Our new hangar

MAF in Uganda has it's own airfield between Kampala and Entebbe. It's called Kajjansi and it is home to a number of small aircraft operators. MAF starting building a small aircraft hangar in the mid 90s which was supposed to be a temporary facility. However, soon various additions were made to the basic structure, and now it has been MAF Uganda's aircraft maintenance hangar for many years.

Unfortunately the current hangar is no longer suitable for the maintenance that is being carried out in it. It is too small, it leaks, is very hot and a replacement is badly needed. About four years ago plans were being drawn up to build a new hangar. It started off with me doing a few sketches in Google Sketchup

We decided to hire an architect who started making more detailed plans based on some quotes made by another buro. Unfortunately the budget kept going up and up the more detailed the plans became. After a while the budget was set and fund raising was started. Soon the go ahead was given and the hangar structure arrived from the USA in four large shipping containers in August 2009.

Early 2010 the site was being prepared, but unfortunately there were heavy rains in that period. This delayed the project for a few monts, after which the foundation were built and a special company started putting up the metal structure. This too did not go without problems, but progress was made.

The problems with this special company became apparent when the roof was finished, and turned out to be leaking heavily during rains. Martijn Verboom, one of our engineers, had to re-do most of the roof installation with new sealant, and now most of the leaks have disappeared. Currently we are discussing whether we as MAF should finish the doors and front of the hangar ourselves. In the mean time drainage and landscaping is are being done, and we hope that the internal offices can be built soon.

A boatride on the lake

One of the nice things about living in Kampala is that we are near the North Western shore of Lake Victoria. When driving around the area you can get some good views of the lake. I have read it used to be a crystal clear lake with enormous amounts of fish. Nowadays it is heavily polluted and the largest part of the fish has been taken out. In the 50's it was also decided that the Nile Perch would be introduced, which was supposed to create a large fishing industry. It did that for a while, but now even the Nile Perch has been fished out, and in turn the Perch annihilated most of the original mostly endemic fish species. An ecological disaster.

MAF used to fly a floatplane on the lake in the mid 90's, but that project was abandoned quite a while ago. MAF had a Zodiac speedboat to support the operations of the aircraft, and this boat has been sitting idle for many years now. We did some work on it this year, and got it all working again. Me and Tom took it out for a spin last week, and boy did we have a blast. We clocked it at 52 kilometers per hour. Unfortunately the fuel burn is also huge, 2 kilometers to the liter....

Currently the boat is stored at Kajjansi airfield, and the nearest place to launch it is at Lutembe, 3 km away over a dirt road. Because the trailer is not designed very well it takes about an hour to get there! Then another half hour to launch the boat and you can see it just takes too long to go out for a quick trip. We are considering moving it to the Kazi flying club which is closer to Kampala, but security is an issue there: an outboard motor is a great catch for a local fisherman!

Blogging, why is it so difficult?

Now why is it so hard to blog? A far as I understand it a blog is a place where you regularly share information that you want to share. It can be be about your daily activities, a hobby, a business, work, the weather, anything goes! And for those of us who live far away from friends and family it is a very easy way to keep them up to date on what is happening in our lives. Some people start a blog and manage to just keep writing new stuff on it, like Jon and Cher Cadd who fly for MAF. Their blog can be admired at http://captainsblogafrica.wordpress.com/ . Other people even manage to make money with their blogs!

I believe blogs are being overtaken a bit by stuff like Facebook and Twitter from which I will stay far for now. Unfortunately we did not manage to keep adding to our blog, and it has been a year now since we last updated it.

But here we go again! Let's give it another try! For those of you who don't know anymore what we look like I will add some pics.

Oh no it's raining again!

After a few weeks of dry season the rains seem to be returning to Kampala. Earlier this week there was a huge rainstorm which did quite a lot of damage to trees and powerlines. Today there was heavy rain again, and because all the leaves blown off the trees earlier ended up in our garden, all the drains were blocked. This caused our garden to flood nicely, which Lise found very interesting!

ZBZ back in Dodoma!

Finally, after more than 2 years, ZBZ is back in Dodoma. This aircraft was severely damaged in an accident in April 2006. After long discussions with the insurance company it was finally decided that the aircraft would be repaired in the USA. In April 2007 we disassembled it and packed it in containers which were shipped to America. And now, more than a year later, the aircraft has returned to Dodoma.

It is a strange thing for me to see these pictures. I was so closely involved with all the planning and excecution of the repairs, and now I am not there to witness the return of the aircraft! But we are very happy for the people of MAF Tanzania, they finally have 2 Caravans back to work with!

Helping out on a Sunday

Two weeks ago our program manager was called in Church during the Sunday service. There was an urgent request for a flight from the West of Uganda to Kampala. Someone had fallen ill with malaria, and had to be flown back to the UK for treatment. A pilot was called to do the flight, and Ilonka agreed to do the flight following. As usual I was the standby engineer in case any mechanical problems would occur. So for several hours before, during and after lunch we were listening out for the pilots radio calls, and in the end the patient was safely flown to Kampala.

Later on we received the letter below, which was nice!

I am writing to express our heartfelt thanks for your prompt help last Sunday. As you will recall I rang you in the morning with an SOS call regarding my father-in-law, Rev Ray Holdcroft who had been taken ill in Kisoro & needed to be transported to Entebbe ASAP. We run a charity called The Rhema Mission which is based in Stoke on Trent in the UK. We have a Mission Station in the hills outside Kisoro in the village of Chananke where we are working with a local pastor, Rev Ndizeye Jackson and his fellowship to build a Church / Community Centre along with a Primary School & Clinic. We were in Uganda for a two week period to drive the work forward and assist Pastor Jackson within the work of The Rhema Mission in Uganda. Ray had been taken ill a few days previously and as his condition had worsened, he was admitted to Mutolere Hospital, near Kisoro for treatment, but they were unable to accurately diagnose his illness. We were at desperation point, needing to get Ray back to Entebbe to catch the BA flight to Heathrow the next day (Monday) for medical attention in the UK. A contact in Uganda managed to find the telephone number for MAF. When I rang I was given your number, so I called you not knowing or even expecting if you would be able to help us. When you said that you could assist us by sending a plane to the airstrip at Kisoro to air-lift us back to Entebbe I was amazed at the flexibility & willingness to help exhibited by yourself and the team at MAF in Uganda.

When we saw that plane coming in to land on Kisoro airstrip, I cannot explain the sense of relief and hope that came over me on behalf of Ray & myself. The pilot, Simon Wunderli was absolutely fantastic. He was professional, courteous and helpful beyond the call of duty. The assistance he provided Ray before, during and after the flight was outstanding, and when he prayed with us before the flight he helped to calm any fears and anxieties we may have had. He was quite simply an answer

"I am pleased to report that I am writing this e-mail from my home in the UK. We flew back into the UK yesterday via a British Airways flight from Entebbe to Heathrow where Ray's wife Barbara and my wife Alison along with Graham, a good friend from church were waiting to transport Ray back home ASAP. He is at home now recovering & seeking further medical assistance for what may be malaria.

Please pass on our most sincere thanks to all the team at MAF in Uganda for all your help & support during this difficult time, especially yourself and Simon, for making the impossible possible & helping us in our time of need. So from Ray, myself and our family please accept our most sincere thanks. We thank God for you all & pray that He will bless you all richly both in your personal lives and within your wonderful ministry."

It sure was busy in the hangar!

Sometimes the hangar here at Kajjansi just seems empty and bare compared to Dodoma where there was always a flurry of activities going on! Many times it is just Mark, Ronnie, Romao, Michael, Stan and me, or even fewer people sometimes. But the last three weeks we managed to squeeze a lot more people into the hangar! Both MAF Uganda and MAF US had some major work going on on their aircraft, including the replacement of various avionics systems. So we had extra engineers from Tanzania, Kenya and the USA flown in to help us with that work.

I have to admit, there were also two pilots added to this picture...

Oh, and our lunches we get from the Hilton, a thatched roof restaurant where our food is cooked the very African way.