3 weeks in Uganda!

Even though I am missing having the rest of the family here with me, time is definitely flying by just now! I have been here now for almost 3 weeks!  It helps that life here in Uganda is really quite busy just now. I am getting settled into Kampala, and enjoying working with the rest of the team here. There is a good mix of Nationalities represented in MAF Uganda, with Scots, English, Dutch, Swiss, Canadian, American, Ethiopian and (of course!) Ugandan flags all flying; having such a wide range of backgrounds makes for a well balanced team… and an interesting mix of accents!!

Kajjansi Airfield from above - our hangar is the white one!

Work in the hangar is going well too. Having 6 aircraft and a busy flying schedule means that you are never far away from an inspection of some sort, but I have also been able to spend a bit of time working on replacing a leading edge skin on one of our 206’s. It has been nice to be back involved in the kind of work we did a lot of at MMS, although until my own toolbox arrives I am borrowing tools from other people, and seem to spend as much time hunting for things as I do working!

Installing a new leading edge on a 206

The MAF Uganda programme continues to be a busy one. Since long long ago MAF have had their admin and operations office in Makindye, on the south side of Kampala, with the airfield 30 minutes south at Kajjansi. The plan for quite a while has been to build an office block at the airfield and keep all of our departments on the same site. This came one step closer with a “ground breaking” ceremony at the airport earlier this week. As with lots of things in Africa, the completed office isn't expected any time too soon, but the process is underway!!

Ground breaking ceremony for the new office.

Away from the airport, I have been getting my head around some of the finer points of driving in Kampala! It is very different to driving back in Scotland; I sat my driving test in Mallaig, where at that time they didn't have a round-about and only had some temporary traffic lights at a section of roadworks! Needless to say I had a chuckle to myself as I successfully negotiated one of Kampala’s round abouts! (No amount of round-about-ability from the UK translates to round-abouts here!!) All that said, it is amazing how quickly you get into the mind-set of driving over here; my only worry is whether I will be able to get back into UK-mode when I get back to Scotland!!

"I think that guy just maneuvered before 'mirror, signal'..."

Thanks again for all you support, prayers, thoughts and interest in what we are doing with MAF!

KBC to... KBC!

Last Sunday was the last day for me in the UK for the foreseeable future, at least until next year. As is normal when we are around the Glasgow area, we spent the morning with our friends at KBC (Kirkintilloch Baptist Church). It was their anniversary weekend, where they were celebrating 127 years since the church was established there. We enjoyed a great service, during which we were prayed for as a family, that all would go well as we separated for the next few months, and that our “Uganda chapter” would be a good one!

Don't think I will need that jumper for quite a while!!

Monday was spent on a plane, flying to Heathrow, then on to Entebbe. I am missing having my family around, and having them experience all the new things that Uganda is bringing me just now, but I have to admit that being able to watch 3 full movies on the plane and snooze whenever I felt like it was pretty nice! 

Tuesday was an easy day; Kampala is quite a bit warmer than Glasgow, so just trundling along at an easy pace for my first day was pretty much a necessity! Mark and Sarah Newnham (who hosted Heather on her visit here back in  October) are our link family, so they have been great at keeping me right with what is what; Sarah took me out for a bit on Tuesday, to give me a quick tour of a few places and a trip out to see the hangar and meet the rest of the guys out there. Then it was back to the guest house to unpack a bit, and catch my breath before going out for dinner.

Kajjansi hangar

I started working in the hangar properly on Wednesday, working through a list of things on my induction training check-sheet, and getting started on some "find my way around"- type jobs. I haven’t worked on a hangar floor since I sat my A&P exams mid-Sept, so it was really good to be back in steel toe caps and working with my hands again! :-) MAF-Uganda is a busy programme with 4 Cessna caravans, 2 Cessna 206’s and MAF’s latest diesel Cessna 182 (the one that toured the UK a few months ago, before making the trip to East Africa) based here. MAF-Congo also use some hangar space here in Kajjansi as well; they fly their planes here to have maintenance work done. MAF-Uganda have 1 Ugandan engineer, and 2 international engineers (3 including me!), so there is no shortage of work to keep everyone busy!

The weekend gave a good opportunity to find my bearings a bit around Kampala. Margaret McLaren (MAF’s finance manager here and a fellow Scot!) took me out on her Saturday morning shopping trip, and pointed out a couple of the regular stops on the shopping circuit. Not quite a 24hr Tesco, or Walmart, but you can get anything you need! It was great to explore the town a bit and see a side of Kampala away from my usual route from home to hangar! Later in the afternoon I went out for my first “Ugandan driving lesson” with Mark. It is definitely a different technique that is required here compared to UK or US! Being assertive is pretty much essential, and you have to have a different interpretation of the term “right of way”!! It’s not the kind of place where falling asleep at the wheel is likely to happen!!

Kampala Baptist Church

And that brings us to today! A week after being in the Scottish KBC, I find myself in the Ugandan one – Kampala Baptist Church! There were some obvious differences between the two churches (the music was more … “African”, and one KBC had considerably more ceiling fans than the other – something I was really grateful for!!) but the welcome was warm, and the worship was sincere and powerful. It is incredible to know that our God, the God we worship in Scotland, is the same God we worship here in the completely different country of Uganda. He created the universe, “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” (Psalm 147:4), but he cares deeply about us as individuals, “The Lord your God is with you. He’s mighty to deliver. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He rejoices over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17).

Thanks, as always, for all your thoughts, prayers and encouragement!

I'm here!

Just a really quick post before I head for bed! 

I arrived safe and well late last night after a really smooth journey. It was an early start to a long day, but it is amazing how much difference it makes to only cross 3hrs of time zones! (Oh, and not traveling with 3 small kids makes any long journey much easier!!)

Thanks for all your prayers for the journey and also for the family being apart; please keep remembering us all, but Abi and Matthew especially as they get their heads around dad being away for a while.

Today has been a settling in / brief tour / unpacking cases kind of day, and getting my first peek at my new neighborhood- Makindye looks out over the rest of Kampala, so if you look through the trees in the pic below, you will see some of the city in the background.

I will write properly soon, but right now I need to sleep - first day in the hangar tomorrow!