It seems strange to have come all this way, head into the dense Borneo rainforest to then be served fresh, sugared doughnuts - but this has happened a number of times - and very nice they’ve been too! (I ate three today, one after another sitting by the side of the airstrip at Long Lebuson).
Last night we stayed overnight in the village of Long Nawang, one of the furthest locations the pilots fly to from Tarakan. The village sits on the bank of a fast flowing river, the jungle surrounding it. It is slightly better developed than other villages, and has quite a history in relation to American missionaries, the Dutch and then Japanese troops. We interviewed numerous people there who have benefitted from MAF’s services and, once again, the gratitude is great.
Today we joined Chris Desjardine at Long Lebuson where he was installing an aerial for a high frequency radio there. Without it the pilots have no way of knowing what the airstrip and weather conditions are like until they fly over it (it took us 1 hour 20 mins to fly back from there to Tarakan in the caravan). The aerial wires were erected on the tallest bamboo poles I’ve ever seen; we estimated about 12 metres high.
It’s now my final night here before I head home. It’s been a good trip and we’ve gathered plenty of material. The challenge now will be to bring it to life in print and film . . . but I’m up for that!
Thursday 11 November 2010
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Boys and their toys!
Part of the purpose of my visit to Kalimantan is to capture film and imagery of MAF’s work here. Monday was therefore committed to obtaining action shots of the Kodiak in the interior. The guys were looking forward to a great day!And how many guys were there? Five! The pilot, of course, plus two other pilots (who are into photography and filming), a MAF UK volunteer videographer (who also happens to be a pilot), and a photographer. Put these guys together with a plane, and numerous cameras and what can I say? They did have a great day! And with four different cameras trained on the plane, we’ve got some good material.
One thing I love about my job is the challenge of writing in a way that brings things to life for the reader. I will, however, spare you a description, from this hot and humid day, of sharing the limited and enclosed cabin space of the Kodiak with these chaps....(at times an assault on an English lady’s sense of smell)!
Once finished in the interior, the action continued. We headed back to Tarakan and, with it being a beautiful day, had just enough time to get airborne again, this time with eight pilots in the air (plus the videographer) and four planes – the grand caravan, the Kodiak and two 206s (one with the door removed for filming and photography). David Holsten was keen to get a generational shot of the different aircraft flying together in formation. I was impressed, both with the planning and precautions outlined in the briefing before we flew, and in the ‘choreography’ in the air. The planes were flying closer than I expected, the reason for having so many pilots involved – in each plane a pilot in command, and a second one committed to watching the instruments the whole time for safety purposes. We also captured air to air footage of the Kodiak, the light being perfect as the day drew to an end.
So, a different day, but a memorable one where the guys had plenty of fun (and so did I).
Photos:
Top photo: Left to Right - Layton Thompson (photographer), David Holsten (MAF pilot and Programme Manager), Jonathan Binnie (volunteer videographer and helicopter pilot), Dave Forney ( MAF pilot), and Paul College (MAF pilot)
Just above: Aerial photo taken from the caravan with Kodiak in the foreground and the 206s.
Monday 8 November 2010
Vision, energy and unity
It’s the beginning of another week - hot and humid once again. We’ve got some good stuff planned for the coming days, but I won’t spoil the surprise – you’ll have to wait!
One thing that has really struck me about this team is its vision, energy and unity. There is a very strong focus on relationship, not just as a team, but with the people they serve. Each year pilots are allowed to fly their wives and families into the interior to stay in a village and meet the people. It’s totally inspiring for them, and helps keep the passion alive for the mission the families have committed to together. The ultimate impact of what MAF does is often hidden, even from the pilots - dropping passengers at the airstrips and then flying on. The policy this programme has in place ensures that it doesn’t remain hidden to them.
People are at the heart of MAF’s mission! Having met some of the pastors in the interior, it’s very clear that they really appreciate not just the flying service but the MAF pilots and families as well. Someone commented how pastors and pilots mutually encourage each other in the work they’re engaged in – this speaks volumes to me, and takes my thoughts down the route of how taking God’s love to the ends of the earth is totally team work. Team work with God; team work between believers; team work across organisations and nationalities….. I love it! I love how these guys come along side others, caring for them, helping in whatever way they can, making it easier for others to do their part in the great commission.
One thing that has really struck me about this team is its vision, energy and unity. There is a very strong focus on relationship, not just as a team, but with the people they serve. Each year pilots are allowed to fly their wives and families into the interior to stay in a village and meet the people. It’s totally inspiring for them, and helps keep the passion alive for the mission the families have committed to together. The ultimate impact of what MAF does is often hidden, even from the pilots - dropping passengers at the airstrips and then flying on. The policy this programme has in place ensures that it doesn’t remain hidden to them.
People are at the heart of MAF’s mission! Having met some of the pastors in the interior, it’s very clear that they really appreciate not just the flying service but the MAF pilots and families as well. Someone commented how pastors and pilots mutually encourage each other in the work they’re engaged in – this speaks volumes to me, and takes my thoughts down the route of how taking God’s love to the ends of the earth is totally team work. Team work with God; team work between believers; team work across organisations and nationalities….. I love it! I love how these guys come along side others, caring for them, helping in whatever way they can, making it easier for others to do their part in the great commission.
Friday 5 November 2010
Fellowship, chinese food and antics
Thursday, and we return from a day in the interior having roasted in the hot sun and humidity – it was intense. My colleagues resembled lobsters by the end of the day.
I spent the day with the Kodiak, doing a first landing into an airstrip at Long Padi, a 535m strip at an elevation of 2600’. Having established that it was Kodiak friendly, the pilot, David Holsten, proceeded to load up 30kg sacks of rice in stages (well the villagers did the loading) and David did some test take offs and landings, slowly increasing the weight. Long Padi has had a good rice harvest, but the villagers of Long Layu, Paupan and Rungan are dangerously short of rice, their crops having been destroyed by a series of pests – rats, bats and worms. By the end of the day we’d transferred 860kg of rice from Long Padi to Long Layu. Once the word was out, those sacks of rice disappeared very rapidly in Long Layu, various members of the villages arriving on motorbikes or with wheelbarrows to transport the rice home.
After that we headed to another village close by, where Dave and his family have established a strong friendship with a local family, and where a late lunch of local produce awaited us. By then the clouds had gathered and the rain came down, making it a little more difficult to interview people – our hostess, the village pastor and another representative from the village – with the rattle of heavy rain on the corrugated roof. However, it was interesting to see how rapidly the storm clouds gathered following a blazing hot day – something pilots have to allow for and work around if they’ve not exited the interior early enough.
The evening saw all the international couples out at a local Chinese restaurant for dinner and then worship, prayer and Bible study (on this occasion, a filmed seminar on "Laughing Your Way to a Healthy Marriage"). This team is particularly good at an adapted ‘Mexican wave’. All was calm and merry when what someone had said was a shrew snuck out from under the air-conditioning unit. In fact it was a rat, and it proceeded to run under the chairs down one side of the table - (where probably about 10-15 people were sitting) – so started a rapid wave motion from top to bottom of the table, with much commotion. The rat is now resting in peace.
That’s all for now.
Stephanie
I spent the day with the Kodiak, doing a first landing into an airstrip at Long Padi, a 535m strip at an elevation of 2600’. Having established that it was Kodiak friendly, the pilot, David Holsten, proceeded to load up 30kg sacks of rice in stages (well the villagers did the loading) and David did some test take offs and landings, slowly increasing the weight. Long Padi has had a good rice harvest, but the villagers of Long Layu, Paupan and Rungan are dangerously short of rice, their crops having been destroyed by a series of pests – rats, bats and worms. By the end of the day we’d transferred 860kg of rice from Long Padi to Long Layu. Once the word was out, those sacks of rice disappeared very rapidly in Long Layu, various members of the villages arriving on motorbikes or with wheelbarrows to transport the rice home.
After that we headed to another village close by, where Dave and his family have established a strong friendship with a local family, and where a late lunch of local produce awaited us. By then the clouds had gathered and the rain came down, making it a little more difficult to interview people – our hostess, the village pastor and another representative from the village – with the rattle of heavy rain on the corrugated roof. However, it was interesting to see how rapidly the storm clouds gathered following a blazing hot day – something pilots have to allow for and work around if they’ve not exited the interior early enough.
The evening saw all the international couples out at a local Chinese restaurant for dinner and then worship, prayer and Bible study (on this occasion, a filmed seminar on "Laughing Your Way to a Healthy Marriage"). This team is particularly good at an adapted ‘Mexican wave’. All was calm and merry when what someone had said was a shrew snuck out from under the air-conditioning unit. In fact it was a rat, and it proceeded to run under the chairs down one side of the table - (where probably about 10-15 people were sitting) – so started a rapid wave motion from top to bottom of the table, with much commotion. The rat is now resting in peace.
That’s all for now.
Stephanie
Thursday 4 November 2010
Blue noodles and a steep airstrip!
Today I ate blue noodles for the first time in my life, and landed on an airstrip the majority of which is at a 23% incline.
It was a long day, not too unusual when flying in one of the programmes.
The weather delayed us a bit at the beginning. The pilots checked how things stood at the numerous destinations we were heading to, as there’s no point even making a start until they can be fairly sure they can touch down there. Once we received confirmation it was OK the pilot, Dave Forney, and I climbed into a C206 and headed off to collect our first passengers.
Some snippets of info from the day:
• As you take off from Tarakan you immediately fly over a whole load of shrimp ponds along the coast, shrimp being the main export from here. The general effect of the ponds, with the brown rivers snaking between them, is quite artistic from the air. Note to self – must get aerial shot of plane over artistic shrimp ponds!
• Once over the interior the terrain is rugged mountains completely covered in dense jungle which stretches into the distance as far as you can see. Absolutely stunning! As you look down it’s very clear why MAF is flying here – overland travel would take ages (our first passengers flew for just over an hour – it would have taken them 2-3 months overland by foot and boat, a journey which wouldn’t even be considered)
• Landing and taking off from Metun airstrip which is mostly at a 23% incline is pretty cool! You touch down on a short section which is at a 5-6% incline, which then quickly increases to a 23% incline, then there’s another more level bit, and then the final sharp incline before coming over the top of a ridge where the plane parks. The view from the top is stunning – across lush dense green vegetation to blue mountains in the distance….but I’m meant to be talking about planes, rather than getting distracted by scenery! The take off from there was fast, the airstrip being only 365 metres, so Dave gave the plane plenty of kick (not sure if the proper word is throttle, but hopefully you get the idea) before we popped over the top ridge and rushed down the sharp incline. I momentarily had that roller-coaster experience when you hold your breath having not quite expected what you’re experiencing.
• Has anyone seen ‘Airmen and Headhunters’? If so, we flew straight over the place where the airmen had to bail out during World War II – dense jungle of course.
I spoke with Pastor Henry, one of our passengers, who is working in Data Dian. He shared: ‘We’re the smallest of villages in the area and without MAF no one else would care for us. As a servant of God ministering here it would probably be impossible to be here without MAF’ – his enthusiasm was visibly evident.
More flying planned for Thursday.
That’s all for now, except to say that the blue noodles were for lunch – I was advised not to ask why they were blue, so I didn’t!
Stephanie
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Stephanie arrives in Kalimantan!
I have arrived in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, via three different flights and three days of travel. I’m a bit tired now, and jet lag is clouding my head! It’s 7 hours ahead of the UK.
I’ll be here for nearly 2 weeks. I’ll be based in Tarakan, where MAF has a base with 6 planes. One of these is the Kodiak which toured the UK last autumn before it headed into operation. My reason for visiting is to see the plane in action and report on the impact its making. The programme also has two float planes based down in Palangkaraya.
First impressions: it’s very warm and humid and very green. Today there was plenty of cloud cover and it rained heavily early morning. When we headed to the hangar there was a stunning rainbow – had we been only moments earlier it would have been a great photo, arching over the Kodiak sitting on the apron with stormy clouds adding a bit of drama.
Only 2 of the six planes in Tarakan are operational at the moment – the others are down for maintenance, though the grand caravan should be back in operation tomorrow having just had a biannual inspection of the undercarriage completed today (whole under-carriage removed for a thorough check).
While I didn’t join any flights today, the Kodiak did transport the body of a young boy (13-14 years old) and his family to his home village for burial. He had had a heart defect since birth, and previously had heart surgery after which there were no more problems. Then just a few days ago he’d developed problems in his arm and pain in his head. He was brought to the hospital here in Tarakan where he was for three days before he died. It was upsetting to see the coffin be carried out over the apron and carefully loaded into the Kodiak, some of our national staff securing it with straps to one side at the back – you sense just a minute fraction of the pain and heartbreak of the parents. The parents and two others accompanied the coffin on the flight. School children were there to meet the plane when it landed. Here it’s really important for people to be buried in their home villages, so for MAF to assist in the transportation of bodies for funerals is an act of compassion, coming alongside the relatives and communities at a time of pain.
A kind of motto of the programme here is: ‘Serving communities; supporting the church; showing compassion’. Relationships are at the heart of what the team are doing. They intentionally invest in relationships with the village communities they fly to, and with people here in Tarakan. In Tarakan about 80% of the population are Muslim, with animism mixed in, some Buddists and Hindus. In the interior about 90% are Christians.
Had dinner with Brad and Rebecca. Brad shared how on one occasion he had the challenge of checking for a passenger’s pulse while flying the plane. Another time they were having drinks down on the beach here in Tarakan when a man came out of the water carrying a girl (approx 12 years old) by her ankles. She’d been sucked under the water and drowned, and the man was carrying her upside down to try and drain out the water. Having had first aid training Brad went and assisted and the young girl was saved. No one else present knew what to do to save her.
Plan to do some flying tomorrow so hope to let you know more after that.
If you have any questions do send them this way and I can see what I can find out.
Bye for now
Stephanie
I’ll be here for nearly 2 weeks. I’ll be based in Tarakan, where MAF has a base with 6 planes. One of these is the Kodiak which toured the UK last autumn before it headed into operation. My reason for visiting is to see the plane in action and report on the impact its making. The programme also has two float planes based down in Palangkaraya.
First impressions: it’s very warm and humid and very green. Today there was plenty of cloud cover and it rained heavily early morning. When we headed to the hangar there was a stunning rainbow – had we been only moments earlier it would have been a great photo, arching over the Kodiak sitting on the apron with stormy clouds adding a bit of drama.
Only 2 of the six planes in Tarakan are operational at the moment – the others are down for maintenance, though the grand caravan should be back in operation tomorrow having just had a biannual inspection of the undercarriage completed today (whole under-carriage removed for a thorough check).
While I didn’t join any flights today, the Kodiak did transport the body of a young boy (13-14 years old) and his family to his home village for burial. He had had a heart defect since birth, and previously had heart surgery after which there were no more problems. Then just a few days ago he’d developed problems in his arm and pain in his head. He was brought to the hospital here in Tarakan where he was for three days before he died. It was upsetting to see the coffin be carried out over the apron and carefully loaded into the Kodiak, some of our national staff securing it with straps to one side at the back – you sense just a minute fraction of the pain and heartbreak of the parents. The parents and two others accompanied the coffin on the flight. School children were there to meet the plane when it landed. Here it’s really important for people to be buried in their home villages, so for MAF to assist in the transportation of bodies for funerals is an act of compassion, coming alongside the relatives and communities at a time of pain.
A kind of motto of the programme here is: ‘Serving communities; supporting the church; showing compassion’. Relationships are at the heart of what the team are doing. They intentionally invest in relationships with the village communities they fly to, and with people here in Tarakan. In Tarakan about 80% of the population are Muslim, with animism mixed in, some Buddists and Hindus. In the interior about 90% are Christians.
Had dinner with Brad and Rebecca. Brad shared how on one occasion he had the challenge of checking for a passenger’s pulse while flying the plane. Another time they were having drinks down on the beach here in Tarakan when a man came out of the water carrying a girl (approx 12 years old) by her ankles. She’d been sucked under the water and drowned, and the man was carrying her upside down to try and drain out the water. Having had first aid training Brad went and assisted and the young girl was saved. No one else present knew what to do to save her.
Plan to do some flying tomorrow so hope to let you know more after that.
If you have any questions do send them this way and I can see what I can find out.
Bye for now
Stephanie
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