WUNDERLI WANDERINGS

Last week Simon and another Swiss pilot, Hansjoerg Schlatter landed for the first time at a brand new airstrip at Ibba in Southern Sudan. This airstrip has been built by the Diosese of Ibba to help the people there who have such difficulty with transport in that remote area. I have included some photos of this event to give you an idea of what it looks like.  It is amazing the difference an airstrip can make to a remote area. The first landing of an aircraft and it was a MAF one :) A group photo of all the people that attended the opening ceremony Simon walking the airstrip to measure it out. The speeches at the opening ceremony Yesterday (Sunday) we were able to respond to a request from International Hospital to medevac a patient from Mweya. A man had a complicated fracture of his leg. He had previously had a hip replacement operation and he had stepped wrongly and fell causing his leg to twist and break. The flight time from Mweya was 1Hr 15 minutes. The altern...

Last week I attended a week long course on Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills (SYIS)  by the Mobile Member Care Team (MMCT).  This course is designed that those who go through it might help others in their own organisation.  The task it too big to rely solely on professional care-givers and so Christian leaders must take some responsibility also to help those who struggle both with personal, interpersonal and work related problems. Some of the areas we covered this past week were: Looking at relationship killers Listening skills Drawing people out Helping other solves problems Confronting well including receiving confrontation well Building trust Lving in community Managing conflicts Helping others grieve well Managing stress Maintaining margin The battle for moral purity Being an encourager The course was designed with lots of interaction, practice times, discussions, as well as theory.  Now the big question is what do I do wi...

I am not sure where the time has gone in 2011 as it feels like Christmas wasn't that long ago.  Be that as it may the reality is that we are in now in the month of May and our furlough starts in June. We have been looking at ways to make our furlough more efficient in the sense of getting round to see as many people as we can.  We appreciate that many of you support us both in prayer and through finances and that it would be good for us to touch base with you.  The way that we are going to do that is to have two regional events, one in Dundee and one in Edinburgh.  The one in Dundee will be held at Broughty Ferry Baptist Church and the one in Edinburgh will be at Wester Hailes Baptist Church. If you would like to attend either one of these events then the dates and times are noted below:- Broughty Ferry Baptist Church Dundee area Scotland 28 June 2011 7:30pm Wester Hailes Baptist Church Edinburgh Scotland 3 July 2011 4pm We will also be speaking at ...

Usually when I ask Simon how his day has gone I get the standard answer fine, went either according to plan or almost :).  Yesterday when I asked him the same question he said yes ok although one of the planes had a problem with its alternator and had to cut short its flight and return to MAF's aistrip in order to be fixed.    However, the pilot returned the plane and picked up another plane to complete some of the stops.  Due to this Simon's day didn't turn out as it was originally planned and a lot of dialogue went on to ensure that passengers weren't inconvenienced too much by this unplanned problem and help was given by the staff in Juba, Sudan also in order for the passengers to make it to their intended destination. Today Simon was supposed to fly to Bunia, East DRC but the days plan changed again as the MAF Congo team's plane was in for maintenance and couldn't complete a flight that had been planned for.  Simon picked up t...

Some of you might remember last year I did a course with the Mobile Member Care Team on How to Manage Crisis.  This was a course designed to help people who have gone through a trauma whether it be within their own mission but not limited to.  We addressed issues such as grief and loss, chronic stress, burnout, anxiety and depression to list just a few.  It was a very helpful course and so I have been working towards becoming a peer responder.  One who would be a point of contact to help someone manage a crisis that they have just gone through or presently going through.  In two weeks time I will be attending another course by the Mobile Member Care Team on Sharpening your Interpersonal Skill (SYIS).  During this time I will be discussing with MMCT how I can get more involved in this line of work.  The plan is to then be able to develop this kind of support within MAF if a need arises.  More talks on how this would work will be addressed with...

We are getting used to Uganda having security issues but last Friday went to a whole new level.  There was widespread chaos around Kampala which you can read about in detail on the BBC or other news websites.  This would not be the right place to talk politics :)  The results for us and for many meant that we were to stay at home until it subsdided.  Thankfully we were getting regular updates from the B* High Commission as to where to avoid and where the main problem areas were.  For some weeks now there has been a strong police presence and that is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Simon ended up doing an extra flight to Congo in the afternoon due to the pilot who was scheduled to do the flight not being able to get to the airstrip because of the insecurity.  Simon on his way home from the airstrip witnessed the aftermath of rioting on Entebbe Road with rocks and evidence of burning tyres etc. Doesn't seem to take long before a situation can...

It has been a while since I have given an update and that is largely due to Joshua, Zara and I being unwell and then having some holidays in the west of Uganda for the Easter school break. Prior to the holidays Joshua first of all came down with a stomach bug which lasted about a week on and off.  Then Zara and I came down with it.  Thankfully Joshua and Zara only had a stomach bug and it righted itself within in a few days although Zara was given medication from the doctor to stop her being sick.  I, unfortunately, had an amoeba (will let you google that one :).  I haven't felt that sick in a long time.  The medication also had some side effects so it took a while to get over it.  Thankfully, as of today we are all healthy again. Simon and I took some days off while Joshua and Zara were on school break.  We headed with our tent to the west of Uganda to Lake Albert.  It took us 3 hours on a tarmac road and then a further 2 hours on a dirt road...