Flying For Life - Limpopo

Last week we did another flight to Limpopo in support of the Mission Aviation Fellowship's 'Flying For Life' project.

Another, pre-dawn start to get to Johannesburg to pick up the rest of the team up at 06:30.

Quite green on the Highveld whilst flying up to Tshikondeni in Limpopo.

Circling overhead and then landing at Tshikondeni. The strip is quite remote - which is one of the reasons we go in a plane in the first place.

The team being met at Tsghikondeni.

After meeting the officials at the local Tribal Council Offices we continued with visits to a primary school we have worked with for a number of years now.

Greeting some of the kids who seemed excited to see us.

The school kitchen...

..and what's likely on the menu!

Then on to the Disability Centre.

Recently part of the roof over the kitchen had been blown off in a storm.

There were also visits to the local clinic and a number of informal meetings before it was time to return.

It had got quite toasty at the airstrip by the time we got back to the plane.

Because of the time of year and the longer daylight hours, we were able to just fly back in the light.

Thank you

The Mercy Air team

Medical Care Establishment!

If you ever debate going to the doctor or dentist think of this photo.

This is a church where we did a dental and medical clinic in Mozambique this last week. A health post is being built near the church, but hasn’t opened yet.

Sarah Baertschi

For the Mercy Air team

Flying For Life - Eye Cattaract Surgery - Limpopo

Mercy Air was again privileged to take an eye cataract surgery team up to Thohoyandou in the Limpopo province, to work at a hospital for the day.

We pick these volunteers up in Johannesburg every two months and this was the fourth trip we'd done this year.

Catching the sunrise just after take off out of Mercy Air.

Picking the team up in Jhb.

Beautiful clear views from 11000' on the way up to Thohoyandou.

Getting to work in the hospital.

The day was about as perfect as they come weather wise from take off just before dawn, until the flight back. The clear skies and excellent visibility...

.. gave way to an impressive sunset just before landing back in Johannesburg...

.. and then the still darkness of night on the flight back into Nelspruit.

All in all, a very long day. There is a 400 people waiting list for cataract surgery as it is not hugely prioritised by the department of Health. The little we can do does go a long way towards helping a few people who would otherwise have minimal hope of a better life.

Thank you

Paul for the Mercy Air team.

Sunrise to Sunset

Last Wednesday was an early departure with the Cessna 310. 

As the sun's first rays appeared over the horizon, I was airborne to Lanseria to pick up a small Flying for Life team. Today the team consisted of a dentist, dental assistant, journalist/videographer, and the coordinator.

At Lanseria for the pick-up

From Lanseria to Tshikondeni Mine, it is always a stark contrast, flying out of a noisy, busy, urban airport and landing at a quiet, abandoned, rural dirt airstrip. 

A van and local driver brought our small team to Makuya Clinic. 

We were pleasantly surprised to find the mobile dental unit already in place, set up and ready to go. 

 

The dentist and assistant were able to move through the patient queue efficiently and even finish ahead of schedule! About 35 people were helped, and in the early afternoon, I was surprised by the news that the work was finished ahead of schedule for the day. The team was ready to fly back to Lanseria.

 

Cessna 310 at Tshikondeni Airstrip...

At Lanseria I refueled and then, with the sun setting behind me, and the moon ahead on the horizon, I was happy to be able to return home just before dark, and land at Mercy Air. Sometimes everything does work out just right! 

Thank you for your support of Mercy Air and it's ongoing work throughout southern Africa.

Azarja

for the Mercy Air team

Flying For Life - Limpopo

Mercy Air recently did a flight with Flying for Life, based out of Johannesburg, but working into the rural Limpopo area of South Africa.

We have been working with them for a number of years (see previous posts) but went this time to meet with the authorities who govern the various projects to find out how they think we are doing, and to see what else we could get involved in next year.

Again, the 1h10 flight up over the escarpment to Tshikondeni saved an eight hour drive.

Even with the saving by flight time, once we were there there were still plenty of rural dusty roads to negotiate.

After meeting with members of the Tribal Council our first visit was to the Karel Nngigideni primary school, where class sizes are often 60+.

The kids were happy to see us

The school kitchen and the cook. It used to be a classroom.

Not very exciting from a photo point of view but most of the visits involved sitting down in meetings to review the last year and plan for the coming one.

Next stop was the Takuseni special needs school where volunteers look after children to enable their parents to go to work. We had visited here a number of times in the past, on one occasion taking a dental team.

Nigel and Samantha in the kitchen

After a number of other visits including The Makuya Clinic and a secondary school, we flew to Thohoyandou (toy and oh) to spend the night before visits the following day. On the way we passed over the area we had just visited.

Whilst waiting for our lift, there were a few curious guys desperate to see and sit inside an aircraft for the first time.

Everybody wanted their picture taken

The next day we went to a hospital where we fly the eye cataract team every two months. Again more meetings and a quick tour of the facilities.

After lunch it was time for the flight back to drop Flying for Life in Jhb...

The only shade on a 37 deg day!

...before the return to Nelspruit.

landing at Mercy Air

Thank you

Paul for the Mercy Air team

Quite Busy!

Whereas not a typical occurrence, these next few pictures offer a snapshot of two days during this last week (14th and 15th August) that Mercy Air had all of it's four aircraft out at the same time.

The first photo is the wider picture showing where we went in relation to southern Africa.
For scale, Madagasgar is 1.7 times the length of the UK, or the equivalent of from the UK to N. Africa.

Next, zoomed in a little. One helicopter was in the Zambezi Delta region (top right) and the other flying clinics in Mamoli, south of Maputo (bottom centre-right).

The Cessna 310 flew back from Chimoio in central Mozambique, through Beira and on to Mercy Air, after which it continued on to Johannesburg. The following day it flew a dental team up to the Limpopo province and back.

Meanwhile the Kodiak was busy in the Lowveld and northern Kwa Zulu Natal.
The next images show the tracks of the heli in the Zambezi Delta...

.. and then that of the heli in the south of Mozambique.

In all, our flight tracking software showed over 32 hours of combined flight time and a distance flown of 3500 miles (5600km).

Thank you.

Paul for the Mercy Air team.