It kinda hits home

A couple of days ago we were on a medical flight to Maun. When we arrived at Francistown to drop off the patient, we received a call directing us back to Maun. There was a six year old boy (Jacob's age) with a head injury as a result of a car accident who also needed to be transported to Francistown. I wasn't prepared for the emotions that I would feel when I saw this young boy, and heard his cries of pain. As well, although the hospital had bandaged his head, they seemed to have ignored the torn flesh on parts of his leg. I became very emotional inside, feeling what I can imagine the Father of this child was feeling. I prayed, asking God to allow me to do my job to the best of my ability, as I was the pilot flying this leg of the trip. I was there to do a job. My part is to fly the plane, the paramedics are there to care for the patients. Together, we can save lives - sometimes. (A few days earlier, the patient died before the plane got off the ground). We had a third flight to Maun - Francistown the next morning, and the paramedics took the time to check in on the little boy. I am praising God that he was doing much better, and the scan showed no hemorrhage on the brain - perhaps a miracle itself.

The public (ground) ambulances here are basically transport only, and provide no medical care for the patients themselves. It is boggling to wrap your mind around this, as it is so foreign from what we have back home. I am struggling to understand how a patient in critical condition can simply be loaded into the back of a truck and driven to the airport with no medical equipment to sustain them, but I have since been told that the clinics themselves often don't have much medical equipment. So without the airplane, many patients would not make it to the larger hospital, and would not get the care they needed. I am grateful for the lives that can be saved because of the airplane, and the (private) paramedics we transport.

I'm an Air Ambulance Driver!

I was moved today as I reflected on God's goodness and all that He is doing on our behalf. He has arranged for us to rent a house that is safe, secure, and affordable. This is a big God thing, because there is just not much available that meets those criteria here right now. I just got my paperwork, and already I have had two flights. I sat under the wing of the airplane waiting for the paramedics to return from delivering the patient to the hospital. It was then that it hit home. These medical flights save lives. That alone is worth being here. I had a real God day just realizing how he has been working things out - bring us to Botswana, providing us with a place to live, resurrecting my aviation career, giving us some options for vehicles, and just being with us. I was so moved by His kindness, as I thought about all these things. Then on the way home, He impressed on me to bless a particular street vendor with a little boy. We won't be able to help everyone, but we can make a difference to the one to whom HE sends us.

My First King Air Flight

This morning I went up for a test flight with one of the Captains who was checking out the airplane after some maintenance. As the non-flying pilot, I learned about the aircraft and called out the checklist for the Captain at his request. After a successful test flight, we radioed in to request permission to return to the airport. To our surprise, we were told we would have to wait. The President's plane would be arriving, and as such, the airport is closed for about 10 minutes on either side.
Since we had some time to kill, the Captain took the opportunity to turn the controls over to me so that I could get the feel of the aircraft. Flying today made me glad that I had just renewed my instrument rating back in Saskatoon. The haze over Gaborone was so thick that most of our flying was strictly on instruments. You could not see the ground for most of the flight. It was good practice on instrument flying, without all of the stress of being responsible for the entire aircraft. Then, once we got clearance, the Captain allowed me to fly the aircraft in. He even had me land the airplane, which was quite stressful, but went well.
I was supposed to do some actual training this afternoon, but then a medical flight came up, and the guys are gone for the rest of the day with the aircraft.
Speaking of training, Cheryl drove from "home" clear across the city yesterday. It is quite a bit different driving a standard (in the right hand seat),on the left side of the road, with the signals and wipers on the opposite sides that you are used to. Besides that, many of the roads are unfamiliar to us, so navigating with a map is mandatory. She did quite well, but will hopefully get some more practice before having to venture out alone.
We are waiting to hear about a house that we would like to rent - which may happen today. The cost and availability of housing is much like in Saskatoon - it is a hot rental market in Gaborone as well. We are currently living in a suberb, much like Martensville is to Saskatoon, and we are hoping to be able to stay out there as several of the Flying Mission families are living there as well.

Finally A hello from Botswana

Hello Dear Friends, its been awhile since we have had internet access that would allow us to actually post a blog.

Life in Botswana is wonderful right now. I have just written and passed my air law exam. I will be doing my flight training this week, and provided that my work visa comes through, will be on the flight schedule by the 15th of Sept.

We are living in the home of a family on furlough right now, and are waiting to hear from a landlord here who has been renting to another Flying Mission Family. If the rent doesn't go up too much, we will be renting the house of the Director of FM who is moving back to the US.

Cheryl and the kids have launched into another year of home schooling and things so far are going well. The kids have adjusted well, although we have not met many families with kids yet. That's a point of prayer for us.

Grocery stores are plentiful, and there are stores / shops that carry pretty well anthing you need. There seems to be things that you might only find at one or two stores (kids bikes for instance) but we are still very blessed here. We also were able to pick up some housewares at a church thrift shop, which runs on Monday mornings.

We are getting around Gaborone nicely in Flying Mission's car right now, and are in the process of finding a different car to purchase.

Life here does not seem that much different from Saskatoon in many ways. Although, it always gets dark before 7 and you tend to just stay home after that. All of the expats (foreigners) and many of the Botswana tend to live behind walls, with electric wire, and often a dog in the yard. The locals call this "stop nonsense".

Most of all, we are missing our friends and family back home. We have not been able to get on SKYPE yet due to the internet situation, but have had several phone calls back and forth. There are very few land lines here, and everyone has cell phones. The cost to call back to Saskatoon is 6 pula ($1) a minute, but texting here is next to free. I'm not sure if anyone in Canada has recieved the text messages I sent...haven't heard yet.

It's the end of winter here, and temperatures are much like what we had in Saskatoon when we left. I have seen 2 monkeys up by the airport, and there is a small game park right by Gaborone that we are going to check out. They apparently don't have lions, but who wants to get eaten for lunch anyway. I've been told that when you go to the big game parks, animals are in charge, so drive carefully.

I'll sign off with a few pictures. God Bless