Weblog Kees and Ilonka Barendse

Our new hangar

2010-12-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-12-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-03-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-08-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Aircraft painting in South Africa

2008-05-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know yet, we are now living and working in Kampala, Uganda! Dtill with MAF, and we have not had a chance yet to be bored. There was plenty of work settling in, and then plenty of work in the hangar. One of the big projects that needed doing was the repainting of one of the Caravans, 5X-BIL. We sent the aircraft with a Kenyan engineer, Owen, to Lanseria in Johannesburg, South Africa. There the aircraft was stripped of its paint, repaired where needed, and repainted. In April I went there to sign off the aircraft and join the retunr flight to Uganda via Dodoma in Tanzania.

MAF South Africa hangar

There was a lot of work to do on the aircraft besides the painting. The cargo pod was left behind in Dodoma on the way down to Lanseria, and MAF in Tanzania repaired that for us. Then most of the interior was repaired in Dodoma too. The aircraft propeller needed overhaul, and there were various avionics snags that needed fixing. Owen monitered all that work for us. There were major problems with the propeller overhaul though. The company claimed to have East African approvals, which turned out to be not true. Then the blades turned out to be worn beyond limits, and I needed to order and ship out to South Africa a new set of blades. Then the manager of the company decided to leave, and then the remaining engineer lost his license. All in all it took weeks and weeks to get that work done, which delayed the return of BIL considerably.

Lanseria

I flew to Lanseria in April with one of our pilots. We checked out the aircraft, found a few remaining snags, and carried out a test flight. All that went well, except for a tremendous whistle when the aircraft leveled off. A tube of silicone sealant to seal the gaps in the wing root panels fixed that problem nicely. The next day we flew down to Lilongwe in Malawi where we stayed at a friends house. Then on to Dodoma where the cargo pod and other bits and pieces were waiting.

BIL in a full hangar in Dodoma

It was nice and good to be back in Dodoma after 4 months, but also weird since there was not much left it felt like. No house, no family, no car, tools, nothing. But lots of old friends to talk to, and the work on BIL went very well. Church was nice too, and the people there were very happy to see me back again. Some people would have liked to have seen Ilonka there too though..

After the work was done we flew back to Entebbe and then on to Kajjansi. It had been a long trip, but we are very happy to have the aircraft back, it left the next morning for a busy day of flying again....

Lake Victoria

Equator!

Arrival at Entebbe

Ready for next days flight at Kajjansi

Swimming gala!

2008-03-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

So, it was time again for another swimming gala for the kids. A couple of local primary school met last Saturday for a swimming competition at de kids school. Lots of fun, and they did really well! Lise swam in her age group (8 year olds) but because she is fast she also swam in the 10 year old group. Even though Tom, Inge and lise won most of their races another school actually won first prize. Latest rumors are that this school practices 6 days a week twice a day.... At least that gave us parents some comfort....

There was television crews everywhere, and Tom even got interviewed! It was right at the evening news, so secretly we are planning a trip to the 2012 Olympics!

For more pictures look at SWIMMINGGALA

In Kampala!

2008-01-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we wrote on this blog. I did update the Dutch version, but we just had no time to write the English updates. But, for those who don't know yet, we are now living in Kampala! The last two months of last year were of course hectic, especially for Ilonka who took care of most of the packing in the house. I was busy with handing over the hangar to Heri, and sorting out issues with the car which we took with us.

We moved out of our house a week before we left for Uganda, and we stayed in a house on the MAF compound. The place where we started living 10 years before! On the 26th of December Tom en me drove off with a full car for the three day drive to Kampala. The first day to Arusha was fine, but the second day went less well, with us hitting a massive pothole just before the border with Kenya, and with a 4 hour delay at the border itself. The amount of paperwork to export a car is just amazing! we stayed the night in Nairobi, and then drove on to the border with Uganda. What we did not expect was that the roads between Nakuru and Eldoret were totally broken up, and this cost us an extra 2 hours of driving time. The border crossing was late, and dealing with the border officials, was, let's say, "interesting". However, without crossing any ethical boundaries we managed to cross the border, but again, we hit a 2 hour delay because the road between Tororo and Jinja was totally washed out. It was 9 o'clock in the evening before we drove up to our new house, where Ilonka and the girls were waiting for us. They had flown in from Dodoma that morning.....

We are now well on our way with settling in here. It's different, it's discomforting at times, but we are managing well. The house is nice, and the inverter system keeps our electricity running even though the town electricity is off most of the time. The children are doing well at school, and the swimming team teacher is beaming, 'cause all three Barendses swim all competitors right out of the water!

The work in the hangar is going well, the team is small, and the hangar (and aircraft) are badly neglected. But we are planning to tackle all those issues, and all that should be lots of fun!

Have a look at Kampala pictures for some photo's of our time here in Kampala

Last Holiday in Iringa

2007-10-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

The time of "last times" has arrived. Last visit to family "x", last drive to Dar es Salaam, last this, last that. So now it was time for our last holiday in Tanzania. And instead of exploring new places, we decided to just go back to the place we know very well, Iringa, and Ruaha.

For some pictures, click on HOLIDAY

Neighbours party

2007-07-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

The neighbours had a party this evening! It turned out that the poor 4 year old son had been circumcised. This was obviously reason for a party! Not sure what the boy thought of it...

The local tribe only use only 4 notes in their music, makes interesting listening. Listen by clicking on Party

So what have we been up to lately?

2007-06-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since we wrote something here, mostly because Ilonka was busy teaching and things were hectic in the hangar. However, we managed to get away for a weekend to the beach. Have a look at Bagamoyo for some more pictures.

And sometimes we make puzzles!

Camping trip into the bush

2007-04-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend Tom Nyqvist took us for a camping trip to the Masaai steppe 120 kilometers Northeast of Dodoma. It was a long drive, but the place where we camped was beautiful. We spent two nights there, and we drove around a bit in the mornings and evening looking for animals. We saw a dead giraffe (...), Dikdiks, Cervic cats, Springhares, Impala's, Bat-eared Foxes, and we heard lions at night.

It was a nice trip, hot at daytime, and very cold in the mornings. At night the moon lit up the place, and the stars were amazing!

Only thing that went wrong was that Kees managed to squash a Nairobi Fly, a tiny little beetle (1cm) which has an extremely potent poison in it's body which comes out when it gets squashed. Less than 1mg of poison is released this way!

Kees got the poison on the inside of his arm. Ater coming home it was all red and sore, the next day it looked like this:

Very, very painful, and very awkward if you can't bend your arm at all! Now it is all puss and blisters!

For more pictures of the camping trip have a look at Camping trip

Sportsday

2007-04-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last week it was sportsday at school! Even though it was 35 celcius all the kids ran and jumped like gazelles across the field! The yellow team of Tom, Inge and Lise won in the end. For more pictures have a look at sportsday

Ilonka teaches health

2007-03-27T11:05:00.001-07:00

Today was my first day of teaching at the Anglican Church in Msalato, a little village North of Dodoma. They have a big project for 270 adopted Compassion children, and today all their parent or guardians were invited. I think I was expecting something maybe something like 60 parents. However, there were 250 total. All got tea and a "mandazi" to start with, then we spoke about 4 different subjects: malaria, nutrition, hygiene, and stomach problems. Afterwards there was some good food for all to eat. Next we will continue, with more teaching about diseases, HIV and family planning. Claire Moffatt, Garth's wife, came with me, and she was te extra special guest from South Africa, and she made all the pictures. For some pictures have a look at Training pictures

First harvest!

2007-03-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

The harvest is ready! This week Ilonka was given the first maize from a pastor from Dodoma. So finally, after years of bad harvests we are now looking forward to a more than sufficient harvest for the people around Dodoma. Lise and our nightguard Lamek celebrated by roasting the maize on the fire today! While Tom was racing around on his bike being chased by Inge and a broom.... Teenagers!

Lise's birthday

2007-02-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

This month it was Lise's 7th Birthday. All of those 7 birthdays she celebrated in Tanzania! Have a look at Lise's birthday pictures.

Inge likes to play with BUGS!

2007-02-17T05:01:00.000-08:00

Inge likes to play with bugs, like this centipede !!!!

ZBZ has been salvaged

2007-02-16T06:52:00.000-08:00

Martijn, Heri, Bat Enkh and Glen Cousley from the Car shop managed to pack ZBZ into two containers this week at Haydom. It was pretty messy, muddy and difficult. Have a look at ZBZ salv age to see all the pics.

I'm not a tourist, I live here!

2007-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to join Hansjoerg Schlatter on a flight to Arusha this week. It' sometimes just nice to get away from the hangar for a day or so, and I also like to see the aircraft "in action" once in a while so I can see whether there are any annoying snags that we need to sort out.

Arusha was dry and hot. Unlike Dodoma and most of the rest of Tanzania where people are floating out of their villages.... So not too many birds to look at around the airport.
We took a taxi to town where we planned to look around a bit, buy some nice meat at the butcheries, and drink a coke in the Arusha hotel.

All went well, but what got to us after two hours was the continuous nagging and shouting of people trying to sell things, carvings, t-shirts, bracelets, other junk and complete safari's to us. At first we smiled and made clear in rather fluent Swahili that we really did not need anything. But after two long hours we pretty much were fed up with the whole thing. In despair I declared out loud :" What we need is a t-shirt with "We are not tourists, we live here!!!" . Sure enough, 1 second later a rasta haired salesman came running in: "Bwana, bwana, I have those t-shirts !!!"

:-|

Kids Saturday

2007-01-28T01:38:00.000-08:00

So what do the kids do on a Saturday? Well, Tom goes to karate with Tartisio as his teacher
Inge and Lise are busy with the new puppy.
Or they go and find bugs to play with, or cameleons.

2007-01-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

As promised here is the newsletter that Ilonka wrote, this time in more readable chunks.

She wrote about:

The drought and rain
Work in the hangar
Ilonka's work
The kids

Well, I think this is it for now, better finish this of, before you’re falling asleep reading it!

Thank you all again, for being our friends for long, our supporters, our colleges from long time ago….!!

With warm greetings from all of us,With Gods blessing for all you do!

Lise, Inge, Tom, Kees and Ilonka

Our first Weblog!!

2007-01-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Finally, we joined the multitudes and started our own weblog. Actually, we already had a Dutch version, but we thought it would be nice to be able to show some of the things that we experience in this English blog.

We are doing fine. Still loving life and work in Dodoma, and there is still plenty to do. We will try and keep you up to date via postings on this weblog, and there will even be pictures!

Ilonka has written a newsletter with the highlights of last year. It can be found at newsletter but I will need to tweak it a bit and make it look a bit more inviting to read.

Enough for now. Enjoy the pictures via the links below. Sorry, the captions are in Dutch, I have not yet had time to make an English version.

For pictures of our ordinary stuff see ordinary stuff
The last Christmas production at school at Christmas
And our last holiday at holiday