Pilot Parker and Perks of the Job
Andrew came home from his flights the other day with a gift from a grateful MAF partner, who regularly use MAF flights to their isolated area of South Sudan.
A gift-box full of mangoes:
There were plenty of these delicious mangoes to share with neighbours and colleagues. It is mango season now, so they tasted fresh and juicy, straight from the tree!
Comings and Goings
Our next-door neighbours left South Sudan this week, to return to their native Holland.
We will miss them! They were also part of our MAF team in Tanzania so we knew them before we moved here, although they had been based in Dar es Salaam, a day's drive from our Dodoma home.
They moved to Juba just a few days before we did, so it was strange for us to say "goodbye" to them. It was sad to wave them off.
Esther in particular will miss her friendship with their daughter. There were many tears for Esther on Monday, as she let go of yet another friend.
Tonight, another family moved in, so new next door neighbours are already installed. This time, instead of Dutch neighbours, we have a Norwegian/ Israeli family next door!
It is a privilege in our MAF lives that we live among and learn so much about different cultures from our neighbours.
Another night... another shooting
At 2:40 this morning, the owner of the small shop just outside of the MAF gate was shot and killed.
I thankfully slept through the shooting, although it woke Andrew. We feel sad for the other people who work and live at this small shop. I often nip out of the gate to buy phone credit there or bottles of water or coke. The children usually accompany me, excited to spend their South Sudanese pounds on handfuls of sweets which are sold out of plastic jars, balanced on the wooden shelves. The owners have always been kind to them, so it's horrible to hear that one of them will no longer be there to greet his customers.
The shop is usually open all day and it was sad to see it all boarded up today. I took this photo from the gate of our compound, through the tiny, barred security window (used to verify who is knocking at our gate before allowing any visitors entry to the compound).
The shop is the small, wooden structure on the left of the picture, with the closed, blue doors.
Finally... Local Weather News
The rains have arrived! Everything is cooling off... including our bathroom, which is down to a chilly 29'C. It feels fantastic!!
Let me leave you for now with a quote of the week, stated in all sincerity by Esther, "Oooo, it's only 31'C today! It feels so cold!"
So sorry to hear oabout the shopkeeper. The little shop reminds me of the Dukas in K
ReplyDeleteotido. We became v friendly with the couple who owned the shop with the post office ( one delivery a week) and shared meals with them. So sad. Sad too for Esther butI the mangoes must have been a lovely surprise and one ot the few "perks" of the job. We wouldn't mind temps of 29 degrees. A very cold start to May for us. xx nana