Matt and Becki Dillingham

Round up of the Week

Last weekend we celebrated Bethan turning 10 years old, she had a party with friends on the compound playing wink murder, capture the flag and lots of water games, followed by a swim in the pool, snacks and cake. In the evening we had a fire where we melted marshmallows - a special treat brought to Chad by our short term program manager who arrived a few days before her birthday.

Playing 'What's the time Mr Wolf - Shower time''

Marshmallows, fire and friends

Michel, an engineer from Madagascar, left on Monday after spending two weeks carrying out scheduled maintenance and fixing a couple of problems that came up while he was here. We were very thankful for his visit which will enable us to keep flying over the next few months. 

On Wednesday Phil and I were able to complete my C208 base check, a test flight that each pilot has to do every 6 months on each type of aircraft they fly. This was the 4th attempt to get it done, the first time we started the aircraft and then before we could taxi the airport was closed for an undefined period due to a VIP flight. The next two attempts were hampered by harmattan winds which blew dust across Chad making the visibility too low to complete the flight. 

Visibility 1000m

This week we have also had a visiting pilot from Uganda who has come to spend two weeks with us seeing the type of flying we do in Chad and how the program operates. On Thursday I flews with him to the east of Chad, moving an evangelism team for the next campaign. The control tower reported the temperature as ''a little bit hot'' at 44 degrees on the ground but for the return flight we climbed to 18,000 feet and enjoyed a break from the heat of Chad, with the outside temperature of -5 degrees.

Pieter flying over Eastern Chad

Transport waiting for the Pastors, dust devil in the distance.