Up, up and away...

Saturday 3 March 2012

Kananga Airport

Going for a ride in a small plane for the first time can be a little unsettling, but making your first flight, over deserted savanna and then thick jungle, with no enroute weather or flight following and then landing on a short, dirt field is clearly not for the faint of heart.  We headed to the airfield in Kananga early on Saturday morning for Sue’s first small plane adventure.  Jacques dropped off the senior Congolese UMC doctor, along with the sole doctor at one of the Mission Hospitals we were scheduled to visit and the senior maternity nurse at one of the other Mission Hospitals, along with Sue and Jim, to check out at the terminal while Jacques prepared the Cessna 206 Super Skywagon for our trip.  It took almost an hour for us to clear the terminal, after paying a $10 head tax. 



Honor guard

 As we left the terminal, a senior police VIP was arriving on the commercial plane and there was an honor guard, band and lots of senior brass present.  We had to walk out to the UMC plane, pass the honor guard and band just after the VIP had deplaned.  We did get some strange looks from the assembled policemen, three Congolese and two white folks heading to a small plane.  The doctor said everyone knew we were missionaries and were heading “up country.”

Co-pilot Jim, "You doing OK, Sue?"

Jim got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat and he said this brought back a lot of great memories from his plane riding days in the service and from having a private pilot’s license, albeit, inactive now.  And yes, he thinks he could have gotten the plane on the ground safely and even done a short field take off if it was a real emergency.   Luckily, he did not have to recall any of these procedures in real time.  As he says, “as long as take offs equal landings it is a good trip”.



Louise, Dr. Philippe, Sue - "Yikes, what have we gotten ourselves into?"



Sue was so busy filming the take off that she didn’t have time to be scared.  Then we were up and over Kananga, and it was thrilling to see the sights beneath us.  Soon gossamer clouds floated below, for a mere instant taking the shape of a fish, an airplane, a prehistoric animal or a  Star Wars fighter.   





A river runs through it



We flew at about 5500 feet over savanna and dense forest, with occasional serpentine brown rivers.   Small villages, laid out along one street, appear intermittently.  Soon the street dissipating into a path winding into the wilderness beyond.  We had a sense of arriving on an island, having traveled over a vast sea of green.



One street town





Landing strip at Tunda Mission

Our first stop after flying for almost 95 minutes was at the UMC Tunda Mission. Dirt strip landing and then a huge turnout of most of the Mission population to welcome us.  We thought it was because of the senior doctor and the returning Mission doctor, but were told it was primarily for us, simply for taking the time and effort to come visit and witness.  Emotionally, almost overwhelming to us.  




Arriving at Tunda Mission

  

Parading to the church



A parade through palm lined walks to the church follows for a formal welcoming ceremony, complete with choir and drums. 

After a nice lunch at the District Superintendent’s house, we toured one of the three UMC Hospitals in the Central Conference area and our hearts simply ached at the sights, sounds and smells.  The poorest equipped UMC Hospital in Zimbabwe looked like John Hopkins compared to this facility. 



Running to church



Tunda Hospital



The young doctor had been there a few years, but he had made some improvements, wanted to show us around and talked about the many items they needed simply to improve the most basic of care to a population served of over 70,000 souls.  Tunda Hospital uses only the first floor.  The second floor has no windows and needs major renovations.

Malaria patients



 


Dr. Manya at Tunda Hospital borehole

 



Louise in operating room with solar powered light


Their major documented project was trying to put in either a hand pump or maybe a solar powered pump at the Mission’s deep well so they would not have to carry buckets of water, drawn from the well, to the operating room (which only faintly resembled anything close to minimum acceptable conditions) and to the Maternity Ward where the women were delivering on old, rusty beds with minimally acceptable standards of cleanliness in regards to sheets and mattresses. 



They were doing the best with what they had to work with, under very trying circumstances.  There had been a lot of fighting in the area during one of the last conflicts and you can still see shrapnel wounds on the building. The facility was built in 1944 and is literally falling down around their heads.  Not sure what can really be done to help with the overall problems, but hopefully, we will be able to help find funds for the well pump.

 

Arnold, the sheep

We are now the proud owners of a large male sheep, nicknamed Arnold by Jim.  He is currently being driven by pedal bike almost 90 miles from Tunda Mission to Wembo-Nyama Mission.  He actually missed our take off so Jacques will pick him up the next time he makes a flight to the Mission.  We were presented Arnold for just showing up at this very remote UMC Mission and for any consideration we might be able to offer in tackling some of their problems.