Hello from Scotland!

I'm not sure where the time has gone but I do know it has been crazy busy over the last month or so getting ready for furlough,  finishing the school year, saying farewell to families who will not be there when we return among many other things.  On arriving in Scotland on Saturday afternoon we were greeting with the shocking reality that winter is not over! After frantically searching through bags in my mum's loft, visiting the second hand shops and a few friends we are all kitted out for the weather now and gradually thawing out :0)  There has been little time to relax yet just sorting out all the basics again like mobile phones, eye appointments and dentist appointments and the like in between some DIY projects needing done in our little flat in Stirling. I never imagined two hours of jet lag would have such an affect on us but it is proving challenging.  Uganda is two hours ahead of course so we have tried to keep the children going till 8pm.  They are still up at 6am or before however and its very hard to keep Eilidh awake past 11am. this all makes for lots of tired and grumpy children towards late afternoon so please pray for us as we try and make things as fun as we can for the kids while we attend to all the practicalities of setting up "life" again in the UK albeit for a few months.  We are all looking forward to a little holiday in the Isle of Bara starting Monday and the kids are delighted with their new ready to use Ikea spades for 80 pence each! Beach here we come! Praying for warmer weather.   We are so happy with our little house we have been given to stay in and its central location in Kirkintilloch which makes all the travelling around the country easier.  We just wanted to let you know again where we will speaking and hope that we get to catch up with as many of you as possible.

Sunday 7th June - Dunoon Baptist Church 11am

Sunday 21st June - Pitlochry Baptist Church  11am

Thursday 25th June  - Perthshire joint get together for catch up along with MAF Uganda Finance Manager, Margaret MacLaren.  Please contact Andy Martin for details - andy.martin@maf-uk.org

Sunday - 28th June - Kirkintilloch Baptist Church , 10.30am

July 8th -Andy returns to Uganda

Sunday 12th July - Heather will be sharing at New Beginnings church in Moodiesburn 11am.

August 3rd - Heather and Children return to Uganda.

Our contact details are
Andy - andyswansonmaf@gmail.com  07943 603 062
Heather - heatherswansonmaf@gmail.com  07507 783 662

The latest news!

It amazes me how animals and birds are able to adapt to their circumstances over time.  I believe God gave them the DNA to allow for this and also he has designed us in the same way.   We have almost been in Uganda for a full year (Andy has been here over a year) and already we have changed in so many ways. Here are a few to give you an idea.  Socks? what are they?  I can easily stamp on giant ants with my bare feet- the giant snails, I avoid stepping on completely! Sleeping without a mosquito net leaves me feeling terribly uneasy and vulnerable.  I love sharing my house with geckos (as long as they stay on the walls)  Rice and beans are becoming a family favourite. Making my own pizzas, chicken nuggets, bread, curries, pastry (not a "ready to roll"anywhere) becomes second nature.  It is possible to bath the whole family in a baby bath sized tub.  I love to eat bananas for the first time and my children are forbidden to ever get sick of them. When I hear the rain through the night it makes me so happy (rain water tank is filling, dust levels are reduced and garden doesn't need watered).  Water and power shortages are now part of life and the candles are always ready and the kids know which drawer the torches(flash-lights) are kept in.  Situations which would normally have my stress levels rising frantically i.e. bumping another persons car, don't seem to phase me like they used to. When the pipe that carries the water from our tank into the house snapped off at both ends two weeks ago due to corrosion it was no big deal really. We watched the last of the water in the tank drain out catching what we could in buckets for flushing the toilets knowing that at some point, things would be fixed and we would find a way to survive in the mean time.  Uganda is home and with or without us knowing we have all changed in many ways.    The people are generally very welcoming and friendly and I am making many friends.  I am slowly learning little bits of Luganda and the locals LOVE it when you speak to them in their language.  The sun shines every day and hardly anyone in the family has had a cold since we got here! I passed the tissue boxes in a shop the other day and marvelled at the fact I hadn't bought a new box in months!  I think the whole family is pretty settled although I know Andy would love to feel some cold weather again.  I know everyone in Scotland will be hoping for some nice sunshine this summer,  we are hoping it will be on the cool side when we return for furlough!

February was a great month where I enjoyed two retreats! Our church had a weekend retreat and then myself,  Pam Wunderli and a few others organised a ladies retreat for 45 ladies at the end of the month.  The theme was living under God's cover and finding that place of rest - Psalm 91. It was a great weekend and there was a good mix of ex-pats and Ugandans.   I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep and enjoyed great fellowship.

Abi and Matthew had a week's holiday from school at the end of March.   We just stayed around the house and the kids have enjoyed playing with friends, sleep overs, swimming and the cinema.  If any of you ever to Scripture Union Camps as a child you can relate to the fact that it feels like we live in one permanently! Never before have our kids had so many playmates so close by which is just lovely.  In Tummel Bridge and in Ohio Matthew never had any boys his own age around.  Here in the MAF team there are eight boys near his age!  

This Easter we went to a Children's home called Noah's Ark.  It houses 170 children from babies to teenagers.  When they reach ten years they divide them into units of about 8-10 kids with a "house mama".  It is a huge campus hosting a primary school,  secondary and vocational school, malnutrition clinic and what could be termed as a mini hospital. There is a huge amount of staff as you can imagine and a church on site.  A Dutch couple started it many years ago.  We had been calling it an orphanage however the founders informed us that only about 7 or 8 children were actually orphans.  All the rest of the children had family members somewhere however they were just thrown away and abandoned by their families.  What tugged my heart most was the kids who kept coming to our doors and looking in speculating about the fact that we had two daddies and two mummies in this one house for only eight children! Our lives are worlds apart yet knowing God is their perfect daddy gives them such a sense of hope and identity.   We were able to teach them some songs on Easter Sunday which they kept coming to our kitchen window and singing back to us :0)    It was a great experience to meet the children and some of the international volunteers that stay there for long periods.  It was a nice surprise to meet with the music teacher there and experience some African instrumental tuition. If you would like to see more of what they are about then here is their link: www.nacmu.org/en

We went to Noah's Ark with the Levesque family and their five children.  Luc is an engineer with MAF US and works along side Andy in the hanger.  Abi had their daughter Adele to play with,  Matthew had their son Jalil, Eilidh had Sammy and their adopted twins Nicolas and Daniel had each other.  Four days away and barely one argument between the children.  It was such a blessing and the adults enjoyed relaxing together while the kids entertained themselves. Next month we will be saying good bye to them as we will be going to the UK and they will be leaving in the summer back to Canada.  I am glad Eilidh will be starting pre-school when we return to Uganda as she will really miss her close friend Sammy!

We are planning our furlough trip to Scotland and at the moment and we can confirm we will be at Dunoon Baptist Church on the 7th of June, Pitlochry Baptist on the 21st and Kirkintilloch Baptist on the 28th.  We will be on holiday the 8-15th of June and Andy will be leaving on the 8th of July to return to Uganda.  Myself and the children will fly back to Uganda on the 3rd of August.  We will be based in Kirkintilloch and, as always, hope to catch up with as many of you as possible.

P.S.  I had some lovely pictures to add to the blog but they keep loading upside down and after spending three hours writing this blog and fighting with the photos at 11pm the text will have to do - sorry!  Very slow internet and hassles like this make blogging hard work hence it has been a while since the last one.  I hope you can use your imagination! : 0)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Getting ready for the game!

Its hard to believe it's almost half way through January already. Almost seven months here in Uganda and I am feeling very much at home. There are still things I miss, and daily challenges that crop up unexpectedly but for the most of it,  I am loving being settled in a house we can call home at last! Abi and Matthew started their second term on the 12th and leave the house at 7.15am.  They are settling in again and glad to see their friends.  It was the longest Christmas holidays they have ever had - almost a month! This is the first year that hardly anyone in the family has been sick over these "winter" months.  Abi spent a week unwell with a tummy bug after cleaning her teeth with tap water but apart from that we have been blessed with better health than any other year.   As Abi and Matthew settle into their routines again, I'm looking forward to having a little more time to catch up on other things. I still have a few curtains to make and other items to be altered - so I'm glad my mum is on the plane to Uganda as I type to visit with us for three weeks - she is the seamstress in the family!  I am also organising a ladies retreat in Feburuary along with three other ladies.  I will be leading worship for the whole weekend (end of Feb). I am also on the worship rota now at Kampala International Church, and I lead worship at the mid week ladies bible study also so am managing to keep quite busy! lol! I am also getting involved more with the Parent and Teacher Fellowship (PTF) at school and there is lots to be baked for bake sales, and other events to raise funds.

Surprise...and shock! 

Our first Christmas in Uganda was wonderful. Our family celebrated on Christmas Eve and the kids opened some presents and we had a very relaxing day.  On Christmas morning we had our church service where I played piano and led. 
We missed our families but most around here were in the same boat so we invited around five families and four others around for the day. In the end we had 15 adults and 16 children come from 2pm onwards. We woke up on Christmas morning to torrential rain but thankfully it cleared up so we could be outside in the afternoon.  Everyone brought food to share and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and fun. We managed to have the usual trimmings such as Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, bread sauce and Christmas cake without a Marks and Spencer's in sight! We played the white elephant game where each family/person wraps up something around their house or whatever they want under $5 and put it under the tree.  If you throw a six on the dice you can pick a present and if anyone else throws a six they can swap yours with what they have.  Once all the presents under the tree have gone you are stuck with what you ended up with.  I've played this game for many years in the UK but never once did we had a real live chicken wrapped up in a box sitting as quiet as a mouse under the tree till it was chosen! You can imagine how much the chicken got swapped as all the children wanted to take it home!  I would gladly host it again next year as it was so much fun but perhaps without the chicken in my sitting room :0)

On the 27th we headed out of the city for four days with our MAF Canadian friends the Levesque family to a place called African Village. It was only 45 minutes drive away from our house, yet far enough to give you a break from the busy city of Kampala.  African Village is a compound that a lady started to train Ugandans in hospitality, beauty school, joinery, tailoring and other skills while providing a relaxing environment for guests. It is hard to imagine that between us there were eight children yet it was one of the most relaxing holidays we have ever been on!  The kids all had a friend to play with and the adults got some time to relax and play games in the evenings when the kids were sleeping. The weather was lovely and it was one of the few places in Kampala that the kids can ride their bikes without fear of pot holes and traffic!
January is dry season and the water shortage in Kampala is real and has been affecting us in the last few weeks. Many MAF families have been struggling with low water and a few reached the point of no water to flush the toilets.  Our rain water tank emptied and our main tank is rationed. The water is on for part of the day and then they switch it off again.  This is the longest I have ever experienced without rain.  Even in Ohio the heat would spark thunder storms regularly but here is has just been hot and dry for about four weeks.   Abi and two other MAF kids that I know off have been experiencing nose bleeds with the dry air which only added to the laundry crisis!  Last night we were woken to huge loud thunder crashes and torrential rain at 3am.  It was SO exciting to have rain again knowing our reserve tank would be filling with rain water,  the garden was getting watered without me having to fill the watering can 20 times! Unfortunately the rain stopped after half an hour and it still took another hour to get Eilidh back to sleep! We are well aware and so thankful to have running water in the first place here when so many Ugandan's around us do not.  It is easy to blog about the fun times and the small challenges we face at times.  It is hard to blog about the struggles we face at times because no matter how hard things can get here,  they are nothign compared to the struggles we see others going through every day around us.  Living here we are continually bombarded with wonderful charities needing money, or people at our gate needing food,  or financial assistance etc.  As a family we believe those we have a relationship with are the ones God has brought into our path and are excited to bless them.  It was a joy this Christmas to take a suitcase we had and fill it with goodies for our house help Irene and her four children.  She called me up after they opened it on Christmas eve and each of her children (9,8,6,3 years) took their turn on the phone to say "thank you thank you a million times and God bless you " which was almost too much for my emotions!   At the same time we gave money twice to a man at our gate who claimed to have been in a boda accident (he had a blooded T shirt over his head) and it turned out he was the local con man and this was one of his regular tricks.   It is always a struggle to know who needs genuine assistance and who is targeting you because of the colour of your skin. Please pray that we will have wisdom to discern those that God is leading in our path and how we can best help them.  Just giving them money is not always the best thing for them.
We recognise visitors have to jump through a few more hurdles to see us unlike in the USA so we really appreciate it.  Mum has graciously undergone her vaccinations ready for arriving here tonight. I'm not sure how she will cope with my driving here - she barely copes with it in the UK! Please pray her body will remain strong as she experiences 4x4 off road terrain for the first time:0) Several times I have banged my head off the right window while navigating through potholes and cracks while trying to look for oncoming traffic, people, cows and dogs.  I haven't knocked myself out yet but the possibility is always there!  Not all the roads are like this thank goodness, but the daily school run is the regular bone rattler!  Mum returns to the UK on the 12th of Feb. Praying she has a wonderful trip with good health. There are three very excited little people ready to pounce on her bed in the morning!
We were blessed to have a few Scottish visitors on the 4th of January. Ewan Kennedy from Pitlochry and two of his university friends are here for six weeks working at a local hospital. We enjoyed a meal with them and we are so thankful when people have room in their suitcases to bring some things out we need from the UK - thank you so much Ewan!
We have booked our flights for furlough and we fly to the UK on the 30th of May. Andy will return to Uganda on the 6th of July and myself and the kids will return on the 3rd of August. We have still to sort the details out yet and will let you know in due course where we will be and when. We have been looking for some accomodation ourselves as a family while we are in the UK.  We feel it is important to have our own family space while we transition from culture to culture and meet with so many (wonderful) people over a short time. Just today we have confirmed this and thanks SO much to Frances Wilson from KBC who has offered to stay elsewhere just to let us have her house when we are back! WOW! - what a blessing!  We will therefore be based in Kirkintilloch.  Once Andy leaves on the 6th, myself and the kids will move in with my mum in Moodiesburn till we leave.
 
Thanks for all the Christmas mail and parcels that were sent to us.  We received most of the christmas cards a week ago -  a few are still arriving.     We are so blessed to have such amazing supporters both in the UK and the USA. Wishing you all a fabulous 2015.
" .....I have seen your salvation which you have prepared for all people. He (Jesus)is a light to reveal God to the nations and He is the glory of the people Israel" Luke 2 v 30-32

lots of love
Heather, Andy, Abi, Matthew and Eilidh

Medevac!

I'm an engineer. I really enjoy my work, and get huge amounts of satisfaction from fixing, fabricating, maintaining and repairing aeroplanes. I am also certain that God has called us into this work with MAF, and that this is exactly where I should be. But I know that MAF doesn’t exist here in Uganda just to fix planes. Working with MAF is all about a team working toward a common goal. MAF’s mission statement is: Sharing the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed. I don’t often get the chance to see MAF’s work beyond what I do in the hangar, so when one of our pilots, Dave, asked if I would join him on a medevac flight this weekend, I jumped at the chance!!

Lois is a New Zealander who runs a children’s home in Kitgum, and late last week she had a fall that resulted in a broken femur. Kitgum is a pretty remote place way up in the north of Uganda. They have an airstrip there, but it has fallen into disrepair, so the closest airstrip we could fly into was a 2 hr drive to the south east in Kalongo. I’ve been told that a broken femur is a particularly painful injury so I can only imagine how uncomfortable the 2 hour drive in a Landcruiser ambulance, on a dirt road, was for her. MAF were contacted late on Friday afternoon, and asked to fly her to a hospital in Kumi where an orthopaedic specialist is based.

Going through pre-flight checks before we take off

Myself and Dave set off to the hangar first thing on Saturday morning, and after changing some of the seats out in favour of a stretcher, and fuelling the plane, we took off and headed north to the airstrip in Kalongo. Friday’s plan had been for the Kitgum ambulance to set off first thing on Saturday, and we should all have met at more or less the same time in Kalongo.

Approaching Kalongo airstrip - the runway is right at the foot of the big rock you can see.

One of the things I have quickly learned in Africa is that the plan doesn’t always match the reality, and so it wasn’t too much of a surprise for us to learn on arrival, that the ambulance hadn’t left Kitgum, and that we would have a couple of hours waiting before we headed for Kumi.

On the ground, Kalongo

The welcome party!

Lots of interested kids!

With the two guards who watched our plane!

The airstrip at Kalongo is operated by the mission hospital there, and with two guards watching the plane, one of the staff took the time to show us around the hospital while we waited for our passengers. It was my first experience of a rural Ugandan hospital, and quite eye opening. While it was basic, and certainly not modern by our standards, the staff were all immaculately turned out, and obviously went about their work with a genuine compassion.

Post natal check-up line

After a slightly delayed arrival in Kalongo, Lois' ambulance arrived and we were able to get her loaded into the plane ready to fly south.

Ambulance and plane meet.

Not the most comfortable way to spend two hours on a dirt road.

Dave talks to Jackie, the lady travelling with Lois - it's her first plane journey.

Praying before take off.

Soon after we were airborne again, this time making the 45 minute flight south to Kumi. We were told later that the drive from Kitgum to Kumi could take anything between 6 and 8 hrs depending on the road conditions, so even in spite of a bit of turbulence on the short flight, I am sure Lois appreciated the chance to fly instead of taking the Land Cruiser!

The Kumi hospital has its own airstrip, but in recent months that had also become unusable. When it looked like we would be flying Lois to Kumi, a team was put together who spent the whole night working with machete style “slashers” to cut the grass on the strip, and dig out the termite mounds that dotted the runway – quite a feat! They did a good job of it though, and after a low pass to confirm the condition of the runway, Dave was able to land, and hand Lois on to the care of the doctors in Kumi.

Kumi nurses waiting for us at the airstrip.

Kumi Dr's check x-ray before moving Lois.

A very grateful lady!

From a technical point of view, it was a reasonably routine flight with nothing too complicated going on. 
From where Lois lay, it was a hugely appreciated help to her after her accident, saving her from a much longer day of discomfort, and the chances of making a serious injury much worse. 
For me, it was a great opportunity to be reminded of what MAF is all about, and how much of a team effort it all is. When I took this last picture of Lois at Kumi she asked me to thank all the supporters who had made her medevac possible. So thank you to all those who support both MAF as an organisation, and us as a family, in prayer and financially, allowing us to work here and share the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed.

Teamwork!!

Earlier this week I had the chance to spend the evening with some other MAF families and some staff of an organisation called “Every Village”. MAF partner with Every Village, helping them to carry out their work amongst the people of S Sudan and Ethiopia. (Have a look at their blog for some really inspirational stories… http://everyvillage.org/blog) The team at Every Village realise that carrying out their calling, to the best of their ability, requires a partnership with MAF, so they had invited us to dinner as a ‘thank you’. As I listened to their presentation on Tuesday night I was reminded of how much we, the Swanson family, rely on all those who support us, to carry on doing the work we have been called to here in Uganda. Sometimes the behind the scenes work that I am doing, fixing planes in a hangar, can feel very far from the high impact, life changing work that so many organisations are doing in Africa, but it is good to remember that the obedience of many small parts is playing out into a beautiful piece that God is orchestrating. Thank you so much for being part of this with us, for your prayers, support and encouragement.

For the last few months I have been busy working on Scotty’s avionics upgrade, and you will be pleased to know that the work was finished and the “return to service” flights completed last week! Routine maintenance is a big, and very important, part of what we do here in Uganda, but working on a major project like this avionics upgrade, and seeing such a massively improved aeroplane returning to the Ops team is incredibly satisfying work! Myself and Mat Thompson (our Australian avionics engineer) were the only two who worked full time on this project, with others joining in as they were available, so I have a real sense of ownership in the work that we have done – another Scottish twist in 5X-SCO’s story!

5X-SCO's new engine and avionics getting put through their paces!
(Note all the new displays showing the artificial horizon, matching the real one outside!)

Celebrating Scotty's return to service with a pizza lunch!

We haven’t had too long to sit around after Scotty flew out before the next job rolled in, though! As MAF work through their programme of rolling out Garmin avionics upgrades across the fleet, 5X-FRM is next on the list. She came off the flight line on Thursday and by Friday we were well into making a start on the jobs list.

5X-FRM is pushed back into the hangar

While the plane is down for the avionics upgrade, we will be carrying out some other work as well. The most major of these ‘other jobs’ is to remove the engine’s “hot section” and send it out for inspection. This is done every 1800hrs of operation. As the name suggests, the hot section is the part of the engine that gets hottest during operation, and is most vulnerable to heat stresses, creep and fatigue. With the cowling removed it is reasonably straight forward to remove the front “power section”, and then take out the compressor turbine and vane ring to be sent to a specialist for inspection. We have temporarily reattached the power section, and when the hot section comes back from inspection, we will reassemble the engine again.

Cowlings mostly removed...

Removing fuel nozzles to allow hot section to be removed.

Power section on the hoist and hot section out.

In the meantime, we have started work on upgrading the avionics. Lots of old equipment and wiring has to come out to make way for the new, and while some of us have been busy with that, I have made a start on building some of the shelves and brackets needed to mount all the new equipment.

We are hoping to have 5X-FRM back with Ops by Christmas, so we have a busy few weeks ahead of us!!

Martin, our Swedish avionics engineer (as opposed to Mat, our Australian one!), and
Kees, our Dutch chief engineer, pulling out wires and old equipment.

Thanks again for remembering us in your prayers!

A

We're still here!!!

It is great to be back at the blog again, and able to update you all with what has been happening with us here in Kampala! I know it has been a while, so please accept my apologies if you have been patiently waiting for an update!! We have all been busy in our newly established routines and it's safe to say we are all feeling very settled here as a family.

Abi and Matthew are enjoying their new school and both have made good friends, which makes the process of starting over again so much easier! They are both at Heritage International School, and their classes are all a good mix of nationalities with lots of other MAF families also attending. They both have a reasonably high percentage of east-African's in their classes, as well as kids from all over Europe and the States. They are certainly getting a multi-cultural upbringing! It is always amusing hearing them when they come back from playing with friends; depending on where they have been and who they have been with, they could be singing Dutch nursery rhymes, reverting back to the American twang they have had for the last few years, talking in a variation of a pseudo-Swedish accent, or playing up to their Scottish roots! The world will certainly be a small place for them as they grow up!

Abi and Matthew on their way in to school!

Eilidh is coming on really well too! She loves the freedom she has of wandering in and out of the house, not having to worry about jackets (or even shoes most of the time!!) and hugging our big old dog Isaac! She is busy working through the potty training, and for the most part doing really well! There are inevitable accidents, but having solid floors, no carpets and lots of time outside has its advantages! She has a lot of fun with her wee friend Sammy, who she meets to play with a couple of mornings a week. They are both about the same age, get on really well and are working through the potty training battle together. We have a few good pictures of them chatting away to each other, side by side on their potties; couldn't possibly post them on here... I am saving those for a wedding speech!

Eilidh helping in the kitchen

Heather is also faring well. The house is all set up and has now officially become a home! She has been busy for the last few months getting everything arranged, unpacking and working out how life works in the middle of a new continent, so it is good to see her able to relax a bit more, and become more involved in the things she wants to do. 
Recently she has been able to get her "worship leading hat" on a bit more too. She played at a church "Zone" meeting a few weeks ago (the church we have been attending break into smaller "zones" regularly. This allows the normally large church service to be held in smaller groups, giving people the chance to get to know each other better). She also plays regularly at a women's bible study held on a Wednesday morning. Last Friday MAF had a "fellowship day" where we all downed tools for a day, and had a day of bible study, worship and prayer together. Heather was leading worship for that and enjoyed the chance to play and sing out at the hangar under a plane... sort of like the Albert Hall, but better!! Unfortunately when we got up on Friday morning, Eilidh had a temperature and had been up through the night, so I stayed home to look after her. It was a good chance for me to have some quiet "daddy-daughter" time, and also gave me the chance to keep up with all the news from the Scottish Independence referendum. Having spent much of my adult life travelling, whether on ships, training in America, or now living in Uganda, I have never really felt any pangs of homesickness. Scotland has always been, and will always be, "home", and I have always seen it in many ways as an unchanging constant. The things that have happened over the last few months have been pretty monumental, though, and I felt a strange kind of helplessness as I watched my country change in a way that can never be undone. I pray that the raw bitterness will subside and that both Yes and No voters will come together to do what is best for Scotland. Lord, you have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90.

Life in the hangar is as busy as always! We are busy doing the avionics upgrade on Scotty (5X-SCO, or the 'Caledonian Connection'!) Things were delayed a bit over the summer as we dealt with some documentation issues around the CAA approvals to do the upgrade here. Thankfully that has all passed now, and we have the authorisation to do the work! It has been a great project to be involved in; I have been doing a lot of the structural / sheet metal work, and have been in my element making shelves for new avionics units, mounting new equipment and building new panels to hold all the expensive instruments in place for the pilots!

Building a new mount for the radar altimeter in the back of the tailcone.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and encouragement as we work here with MAF in Uganda.

Work and Play!

Its been a busy few months for us, getting our heads around life in Africa, setting up home in a new country and settling into our places in the MAF Uganda programme. All good and exciting stuff, but I have to admit I am appreciating having a week off this week, before the kids get started at their new school! We are trying to mix some fun family stuff with some of the things on the long DIY list! On Monday we spent the day at a Kampala hotel resort, where we were able to take the kids for their first horse rides (or at least, their first rides that were in a straight line rather than round and round a pen at the Coshocton county fair ground!). We then spent the rest of the day by the pool. Unfortunately we were joined by a thunder storm which kind of changed our plans a bit, but we are Scottish, and warm rain is summer rain!! J

Eilidh getting ready to go, while Matthew sorts his straps out!

We are planning a trip to the Entebbe zoo later in the week, and hopefully by the weekend we’ll be well through the jobs list too!!

Things in the hangar have been busy as well. The diesel 182 arrived in Kajjansi with a list of jobs to ready it for its role in S Sudan. I spent quite a bit of time working my way through the list, installing an HF radio, refuelling steps and handles, folding rear seats and a V-brace between the door posts and the glare-shield in front of the pilot. I am enjoying getting involved in these modification type projects – right up my street! J

Looking back at the new HF radio installation past the new folding seats!

When our friends Nicky and Jane were over they were able to join a flight on one of MAF’s Karamoja shuttle runs, and they were quite excited to find out that they were flying in “Scotty”, a Cessna Caravan that was bought by MAF following a fund raising project by MAF-Scotland. The Scottish connection added a nice little link for Nicky and Jane, and Nicky especially was extra excited because of the particular plane he was flying in!

Nicky and Jane take off on Scotty's last flight for a while.

The day after Nicky and Jane flew in Scotty, she came into the hangar for maintenance. We took her engine off, and sent it out to be replaced with the newly overhauled engine that had just came back to us.

Scotty, missing an important bit at the front!

 As well as an engine change, Scotty is due to have an avionics upgrade to a “glass panel” system which will bring it more in line with the some of the more modern avionics systems available today. MAF are working their way through most of the fleet, upgrading the older systems to Garmin units. It is quite a task and involves a fair amount of sheet metal / structural work as well as the actual avionics installation itself. Mat, an avionics engineer from MAF-Australia is looking after all the avionics side, while I have been busy preparing for the physical installation of everything onto the plane. Unfortunately we are still waiting for the proper approvals to go through the Ugandan CAA’s system, but I have been able to do lots of preparation work off the aircraft which should make things much quicker and smoother when the approvals do come through.

Checking out the work ahead of me with the avionics upgrade.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers as we serve with MAF here in Uganda.