lot has changed in Juba, it is still not the best place to live. Water is being delivered weekly by a truck, and the heat can be quite overwhelming. Despite this you can notice an atmosphere of expectation among the staff. It is an incredible opportunity after so many years of hard work to be involved by the birth of a new country. The MAF people that live with their families in Juba are doing this wholeheartedly and with conviction. It is great to be part of that a little during these weeks.
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