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.

YWAM, Nensa, Mozambique

Mercy Air recently flew up to Marromeu in Mozambique for a week to provide some logistical support for the YWAM team up there.

Pick-up at the Senna Sugar Airstrip

Upon arrival we spent some time checking on what needed to be done. We found this banded rubber frog in the toilet cistern, who seemed quite happy to enjoy some creature comforts.

Can you spot the missing link? Some of the jobs looked to be straight forward.

Most jobs required getting our hands a bit dirty.

Other job’s required a bit more know-how, as the entire base operates on solar power.

While we were learning volumes about toilet repair, one of our team members was passing on some higher learning about microscopes to some of the children of the missionaries.

Between all the work there were times to pray, times to laugh (or cry), and times to come upon strange creatures such as this blind subterranean lizard.

A canoe in the nearby river provided some perspective on the local transportation options. On the return flight, one of the missionaries was able to catch a flight with us to Beira. This 40 minute flight was a lot smoother than the 14 hour drive!

Thank you.

Azarja for the Mercy Air team.

Heli Update 10-06-18

Dr Pedro attending to Chassomba at the accident site in Gorongosa park. He suffered serious crush injuries to his chest & a bite wound to his leg from a hippo.

Securing Chassomba in the heli for transport to Beira.

. . . and into the 'ambulance' (the back of a pick-up) at Beira airport.

Four of the rural health workers who graduated from Leanna’s primary healthcare school just received their 'kits' including a bicycle – sponsored by UNICEF.

I was able to take their bikes out to their 2 villages on the delta in an empty return trip. There’s no way to bike out there!

Maria selling exercise books and pencils (at a subsidised price) after class at Nhandaza. When they pay for them – they value them.

Kaylene & Maria with the teaching assistant – Simon, packing up after school at Nhandaza.

Doing a bit of 'low flying' back at base. There is always maintenance waiting to be done.

Thank you

Dean and Kaylene for the Mercy Air team