My African morning

It is 6:30am. All three children have either eaten or are busy eating their breakfast. Another school day is dawning.

It is strangely quiet in the space outside our kitchen. I peer through the fly screen door and wonder where our normally excitable dog, Harry, has got to. It is unusual that he is not pushing to get into the kitchen and demanding his breakfast. I step outside in the half light and wander round the corner into the garden to search for Harry.

Bizarrely, he is standing at the base of one of our trees, nose tilted upwards, staring intently at Something on one of the higher branches. Following the direction of his pointing muzzle, I look up into the leaves- and spy a dark shape crouched, blending into the outline of a branch. It looks a bit like a cat, but its back is more arched, its profile much darker and its head smaller. I look more closely. It has a long tail. Wait! It is a long, dark, striped tail and the body of the creature is marked with patterns almost like a condensed version of those seen on a giraffe- or the jaguar I once saw at a South African zoo.

I suddenly feel much more wide awake. The cat-like creature is distracted, staring back at Harry in a kind of stand-off, pounced ready to spring but carefully measuring the risk posed by my dog. Every second that passes gives us a little more light, as the sun rises quickly in Uganda. The creature in the tree seems more tense with every passing minute, as the light starts to expose its shape and markings. I am excited now- I think I am looking at a civet, a wild cat normally only spotted in the expanse of a National Park or out in the African bush- not in the city suburbs of Kampala.

I back away quietly, calling gently to Harry, but he is transfixed and will not take his eyes off this new threat to his territory.

I walk quickly back into the kitchen and stage-whisper to the children to come as fast as they can. Ben and Joel tumble over each other in their enthusiasm to glimpse this wild animal. It is still there, locked in its silent battle with the dog, but the rustle of extra human activity breaks its concentration and it glances at the three of us.

Quick as a flash, it bounds down the tree and dashes up the trees by the wall at the side of our property. Harry gallops after it, despite us calling to him (he is not very obedient!!) and then our cat joins in, chasing the trespasser over the wall into the neighbour's garden. "There's no way that Harry could catch it, Mum!" Ben reassures me in my anxiety to protect this exotic animal.

The boys get a good look at the departing animal and we all rush inside to consult our "African Mammals" book.

What we saw this morning appears to be a large-spotted genet. What an exciting start to our Thursday! This is the image from our reference book:

(photo credit, Mammals of...East Africa, Struick)

Having seen it today helps to explain the great drama of noise which occurred two nights ago in our garden. In the dead dark of night, there were high-pitched squeals, a rustling in the undergrowth outside our bedroom window and a wild yapping from Harry. Intrigued, I ran to look out of the window and saw the profile of a large owl, soaring over the wall, silhouetted by the city lights beyond. Harry was barking wildly at something up the avocado tree, but the reflection of 2 bright eyes was all I could see high up in the tree branches.

It must have been our visiting genet causing all the excitement!

As today progressed and once the children were had been happily dispatched to school, I took off to a neighbour's house so that we could do a short fitness walk around our hilly neighbourhood. Wandering down our street, I had to smile to myself at the sights I see here. First a genet as day began and now I was walking past 2 uniformed, armed guards. I don't flinch at all as I greet the lady in uniform with an enormous gun slung over her shoulder. We smile and nod a "good morning" to one another and I continue on my way. Very civilised- but that huge gun is a sight I never saw in London on my way to a friend's house!

Within a few metres, a motorbike driver zooms towards me. His passenger seated behind him holds an enormous, yellow jerry-can on her lap and is shouting a conversation to her driver as they zip past me. A typical Kampala sight.

A truly African morning.

Amazing Opportunity

Two weeks ago I had the immense privilege of flying with Andrew-  and even joining him on his overnight stopover.

Andrew was booked, along with 2 other MAF pilots, to fly a large team of volunteer, short-term  workers. The volunteers had been working alongside vulnerable mothers and children in a community near Soroti. To read first-hand of the amazing projects of "Beauty For Ashes" and of how it all began, click on the link below:

https://www.beautyforashesuganda.org/about_us

The team had travelled from the USA. Before returning home, they had booked a short overnight break at Murchison National Park. Because time was short, they arranged to save many hours of road travel by flying with MAF from Soroti to Murchison on Friday morning.

Then, on Saturday, they would fly with MAF from Murchison direct to Entebbe Airport to join their international flights.

Very generously, the they offered to cover costs for the pilot's wives to come along to join the pilots on the flights and even their overnight stop at Murchison National Park. This act of kindness and generosity was such a huge blessing for us - and we are SO grateful!

It has been over two years since I last entered the cockpit of a MAF plane. More than two years since I last saw Andrew at work in his elevated "office"!

I was excited to join him! I felt unexpectedly emotional entering the MAF plane. It brought back  memories of our many flights from Juba to Nairobi and in particular, our evacuation flight from Juba to Lokichoggio in northwest Kenya.

It was a rainy morning as Andrew prepared for the flight from MAF's Kajansi airfield to Soroti. I sat quietly (or at least, tried to!!) as he preflighted the plane. Andrew was the last of the three pilots to take off on this 3-plane job.

And then we were off! The houses and trees became smaller and smaller as we gained height and ascended towards the clouds.

 There were ALOT of clouds that day! Andrew planned to fly lower level to avoid them, but entering into overcast weather was soon inevitable. As we entered the clouds, the ground faded from view. Hmmm... I was not so comfortable with what I could see out of the window now. Basically, there was nothing but fluffy whiteness underneath the wheel of our aeroplane! 

I glanced at Andrew, but he seemed unconcerned. I checked the instrument panel in front of my seat and although I know nothing about flying, I was comforted to see that everything was still lit up and seemed to be working, even if the view out of the windscreen was an opaque nothingness!

 Cool, calm and collected, my pilot husband expertly navigated the MAF plane through some pretty frightening weather. Rain battered the front of the plane, running in tiny rivulets over and down the windows. The clouds caused a few bumps and I wondered how on earth Andrew knew where to direct the plane when there was no point of reference from the invisible ground! Now I was definitely silent, stunned into quietness by my own fears! Andrew, however, was in constant radio contact with the other 2 pilots and it was cheering to listen in on my headset.

It was definitely reassuring to see how unphased Andrew was and how concentrated. It gave me a renewed appreciation of how tiring his job can be in this unpredictable environment.

Finally, there were glimpses of the earth below! Phew!

It was a longer-than-expected landing procedure at Soroti airfield. The rainy weather meant that the 3 MAF pilots came in to land relying on their instruments rather than what could be seen from the plane. Andrew was the third pilot to land and needed to hold for a while before he could position the plane for landing. Flying in a holding position uses up the fuel that is calculated for the actual journey and is another variable which creates extra consideration for the pilot.

 Finally, we came in to Soroti and jumped out of the plane, happy to meet the team from "Beauty for Ashes"- and happy to be out of that nasty weather!

A short while later, we were cleared for take-off, with the large team split between the 3 MAF planes. It was FABULOUS to look out and see the views, as the weather cleared in the direction we were headed!

It was even more FANTASTIC to fly over Murchison Falls and see this natural wonder from above!

How amazing also to land at an airstrip in a national park and be in the midst of Murchison!
The team kindly included us in their safari drive later that afternoon. My day went from rain in Kampala to giraffe-spotting in Murchison, in just a few hours!

 The safari vehicle which bumped us through the park:

We had a mini-adventure, as our vehicle ended up with a flat tyre just as we were driving back at dusk for our evening meal! Vehicles are not generally supposed to be driving after dark, but here we were, stranded in lion country,  waiting on the gravel track while our wheel was replaced! Darkness falls quickly in Africa, so we felt a little vulnerable to predators or maybe a marauding elephant out for an evening stroll- but happily I am still here to tell the story!

The next day, it was back to the MAF planes as the team began their first leg of their long journey home. We climbed aboard a bus to drive through the park from the lodge to Murchison's airstrip. 

The 3 MAF planes looked handsome in their line-up as their passengers prepared to embark: 

Here comes the pilot of my plane, flanked by the flags of Uganda, the East African Union and the Civil Aviation Authority! (from left to right)

It was a smooth flight back to Entebbe airport. One of the American ladies from the team kindly took this photo for us on landing at Entebbe:

 She was the lady I sat next to on the flight from Murchison. She shared with me some of her life-story; she was truly inspiring in her commitment to helping the vulnerable and in her dedication to teaching and serving children and young adults with special needs. As we discussed some of life's challenges, an overriding theme emerged: that of the kindness of God, even in difficulties and of His faithfulness. Her comment that God's presence is a gift to us each day comforted my soul- and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to speak with and learn from this amazing lady. I think our meeting was one of those "Divine appointments" that has given me a new focus in my recent struggle with health issues around my asthma.

After the passengers headed off toward International Departures, Andrew still needed to fly the MAF plane back to Kajansi airfield. I had this pilot all to myself for the ensuing 8-minute flight!

 Over the edge of Lake Victoria...

Over the streets of Kajansi... 

And safely downwards to the airstip at Kajansi for the end of this Amazing Opportunity!

 

Riding out of 2019 and into 2020

Happy New Year to you all, from Kampala!

I rode into 2020 on a camel...

So did Joel and also Ben!

We spent the final few days of the last decade and the first day of 2020 at Kenya's Brackenhurst, at the wonderful "Renew" conference. The camel came along to celebrate the new year with us!

The "Renew" conference has featured many times on this blog in previous years, so I will not add much. Suffice to say, we had a very special week away, catching up with old friends, making new ones, eating copious amounts of good food and drinking vats of Kenyan tea.

It was extra special that the volunteers leading the children's activities this year were from our church in London! It was so good to have time with friends from London on African soil! The children enjoyed their fun sessions. Whilst the younger generation were happily occupied, the parents were able to focus on the excellent teaching times during the conference, along the theme of, "Serving God despite.... fears/ character flaws/ problems in our work/ personal suffering." Inspiring and encouraging teaching.

With our London friends/ Kid's Team Volunteers!:-)

Driving to Kenya was just under 15 hours of driving each way, including the time for paperwork at the Uganda/Kenya border. Andrew did an amazing job of driving all those hours! Part of the way home, our odometer hit 1,000km. I think we did about 1,600 km in total! The odometer returned to zero at the point where we reached 1,000km:

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Before the conference, we had a quiet but happy Christmas at home in Kampala. I was unwell for a long period before Christmas, mostly due to an attempted switch in asthma medication which did not work out, followed by the nasty virus referred to in my December blog. This meant that we had a quieter Christmas season. On Christmas Day, we enjoyed a lovely meal at home shared with a Ugandan friend and a family from America who are good friends.

 After the New Year conference, we returned back to the routine of school.

Esther was not impressed that the first day of the new school term was also her birthday! However, we celebrated after school with afternoon tea and some delicious cream cakes, a gift from a kind Swedish friend who was staying with us.

The birthday girl officially celebrated her 14th birthday with six friends that Friday afternoon.

With a mock Spa set up in our home, Esther and her guests (and even her Mum!!) enjoyed creating their own smoothies, making their own face masks from face-mask recipes, decorating themselves with henna designs, having pedicures courtesy of a Ugandan beautician who came to join us and taking crazy pictures in the homemade photo-booth. LOTS of fun!!

Here are a few photos for you to join in the fun too!