Training and Preparation

Good news! Its taken 4 months but my Chadian Pilot's Licence Validation was finally issued this week! I haven't flown since my test flights when we first arrived in Chad and its been much longer since I was flying regularly so I'm feeling a little rusty. Aviation rules state that I must have completed 3 take-offs and landings in the last 90 days to be allowed to carry passengers, so it was time to get some practice and become current again!

Having not yet flown to the South of Chad, Andrew (MAF Chad's supervisory pilot) and I devised a plan to fly down to Baili to practice some landings and then come back. Next week a medical safari is planned and Baili will be one of the stops so it was a good chance for us to check out the condition of the airstrip before it needs to be used in earnest next week. We will also need extra fuel in a nearby town of Tchaguine so we planned a stop there as well. Tchaguine is home to a long term missionary family who have been serving in the village for 26 years! Knowing how remote Tchaguine is and how little fresh food is available we offered to bring some vegetables down. This offer was gladly accepted and 39kgs of fresh vegetables, salad, meat, new plates and toys for the local children also came on the flight.

Near to Baili, just north of the river is another town called Boudamasa, where another missionary family are looking to open up a new airstrip. A team will travel down this weekend to assess the site but as it was almost en-route, we also took the opportunity to see how the land lies. Apparently we caused quite a stir as the sight of the MAF plane caused people to knock on the door of the missionary family's house to tell them that we were coming!

Planned location of the airstrip - not much to see yet!

Baili is just over an hour from N'Djamena in the Cessna 182. We did a low pass to check the condition of the airstrip before landing and noted a couple of people stood to the side. Locals had obviously been preparing for next weeks visit as the strip was in excellent condition. As we didn't need to drop anything at Baili we kept the engine running, taxied to the end of the runway and turned around to takeoff again. In the time it took from landing to being ready to be airborne again everyone who lived in the surrounding area had decided to come and see what was going on and the runway was filled by a swarm of people coming down to see the aircraft. We had to sit for 10 minutes waiting for them all to make their way down to our end, where a few guys with sticks took it upon themselves to provide crowd control and keep them away from the aircraft.

Waiting to take off at Baili

Next stop was Tchaguine to meet the family there, unload the vegetables and de-fuel 100 litres of Jet A1 into a fuel drum ready for next week. Again the whole village came to see what was going on, but in a more controlled manner! The missionaries there came prepared with a rope that everyone had to hold and stand behind (although the goats weren't so well behaved and did run across the runway as we were approaching).

On the way back we practised an instrument approach at N'Djamena as one of the biggest challenges of flying in Chad is low visibility due to dust. It was great to be up in the air again and it was good to combine the training with a delivery of fuel and food.

Crowd control at Tchaguine

Finally get to fly a MAF plane again!

Spot the plane!

Christmas in Chad

Christmas in Chad makes Christmas in Madagascar look very commercialised! There is none of the pre-Christmas hype you get in the UK, not even an aisle or two of Christmas decorations in the supermarkets like Madagascar. One of the supermarkets had some sporadic Christmas music being played and another stocked a few rolls of wrapping paper and a solitary hook of tinsel. If we didn't need to go hunting for the wrapping paper we probably wouldn't have even noticed these small signs of the commercial side of Christmas.

Within the walls of our compound however things looked a bit more festive! Matt got to work over the weekend before Christmas to build a tree from our shipping pallet. The great advantage of our pine tree was that it really is no-drop so no matter how many times Luke pulled the baubles down there wasn't a pile of needles to be found (there were however piles of sand everywhere as a dust storm came through during Christmas Eve).

Helping Daddy

Presents are just whats needed to reach the baubles!

                       

On the 23^rd we had our staff Christmas party, which was held on our compound this year. The staff and their families (60 people altogether) came along to play games and eat together. Three of the national staff cooked up an amazing array of Chadian food, our Dutch colleagues introduced everyone to a variant of football that involved trying to knock over other players' water bottles whilst protecting your own bottle. We used an idea from a Christmas party in Madagascar and sent everyone on a photo challenge around the compound. There were gifts for the children, lots of laughter and a chance to meet the spouses and children of our colleagues.

'Dutch Football'

Colourful array of Chadian food

Receiving of gifts

MAF Chad staff and families

In the weeks leading up to Christmas the children in our church had been rehearsing for a Christmas play with readings and songs with actions. Bethan was really excited about the performance and we all had the songs stuck in our heads for days as she practiced at home. The children gave a great performance during the Sunday service on Christmas Eve, then we sang carols and came back home to make Christingles with Bethan and her friends.

Luke enjoyed blowing the Christingle out 

Christmas day was very relaxed! We enjoyed sharing presents with the children, having time to play games and explore new toys. We read a lot to Bethan and listened to her practising reading short stories. As a team we had a shared Christmas lunch and therefore each family had to prepare a part of the roast meal (it turns out you can get sprouts in Chad – but only from a tin!). It was really nice to be able to spend time eating together as a big family. On Boxing day, Bethan got Matt to show her how to use her new tool kit and Luke enjoyed playing with their new wooden airport. The office was closed all week so we had time to relax and rest, which was much needed after a busy few months.

Compound Christmas lunch

A real tool box for Bethan and toddler safe one for Luke

Testing out the saw

Happily playing together