An Golly Goche

Last week Cathy and I along with two other Mercy Air staff flew in support of Martin and Simone Schumann, who are German missionaries in N. Mozambique. This was the sixth time Mercy Air had flown there, my fifth and Cathy's second time.

The total trip was 2200 miles (3500Km). The white line on the map below is the length of the UK.

 We flew past some pretty impressive scenery on the way up.

The place we landed was an old military fighter base and still had a hangar load of Mig 21's.

We took 1200 solar powered audio Bibles and another load of Artemisia tea which can be used to cure malaria. We also took supplies to help them finish some projects on their house.

The plane was full but getting it and us into Martin's vehicle was another issue!

After that there was only the matter of a 2 1/2 hour drive in the dark on a dodgy road to where they actually live.

Arrival after 11 hours of travel

Apart from delivering the Bibles and Artemisia we were there to help with a number of projects.

The Schumann's have had no running water in all the years they have lived there. I re-wired a water pump...

...before Allan and I plumbed it in to transfer rain water caught in underground tanks...

up to a header tank and then in to the house for use in the bathroom and kitchen.

Allan made a mess in a bathroom...

...but then tidied it up leaving a newly installed sink.

Hendri worked on the Schumann's vehicle which had suffered after many kilometres on bad roads.

Then he attacked their motorbike which hadn't run in over two months. Martin uses to access the villages.

How many blokes does it take to change a motorbike tyre?

Up to four apparently.

Cathy did an ante-natal checkup on Simone who is expecting their fourth baby.

She also did a fair bit of baking.

And varnished just about every bit of wood.

I climbed a tree...

 

...and then ended up on the roof patching up holes and cracks.

Mad dogs and Englishmen...

Prior to that I conscripted some help in cutting the strips of fabric for the roof.

Child labour

While I was on the roof some guys called from the beach (which is less that 50m away). They had a Yellow Fin Tuna which they'd just caught.

We negotiated a price and then they carved it up in front of the kids which didn't seem to phase them. I guess it happens quite a lot.

Allan went off to visit some villages where Martin teaches. They had to go when the tide was out though so they could cross the estuary. 

No wonder his bikes don't do so well!

The village was still someway further on - and on - and on.

Cathy and Simone did their own visiting...

...and even found one man listening to one of the audio Bibles Martin had given out previously.

We came across quite a few moths including this interesting beast.

Next day we got up at 04:00 to drive 2 1/2 hrs back down the Black Widow road that even eats the vehicles that helped create it...

...to be in Nacala in time to take off and fly 125 miles down the coast to be in Angoche by 08:30.
To drive would take over 6 hours, by Cessna 310, a mere 40 minutes.

Our welcoming committee was comprised maily of local kids.

We went to Angoche to meet some friends we first met in Lesotho twenty years ago. They had worked in Angoche for a year and were back on a follow up visit. Just so happens that we were both travelling back to SA at the same time so we spent a night and flew them back the following day.

But not before travelling out to the bush to see some of their work.
One was way out on a dirt road - did I say road, that might be a bit kind. The whole village gathered under a huge tree.

 You always see some interesting T shirts way out in the bush.

 After lots of singing and dancing and talking we were led into an overly warm hut and fed.

 

Our accommodation in town was quite comfortable although Health and Safety might have some concerns with the hot water arrangement in the shower.

Note the dodgy switch and exposed wires by the shower head - circled.

The next day we were up early and off again. Before we left the airport I looked in an almost derelict hangar and found two Piper Cub's well past their fly by date.

A quick check on the web when I got home revealed a picture taken in 1950 of the aircraft at the same airport.

I think the aircraft was made in 1948

So, as quick as it came a week full of activity was over, leaving only a 5 hour/950 mile flight to get home. Plenty of time to look back and contemplate what was accomplished and look forward to how we can help serve in the future.

Thank you.

Paul and Cathy

To Chimoio - but not quite beyond

The last few weeks have seen us preparing for another trip in our Kodiak to ASAM near Chimoio in Mozambique. In many respects it was almost run of the mill but at the same time there were a few firsts we hoped to achieve.

It was the first time we had been able to fly from our local international airport directly to Chimoio as they had the Jet A1 fuel the Kodiak burns. This avoided having to route via Beira on the coast costing us time and money. It was also to be the first time we could continue on and land at the newly opened airstrip at ASAM only 30 miles further on from Chimoio. Although we had a DCA flight permit we were not allowed to do so 'due to the continuing political unrest in the country'. This was quite a surprise and a disappointment as it would of closed a large circle spanning many years of joint planning and preparation on behalf of Mercy Air and ASAM.

We would have liked to of landed here...

..and left the plane in here.

Now we have a larger plane we can take more people and more stuff and on this trip there were a number of different functions we were fulfilling. The main one was to transport Rick Cogbill, the founder of Mercy Tech Missions who had flown with us many times in previous years. He had set up an auto maintenance facility at ASAM and wanted to transport the last few items he needed to complete the task. Rick has a natty little blog at:
http://mydustyshoes.blogspot.com/2014/02/week-one-arriving.html
so I won't steal any of his thunder as you can read his side of the story by clicking on the link above.

The Kodiak is huge and true to form Rick tried to load as much into it as he could, almost to the point that we were threatening to ban breakfast in the morning due to weight restrictions.

We had some old friends visiting us from Birmingham in the UK (well, they are older than us - just, and we have known them for 25 years) and we wanted to take them to Moz to see what we do. Nigel is a vicar by trade but used to be a fire engine mechanic back in the day so him and Rick had plenty to talk about.

Being in the ministerial way Nigel was happy to give a talk at the morning devotions.

The one morning just as we started, so did the rain, and we all quickly relocated to Rick's new workshop where Nigel used the inspection pit to good effect.

The inspection pit of baptism - one day

Another aspect of the whole trip was Education. Mercy Air has been working together with YWAM to develop the 'Classroom in a Box' concept and Anne Herbert from Mercy Air also accompanied us and spent her time helping to train mission staff members in student assessment and basic literacy and numeracy activities.

This also included a visit to a bush school ASAM had set up many years ago to share the concepts with the teachers.

Teaching the teachers

Our arrival at the school was quite the event and all the kids were waiting to wave us in with branches.

Then they sang the national anthem and visitors who were spectators...

...soon became participants in games...

...much to the appreciation of all involved.

Because of the recent rains there were only about a quarter of the kids at school that day as the others couldn't cross the swollen river. We were able to do a teaching event to all the kids in one classroom...

...before lunch. First the drinking and hand washing water had to be collected from - quite a way aways apparently...

...before we helped dish up...

...and serve.

The kids walk up to 8 km to attend the school and this is likely the only proper food these kids will get on any particular day.

The food is cooked on an open fire...

...and served till it is all gone.

On the way back we stopped to by bread, but it was only just being made...

...in an oven powered by large trees.

We also visited a family who had four sets of twins.

Back at ASAM Nigel and I continued helping Rick with a few things in the workshop.

A work bench in the making

Became a work bench in situ

And then a work bench in action as Rick used it to teach some electrical motor maintenance

Meanwhile the shop received it's first vehicle for a clutch change and other adjustments.

A tool box we bought up gets its first outing

Cathy lends a hand!

Nigel inspected one of the centres generators.

And gave some non verbal feedback on the electrical distribution facility.

Anne continued with assessments for some of the ASAM staff.

While Cathy did an impromptu consultation for a mother who had some infant feeding issues

After what seemed like a whirlwind tour - especially considering the two nights of violent thunder and hoofing down rain, we drove back to Chimoio and headed home.

The Rio Save from 12000 ft.

We had some 'weather' on the way up and particularly on the way back down but the radar, storm-scope and approach and arrival equipment on the aircraft's Garmin GPS worked flawlessly.

Arriving back in South Africa

Thank you

Paul and Cathy