Flying for Life - Dental and Women's Health

Mercy Air was scheduled to do another Flying for Life trip in mid November, but on this occasion the elements seemed to conspire against us.

We have weather radar and a storm scope in the aircraft and can safely navigate around most weather. However, we are also fortunate these days to have access to fairly accurate weather forecasting and it became obvious in the days leading up to the proposed trip that the conditions, particularly around Johannesburg for the return flight in the afternoon, would be less that favourable.

We therefore decided to cancel the trip, and that probably was one of the better calls we've had for a long time!

Below is a radar image of the storm we would have been flying into and back out of (dark red) in the top RH corner.

Here is a multiple image shot taken over a few minutes by some weather watchers in Jhb, at the time we would have returned.

There were also photographs of people who could only hold five pieces of hail in an outstretched hand!

Fortunately Africa can be quite flexible and after a few frantic phone calls, we were able to re-arrange the flight for the following week - when the forecast promised far better conditions.

So the trip was back on and this time Cathy, a nurse at Mercy Air, was also able to come along to help with some women's health issues.

Our team at the pick-up in Jhb...

..during the flight...

..and when we landed in Tshikondeni in Limpopo.

While the dental team got busy in the mobile dental unit..

Cathy got help from a very efficient local nurse for her series of pap-smears.

As in previous visits, after the clinic we visited a disability centre and took a few small gifts that were well received.

The area we visit is remote, even by South African standards, and is also quite neglected in terms of health provision.

This Makuya valley is one hours' drive away from the strip we land at

Tshikondeni airstrip

On the way back we were routed over Pretoria..

..and in particular the Union Buildings, the equivalent of the UK's Houses of Parliament.

The flight distance covered for this trip was about 1000 miles (1600 km), equivalent of flying from London to the north coast of Africa.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy for the Mercy Air team

Container Base, Marromeu, Mozambique

Many years ago Mercy Air re-furbished some shipping containers and drove them up to Marromeu near the end of the Zambezi River in Mozambique, in order to set up a base from where we could help a local mission team work with the almost forgotten people in the Zambezi Delta region. As there are no roads this mission group used to travel three days by dug-out open canoe in order to reach the delta, a journey which now takes our helicopter only 20 minutes!

The weather and humidity had taken its toll on the five containers and they were in bad need of repair. For this reason we flew a team, tools and materials up for a week to bring the structures up to standard. They had only been there a couple of days when they got a call that the father of a missionary doctor in Beira had been taken ill and was coughing up blood - could we help? Without much delay John, Mercy Air's chief pilot, went to Beira, collected the patient and flew him and his son back to South Africa, where he spent a week in hospital. The rest of the team stayed in Marromeu working on the 'container base'.

At the end of the week Paul, another of Mercy Air's pilots, flew up with Andy, a maintenance guy looking at joining Mercy Air, to help with the last few issues, and obviously to fly the team back to South Africa.

We're always amazed at the range the Kodiak has. In the shot below we had already been flying for an hour, yet could still have cleared Madagascar to the east or Cape Town if we had turned round.

Dotted green circle - 45mins fuel left. Solid green - no fuel.

The view was similar to the range - seemingly almost limitless.

We have been flying to Marromeu for many years. Back in the day, we used to land in the middle of town, but these days that would be unwise!

Fortunately the local sugar company has built a strip out in its plantations and we can safely land there.

Short final Rwy 11

We knew it was toasty up there but weren't quite expecting 41 deg C on the ground at 15:00 in the afternoon!

The container base has provided 'moderatley' comfortable accommodation, kitchen and ablution facilities for the heli crew as well as a place to store supplies, fuel and to facilitate some minor on-going maintenance for the helicopters themselves.

The containers were fitted with roofs to keep the rain off as well as to provide airflow to allow cooler conditions inside. One of the main issues was that the steel frames that supported the roofs were badly corroded and needed major work to prevent the sheets being torn off in the upcoming rainy/windy season.

Another of the issues that was fixed was the lighting for security at night.

Saying our goodbyes at the strip on the day we left.

On the way back we flew past a teddy bear who was waving at us!

The work we were able to do at the base will be effective through the next rainy season, but we will need to give it some major attention next year if they are to continue to be an asset in helping us help the communities in the delta, who's only contact with the outside world is a helicopter, or a three day dug-out open canoe journey.

Thank you

Paul for the Mercy Air team

ASAM, Mozambique - October 2019

This last week Mercy Air was back up in Mozambique with a team for a few days.

The team about to board

Taking off from Mercy Air

On the descent into Beira we flew over Buzi, where we had spent much time earlier in the year when we helped with the cyclone relief efforts.

Looking a lot better now than in March/April

At ASAM it was a game of aeroplane Tetris getting a helicopter, a Cessna 182 and our Kodiak into the hangar.

Not much room to swing a prop!

Each day we attended the familiar morning meeting.

We flew Nigel and his wife Erin from Mercy Air, who were preparing to help with an intensive pastor training the following week.

Should be fun!

Also on board were Jeremy and Janet Boddington who are with Mercy Air for three months with a view to stay longer. He also took Allan Luus (CEO of Mercy Air) and Anton, an engineer from South Africa, who looked at options for installing new electric and water services to help with longer term strategic planning for the mission.

Anton and Jeremy surveying the missions dammed river

The day of departure

It was a good few days except for the fact that four of the ASAM staff came down with malaria!

Thank you

Paul for the Mercy Air team

MAF/Flying for Life - Limpopo Dental Flight

Mercy Air recently flew another MAF/Flying for Life trip to Tshikondeni in the Limpopo province. On this occasion, the plane was full and one of the passengers was Jeremy Boddington, a retired Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm helicopter pilot who, together with his wife, are looking at joining Mercy Air soon. We will let him tell the story of the day:

"Recently arrived from the UK, my wife, Janet, and I are starting as short-term volunteers with Mercy Air.

What better way to get a feel for the work, than to accompany Paul Middleton on a flight to the dry and arid Limpopo region of northern South Africa, taking a team of dentists to a village day clinic?  

We left before sunrise, using torches to pre-flight the Kodiak in the dark. As Paul powered the aircraft down the Mercy Air strip, I wondered whether we were going to miss the trees at the end of the runway and how many Mercy Air staff had been woken from their slumbers. The Kodiak however has excellent short field performance and we were airborne about half way down the 600m long strip.

Loading passengers and supplies in Jhb

We arrived into Johannesburg at 06:30 to collect the dentistry team and then flew another 1h45 on to Limpopo, landing on a bumpy dirt strip before 9am.

Tshikondeni is an old coal mine airstrip that we can still use

This saved the team a six hour drive that in reality could easily have taken nearer eight - each way!

Google Maps depiction of the journey by road

From the airstrip there followed a one hour rickety minibus ride, with frequent stops for the driver to release smoking seized brakes. On arrival at the clinic, a mobile dentistry van and a number of patients awaited us, sitting in a line on the concrete step.

They seemed most grateful to see us as, over the next few hours, pain and aches were removed. 

Dentistry done, we moved on to a day centre for disabled adults, started by a local Christian lady some years ago. Delivering new shoes, food and other supplies, we enjoyed a time of talking and hearing about some of the ‘students’ and how the centre freed up caring families to get out to work to earn a living. After a time of fellowship, singing and prayer, we said our goodbyes, hugs and some tears in evidence.

At the dissability centre

The return journey was quieter (our exhausted passengers were asleep), and after dropping them off in Jo'burg, we made it back to our short unlit grass airstrip with about 10 minutes of light to spare. Night falls fast in Africa."

Thank you

Paul and Jeremy for the Mercy Air team

Flying for Life - Limpopo

It can get quite hard to realise the affect that your actions have when you repeat them often.

We have flown in support of MAF and Flying for Life many times the past few years and each time is always a big day out. The paperwork and flight plans are filed in the preceding week and we often take the aircraft to a local airport with runway lights the day before and fill it up with fuel. The day of the flight we get up just after 03:30 to drive to the airport where we do pre-flight checks before taking off in the dark, bound for Johannesburg. In the depth of winter (July) we land in Jhb just before the sun rises.

 

There we meet our passengers, load their supplies and can be on the ground for as little as 20 mins before setting off once again for Thohoyandou in the Limpopo province, almost two hours flying away. Once there, we unload before an hours drive to the hospital the team are working in.

There the patients are already waiting, usually prepped and ready for their life changing surgery that will restore sight to their eyes. This will not only affect them of course, but countless others in the communities such as families that rely on them to look after children while they are out at work or tending the fields.

The first lady was 95 and lived only three doors down from the hospital

Last Saturday we were again flying a team of nurses, doctors and surgeons to this hospital. Unfortunately eye issues are not seen as a priority by the department of health, after all, no one dies from blindness. This is reflected by the fact that in Limpopo, a province six times the size of Wales and with a population of 5 million people, there are only two hospitals equipped to offer eye cataract surgery. Our efforts to take specialists to Thohoyandou increased this number to three, but only of course for one day per month. The other sad fact is that people that were seen by our team were diagnosed as needing the treatment in January of 2017!

Proff uses a Schiotz Tonometer to measure eye pressure

The team are dedicated and compassionate and work tirelessly from the minute they get there till the last possible moment before we have to drive back to the airstrip in order to safely get airborne before the sun sets. This ensures that the maximum number of people have the chance to benefit from their expertise.

Fortunately the pilot was able to use a private room at the hospital to get some rest before the long trek back. Within minutes of taking off it was dark, but the clouds that had made the morning trip up interesting, had cleared and there were no delays to our landing back in Jhb. As the team began their drive home, we refueled the plane and then set back off into the night for the last 1h30 flight to where we had begun the day, or at least to the local airport with runway lights, where we put the plane to bed before driving up the hill to arrive at Mercy Air and a very welcome cup of coffee just before 22:30.

The bright lights of Jhb from 11000'

So, 'a grand day out' as Wallace and Gromit would say, but quite insignificant when compared to the extra lease of life given to the many people whose lives have been changed, and the many more who will benefit in the rural communities from their renewed sight.

Thank you

Paul for the Mercy Air team