DC-3 Video of a recent flight

A few weeks ago we had a pilot on our flight who was taking some video. We flew another radio tower into southern Sudan (Nasir). He put this together which shows a little more what our day is kind of like.

Kitale weekend

This weekend we traveled up north to visit with some friends we have made here. He is actually one of the guys who comes to our house and cuts our grass and keeps the bushes trimmed. His story is one that just leaves you amazed and wondering how this world works sometimes. His name is Wycliffe. He lives in Kabira with his wife Celine and son Brian. Kabira, I think, is one of the largest slums in Africa. It’s just half a mile from where we live. It’s a place that foreigner’s like us normally don't go. A very dangerous place because of muggings and killings, etc…

Wycliffe was a street kid growing up and used to watch people’s cars for them while they were at the market. By God’s grace he was able to stay on a straight path and find some odd jobs from missionary families who needed yard work done. We learned that he and Celine were trying to build a shamba (small house) out in western Kenya. We decided to help them out with buying some cement and over time we wanted to go out and visit to see the house.

Well, this weekend we were able to do that. We drove nearly 6 hours over some paved, some dirt, some rough, and some very dusty roads. (as you can see)

This is the path we had to drive down to get to the house we stayed in.

We had a good time and enjoyed staying with them. It turns out the house isn’t quite ready to be lived in yet so we stayed at another house, but got to see it and meet some interesting people along the way. It is a pretty primitive way of life out there, but there is corn, peas, carrots, cabbage, avocados, and other crops that people grow for cash. Some of it is sent to Nairobi to be sold as well. We had a simple meal for supper of chicken, rice, ugali (cooked corn meal), and potatoes. Of course we had to finish it off with chai. Then we all slept in one of the two rooms of the house that was about 8 x 12 feet. We ate, talked, and slept all in the one room. The other room of the house was for storing supplies. Some of the cooking was also done outside over a small fire. There wasn’t a toilet, electricity, or running water. We used one of the neighbor’s pit toilet and he also had a hand dug well which many from the community use for their water.
As you can see the corn does pretty well here. Micah is about 5 feet tall now! We also met Pastor Joel who lives near where their house is. He is a very interesting pastor who has a church just down the road.

Celine doing dishes and making Chai for us.

Wycliffe, Celine, and Brian in front of their house being constructed. Micah also in front of their house.

This is the house we stayed in with them. It was a good weekend, but humbled us greatly with the kindness and generosity of the people there.

summer vacation?

Here are a few things that Micah and I have been doing so far this

summer. It actually feels more like fall here in Nairobi. This is Micah's room with his cup stacking cups in a tower but he took it down and put it on his desk in the biggest form even with the smallest super stacks.

We have cool nights in the high 50's days in the 70's. Alittle too cool for swimming, so we have had to find other things to do. These pictures are out of order, so I will try to explain them. We are seeing some improvements in Nairobi. The first picture above - they started painting lines in the middle of the main road by us to prevent "overlapping", that is when the Matatu's (public transportation vans) just make another lane of traffic and cause a bit of congestion. We will see if this works. Their is another picture of this below. :) The second one above is a picture of a stand that we bought from another missionary. It's more like an island - the top opens up on each side for more space. It all looked the same color as the top now. I painted it black and then sanded it so it would look a bit more rustic - then put new knobs on. :)

Micah took this picture of a box of cereal that I "caved in" and bought for him. I don't ususally buy sugar cereal - and well maybe next time I won't take him with me grocery shopping!

My tomatoes are making progress - they have a few little green tomatoes on them. :)

One more picture of the yellow lines on the road.

Micah and I try to do at least one fun thing a day each week. Yesterday we went to mall like place with a few friends looked around at the shops and had lunch out. Here is Micah with his ususal "out to eat" meal. Cheeseburger and fries.

This was a picture on Father's Day - ok, boo-hoo, minus Warden and Brandon.

Our latest flight attendant, and more work pictures.

On a fairly recent trip up north I was able to bring Micah along. We were taking medicines into an airstrip for World Vision and didn't have any passengers so since Micah is out of school he was able to ride along in the DC 3TP and helped unload the medicines. Then on the first leg back since it was a long day and the airplane was empty he decided to take a break in a hammock. After we made a fuel stop at Wajir, Kenya we picked up a couple of passengers to take back to Nairobi. We will give the Kenyan Civil Aviation guys rides when we have space available. Micah enjoyed serving the guys water, juice, and cookies that we normally have along with us. It was a fun day, but he was pretty tired after the day was over.

Then a couple of weeks ago I had the priviledge of going to the mission airstrip where I first went way back in 1982. It's in the CAR and called Zemio. We were transporting 15 drums of Jet fuel so another airplane could do some flying out of there. The house in this picture was in process of being built and I helped do some of the wiring and building during that time. It was pretty cool to get back to the mission station where I spent those few months.

Here is also the airstrip just a couple hundred yards from the station. We also brought out 30 empty barrels that were there from previously used up fuel. It was a quick, but enjoyable trip.

Just the other day I transported quite a few guys and their broadcast equipment to western Kenya. I believe that they are from God TV and were planning on doing a live broadcast of drilling a well in one of the villages that is having trouble getting water. We had to transport all of their equipment which was quite a lot, plus all of the broadcast guys. The remainder of what you see in this picture is just a small portion of what there actually is.

Now we also have made one more addition to our back yard. We had this table and umbrella made a week ago. They make them here, but normally too big so we had someone make us this one for us and the chairs. It's perfect and we can now enjoy eating outside a little more. It is winter here though so at times it's a little too cold right now, (around 60 degrees) but we do try to take advantage of it whenever we can. :-)