Privilege

On Tuesday this week, we had the opportunity to fly with Andrew again on one of his MAF flights. He was flying out to a village called Birise to take a medical team, but he was flying empty from Dodoma and then picking up the medical staff at Magumbua, a village on the way to Birise. 

We have got to know the missionary family who live out at Magumbua. They run a clinic there and also organise a monthly medical visit to Birise, sending some of their own staff by MAF plane, to bring medical help to the more remote Birise. 

The American family based out at Magumbua have become our good friends. They often pass through Dodoma with their 3 children, where they stay in the MAF Guest House which is literally on our doorstep. We have a common link with Dr John and his wife Melissa, as they studied tropical medicine, many years ago, at Liverpool University! They loved their time in the city where I grew up. It is always good to meet people who understand something about where you come from when you are living in a foreign country.

On Tuesday, we Parkers all set off  in Andrew's plane, flying together to Magumbua, where Andrew would land, drop off his family, pick up the medical team and continue on to Birise for the day. 

Myself, Esther, Ben and Joel stayed at Magumbua for the day, hosted by Melissa and their children while Dr John was busy at work in the clinic, where crowds of patients were waiting to see him.

 It was wonderful to be able to fly with Andrew again and to see first hand what some of his work entails. It was wonderful to spend a day with friends in a different environment and see first hand the people who use MAF to bring medical care and help to isolated communities in Tanzania. It was wonderful to fly up over the landscape of Dodoma and see how quickly urban living gives way to the semi-arid bushland surrounding Tanzania's capital city. 

In fact, I was overwhelmed. What an amazing privilege to be flying in a plane with our 3 children, with Andrew in the pilot's seat; to be involved in MAF's work: to be living in this dry, but strikingly vast and beautiful landscape that makes up part of Tanzania. I might have needed a tissue or two as the reality of this privilege hit home for me on this particular Tuesday...

Here's a bit of a record of our day...

Off to the plane, 8am on a bright winter's morning in Dodoma:

All aboard...

Ben helps his dad at the controls:

The passengers settle down with their on-board entertainment:

Off we go...

Leaving Dodoma, with clear views of Lion Rock:

30 minutes and 120 km later, we arrive at the bush-strip- Andrew lines up for landing on the Magumbua "runway":

A chance for an updated family shot with the plane!

The medical team arrive. Andrew consults with Dr John, working out the weight allowance for the day to see who can and can't join today's flight, taking into account the weight of the medical equipment that will also be loaded onto the plane:

Andrew flew with the medical team on to Birise, whilst we had a lovely day with our friends in their peaceful rural setting. Back at the house, the children and I were interested to see honey being harvested from honeycombs from local hives and took a few pictures of the process...

Time flew past...and soon the bush pilot returned...

Just enough time for a cuppa with Melissa and John:

Then off to the airstrip for the farewells: 

On the way home, Esther had her turn to sit up front with her dad- he even let her try the controls- oooerr, it was a little bumpy!!

Here is a final shot of the view from on high...I would have taken more photos, but the bumpiness on that hot afternoon in the plane took its toll. Instead, I found myself rushing to stow the camera away in safe place after poor little Joel had been sick all over my arm-and his seat- and his lap...!!!

Domestic disaster week!

I recently had a bit of a bad run with matters in the domestic arena.

On Tuesday morning, I got locked in a friend's bathroom when the key snapped in the lock! My shouting through their bathroom window soon got the attention of my host and she came to the rescue with her husband. He had to remove the entire handle section from the bathroom door to enable my escape! Fortunately, Joel was busy playing in their garden and had not noticed my rather delayed visit indoors to the bathroom.

On Wednesday morning, Joel hit on the bright idea (according to him) of decorating the kitchen floor with banana that he had squished between his fingers. He made sure the stodgy mess was well rubbed into the floor before I noticed what he was up to! By then, I was running late for an appointment. Frustrated, I grabbed the mop and began to clean the floor as fast as I could. I must have had one too many Weetabix for breakfast that day, as the wooden mop handle literally snapped in half in my hands as I vigorously mopped away! Another task was added to my list: go to town to buy a new mop!

On Friday afternoon, Trouble was waiting for me in my lounge. Since the water from the bathroom tap flooded our  home a few weeks ago, our floors have been left with an unsightly, milky-looking residue from the hard water and limescale that Dodoma's water is renowned for. Someone suggested vinegar to try and shift the marks off the floor- but that did not work. Then I hit on the idea of mopping the floors using a solution made of water and a dissolved packet of crystals purchased at the market called "unga wa ndimu", which literally means "lime powder" but looks more like the small white crystals of sodium bicarbonate. We use these crystals to de-scale our kettle, so I reasoned that they could also be used to get the limescale marks off our concrete floors.

However, it has to be said that I am no chemist. In all honesty, I have no idea what "unga wa ndimu" really is! All I know is that it works wonders in taking the limescale marks out of my kettle when it gets all fuzzed up from Dodoma's water.

On that fateful Friday I duly poured 2 packets of "unga wa ndimu" into my mop bucket along with a couple of litres of warm water.  I energetically mopped the lounge- with my brand new mop- and whizzed the mop around Jane's feet in the kitchen. It wasn't long before we realised that I had made a big mistake. The floor was a little less white, but it had become unbearably sticky! In fact, we had to peel our feet off the floor every time we wanted to take a step! In a place where we all walk barefoot inside, it was rather painful trying to lift the skin of our feet off the sticky floor! I fetched shoes for Jane and myself and sent the children outside, but it was obviously not a good result to my enthusiastic clean-up plan.

To ease the stickiness off the floor, I next decided to mop the floor with hot water and our usual floor cleaning liquid, called "Lit". For the second time, I mopped the lounge and kitchen. This time I was not whizzing around- it is tiring work! Nothing much changed, so Jane thought perhaps I should try again with bleach. It sounded like a good possibility. I fetched the bleach, emptied the mop bucket, filled it again with water and bleach and for the third time, I mopped the lounge and kitchen floor- this time, moving more slowly than the previous 2 times...The outcome was NOT good. This is what appeared before my unbelieving eyes:
The lounge:

 The kitchen:

 A messy white floor where once shiny, red concrete gleamed after a mopping! DISASTER!!

The floor was no longer sticky, but neither was it smooth to the feel. And it was even more unsightly than when I started my "Operation Clean-up" an hour earlier!
I consulted with Jane again, who was dutifully washing up despite all the chaos around her. We agreed that maybe plain hot water was best for the floor.... Out came the mop bucket again- and by now I think you know the rest of the routine....
This time, I was exhausted, not just with the physical activity but by the sense of defeat that suddenly overwhelmed me! Ben and Joel faithfully stepped in at this point and helped their mum to do the fourth and final mop of the afternoon, with the hot water...

Ben and Joel proved to be great little helpers, but as you can see, as fast as we mopped, the white marks returned to mar the surface as soon as the water dried up. They are still here as I write this, 2 weeks later, although they are gradually fading as we continue the hot water mopping several times a week.

After the fourth floor wash, I gave up and phoned Andrew to pre-warn him of what to expect when he got home. His comment? "Why didn't you just try your solution on a small area of floor before going ahead with the whole space?"
Why indeed? I wish I'd thought of that! Next time I have a domestic disaster, I'll remember that very sound advice and hopefully not create such a spectacular mess in my home!!