Nov 1, 2019

This morning I was the primary pilot on duty. That means I was the one who would do the scheduled flights. I arrived to the hanger at 6am, got everything ready, and took off around 7am.

Unloading at my first stop this morning.

Today was a pretty simple flight. 3 passengers, 3 stops. 2 of my passengers were nurses, returning to their posts in the mountains for their shift, which typically lasts a few weeks. The third passenger also works at a clinic, as an administrator.

At my second stop I had to reconfigure the inside of the plane to be able to fit 2x 49kg gas bottles in. This is a long loading process. Once the seats are removed and strapped in the back, it takes long to get the bottles nicely tied down.

The rest of the flight went great, with the winds staying mostly calm during the hours I was out.

I was back to base by 11am.

The rest of the day I did safety related work in around the hanger. And was on call until lunch time.

The November Project

Sometimes its hard to find the time to sit down and give big updates. But It is pretty easy for me to find time in the day to post something short to Instagram and show what is going on during the day. So I figured, for the month of November, I plan to post a few lines here everyday, hopefully with a picture, to show a little of what we are up to.

An update through pictures

Here’s a glimpse of our last few months

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The first snowfall in July gave me some beautiful views. The reality is that life in the mountains in such conditions is even more harsh than normal. The day of the snowfall was bitterly cold and windy, and we were not able to fly due to the high winds. The day after, we heard that it was a tough day at the rural clinics, with the nurses doing their best to help patients and send them home to somewhere a little warmer than outside the clinic.

If you follow @pulanechildren on Instagram and FB, you will know that there are always beautiful pictures on there. Here is a little glimpse at the person who provides those great shots! Whenever Emily visits Pulane Children's Centre, she spends the afternoons on the playground, observing all the kids and snapping great pics of them in their day-to-day lives.

At Pulane Children's Centre there is an evening ‘Shepherd School.’ No, not a school to teach you how to be a shepherd, but a school FOR shepherds. The boys, and men, spend all day out in the mountains and don’t get a chance for normal daytime schooling. This evening school helps them learn basic reading, writing and math. It is just one of the many projects that fall under the banner of AFACTL (which is the trust that oversees Pulane Children's Centre and of which Emily is the Director). The Shepherd School project itself is managed by Jill Kinsey who lives a semi-retired life in Pulane.

Joe Adams, one of our pilot/mechanics has been hard at work over the last year using his wide range of skills to assist MAF. Joe and I arrived at the same time at MAF-Lesotho, but because he was able to be put to work on fixing planes, I did my flight training first. Now that I am doing regular flying, it has given him a chance to balance his fixing jobs with his flight checkout. At the end of June Joe did his first operational solo in Lesotho! And despite it being winter, he got well soaked by the rest of us!

People are always excited to see the planes arrive to their village. One place in particular, I always notice a group of kids standing in the same spot when I taxi past for take-off. They are always waving and smiling. On one flight in June I stopped the plane near their hut (the huts are about 10 meters away from the runway) to offload. They were very excited to get closer and see what the plane looked like inside!

I am training for an ultra trail race in September. The last few months have involved me and 2 friends training more and more and enjoying the Lesotho scenery while we are at it. On Father’s Day Jane insisted on joining me for a run!

We get a fair number of Code 1 (Emergency) flights. These are typically pregnant ladies, or head injuries, but occasionally something strange. One day in June I picked up a young girl who had swallowed a coin and it was lodged somewhere in her trachea! This lady on the stretcher had a broken leg. She had to travel over an hour on horseback to get to the runway closest to her village. In the picture here, I am helping load her in the ‘Ambulance,’ which is a Toyota Hilux pickup.

Some of you may have heard about Sello, my MoSotho (people of Lesotho) friend who is very talented at running. Excuse the picture quality. He is currently living up in the mountains to do high altitude training in preparation for the Soweto Marathon in November. At his last race, a popular one run by professional marathin runners, he came 7th! We are excited to see how well he does this next time around.

On our recent trip to Pulane Children's Centre, Jane and I got to go on a few fun mini-hiking adventures. Jane is at the age when pretending is a high priority. I would say over the last month she has spent maybe 5 minutes being Jane. The rest has been as Wonder-Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, a duck, a cat, or any other thing that her imagination can come up with in a few mili-seconds. Here, she is walking with her cup of tea, telling me about how I need to be Batman and she will be Batgirl!

Just about every place I land, I can’t quite believe the beauty and ruggedness of Lesotho. I try and capture it all in pictures that I share on Instagram, but they don’t ever get close.

Thank you to all our supporters who encourage us and help us to do these various ministries here in Lesotho.

May Update

In the space of a few weeks, the weather went from being hot to cold. My view out of the airplane window quickly went from bright green, to a more rugged looking dark green and brown. As I drove past the coal supplier to place an order, I realized that one year ago, with similar cool weather creeping in and a garden filled with dropping leaves, we moved into our Maseru house.

It seems crazy to have already been at MAF Lesotho a year. The past year has been filled with learning and growing for Emily, myself and Jane. Each of us has had to adapt to our new roles, and as we reach the one year mark, we are so happy to be content in these roles.

One of the nurses doing a good job on an emergency pick up

We are challenged daily. I like to go through the mental list of our airstrips and try and figure out which is the hardest. It’s a fun exercise, because it’s tough to think of one that doesn’t have its own unique challenge, and I have concluded that the hardest one is whichever one I am landing at next. This feels like a reflection of what life is. We are content, much like I am in the seat of the airplane, but we are always challenged to face the next big thing. And with the right approach and focus, we are able to keep handling things well. That is our prayer.

Pulane Children's Centre boys having fun

Emily continues to do a great job leading and directing the staff at Pulane Children’s Centre. With her own strengths of caring and a desire for the children’s best interests, she leads with passion and love. I see how this rubs off on the staff who work there, as they reflect more and more a deeper sense of what PCC is all about. Emily visits every 6 weeks or so, often going alone in our 4x4 truck (the fierce and independent woman she is), over roads that sometimes get washed away. I am always proud of the great job she is doing there. Once again, while challenged by the work daily, she keeps faithfully pressing forward to keep PCC going strong. Be sure to see details of the PCC happenings here.

Jane wearing princess jewelry

As Jane nears the end of her first year at preschool outside of Pulane Children’s Centre, she continues to keep us amused, proud and thankful. As a 4 year old, her interests change on a weekly basis, most recently shifting towards Wonder Woman, and a whole array of her own made up superheroes, including ‘Duck Lady,’ and ‘Butterfly Girl.’

I keep pretty busy with flying. As a non-mechanic (the other pilots on our team are dual pilot-mechanics), I often am able to pick up some extra flights, which allows the other guys the time they need to focus on maintenance. I am more than happy to do this of course, and usually say something like “Oh ok, I guess I’ll fly all of this week if I really have to.” I love every flight I get to do, and it never ceases to amaze me what a beautiful country this is.

And so, as winter draws near, we look forward to what is ahead. I can’t wait to fly over snowcapped mountains. Jane will soon be on her long winter vacation from school, which leaves Emily with 75 kids at Pulane Children’s Centre to manage, and one more at home!

Many thanks for all of your support. We could not be here without it. Please be sure to check in on our Instagram accounts (Emily, Grant) (including the one for PCC where we try and keep stories and pics regularly updated. Now, I hope that coal order comes through soon!