Fly With Us To Lusaka and Special Prayer Request

Monday I flew with John to Lusaka to bring back a Kalene-based missionary that was out of the country for some medical needs. He and his wife arrived back in country over the weekend and needed a lift back home. Intending to make the round trip in one day, we left early because John had some business to take care of in Lusaka. A round trip is six hours of flying (much better than the 40 or more hours of driving it would take). We pushed the airplane out before daybreak so we would be ready for takeoff as soon as it was light enough. The runway here is not lit, so we can only operate in daylight hours.

We took off just as soon as we could see the trees and the terrain well enough to safely avoid them. We were off into the haze. Let me tell you about that.

During the dry season, Zambia is covered by a thick blanket of haze all the time. The haze is a blend of dust and smoke. The dust rises from the dry roads and fields, and the smoke rises from the grass fires that pepper the landscape. During the dry season, people burn the dead grass on the flatlands. When we fly, we can see columns of smoke in every direction. The combination of the two makes a dirty, sooty haze. On the ground the haze is not too noticeable most days, but as soon as we take off we can see it. In fact, it completely obscures the horizon and reduces visibility to a few miles. That makes flying much more tedious, because we are flying by instruments. A full day of flying in the haze makes a tired pilot and a sooty black airplane.

 

Monday we cruised a little higher than we normally do. At about 10,000 feet, we broke out of the haze. We were immediately greeted by bright blue skies and wispy clouds, and we got there just in time to see the sun come up over the haze.

 

It was beautiful. The haze was so thick and flat it looked just like a cloud layer. We flew this way for about two hours before we had to drop back into it.

 

When we arrived at Lusaka airport, the first matter was to buy fuel for the airplane.

 

There is only one ramp at Kenneth Kaunda Int’l Airport, so we park right in line with the airline flights. Coming from hyper-secure post-9/11 USA, it feels weird to walk out onto the ramp pushing a luggage cart and right past an Airbus with open cargo doors and ground crew milling about.

The Flight Service has a pickup truck that stays at the airport, so we used it to do our business in town.

 

Our first stop was at the auto parts block. I wish I could have taken photos here, but the sidewalks were so busy and we were in a hurry. We had to get back to Kalene before dark, so we kept moving pretty quickly. There is one auto “spares” store that is pretty nice. It reminds me of an Advance or Auto Zone. On each side are hole-in-the-wall shops with all kinds of used parts. You don’t go  to a junkyard to buy used parts, you buy them in the stores. In front of the stores, the street vendors had their shops. These were not booths of nicely cleaned and organized parts. They were piles. I saw a pile of hoses and radiators as large as our dining room table and nearly as high. Another pile of tie rods and shocks was even larger. How you would ever find what you needed is beyond me. The street is lined with diagonal parking, and several of the spaces were occupied with cars in various stages of disassembly. I guess you park your car, take the wheels off, then roam the sidewalk digging through the piles until you find the part you need. When that part is on, you go looking for the next one. It’s so efficient, because you only have to drive to the store once! That’s better than we did, because the store gave us the wrong tie rod ends, so John will have to go back another time.

The next stop was to pick up a portable ultrasound that was being repaired for the hospital.

 

You can see by the traffic that Lusaka is not a city steeped in poverty, as some African cities are. This is downtown, so there are very poor areas as well.

 

Our next stop was at a mall to buy some supplies and meet up with our passengers.

 

It is a newer mall, and it felt just like a mall at home, including some of the same stores. We had lunch at Subway.

 

We went to the Guest House to drop off the supplies we purchased and load our cargo for the flight home.

 

With that, we were headed back to the airport and off by 2:15 for Kalene. Plenty of margin to get there before dark.

 

We fly over a variety of scenery on the Lusaka-Kalene leg. Farms, grassland, swamps, wooded mountains, and more.

 

There are always a lot of fires during this time of year. You can see the contrast between the black burn and the brown grass. The area to the right of the burn is watered by the river, so it will stay green.

 

This route takes us right over a huge copper mine called Kalembela. The window glare is really bad here, and I could only see one corner out my side, but it’s an impressive operation. They are in the middle of nowhere, so they have an airport, housing, and shopping on site. If you look really closely, you can see little trucks on the road. Those are the monster dump trucks that are three stories or so high.

 

After another hour or so, we were back at Kalene. It feels good to be on solid ground again. We try to avoid afternoon flights, because the air can be very rough. Today it was pretty smooth, so we were glad. Still, I tried sitting in the hammock when I got home, and had to give it up for something firmly footed. (This photo is actually from a different flight.)

It was another safe flight, and the missionaries are back home to their children. We are so thankful to be able to help here and be part of this work. Thank you for your faithful support and prayers. I know it’s hard to understand exactly what goes on here, so hopefully this story gives you a little perspective.

Prayer Request

This is election week in Zambia. For those of you subscribed by email, you will probably get this on Thursday, which is Election Day. Please pray for peace not only on Thursday, but perhaps even more on the days that follow. There is a lot of talk of violence, and so much corruption. The incumbent government is trying to scare voters away from the polls in areas like ours, where there is strong support for the opposition. There are rumors that the Air Force is going to bomb all the polling stations. Of course that won’t happen, but it is working in keeping them from going. Either way the results go, there will be riots and violence in the cities for several days. We are not under serious threat of violence in Kalene because it is remote enough, but there is still lots of fear, mistrust, and strife. We certainly won’t be going anywhere for a few days.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” Matthew 5:9