Day 5, Friday – moving day!

We were given the engineers' Toyota Land Cruiser. As we had a lot of expensive servers and large racks to transport, we had this as our dedicated vehicle. I was also assigned designated driver! Cool!

Steve Forsyth, the Programme Manager, took me out for a brief driving assessment to check I was safe driving and advised me of the driving laws out here in Uganda. He also gave me helpful tips such as indicating left can mean many things out here other than turning left. It could mean, I want you to pass me, it could mean don’t pass there is oncoming traffic or I am stopping on the road. It’s crazy!

I passed my test and was allowed to drive. Woohoo.

We loaded up the vehicle with all the servers and rack and cleverly packed it with mattresses. Of course, we were transporting them via the roads of Uganda, very bumpy! 'Bumpy' and 'servers' do not go hand in hand and so the mattresses were great at absorbing all the shock to protect the servers.



Meanwhile, the rest of the office were loading up their departments' office furniture and computers into cars and trucks. There were lots of people helping, so many, an entire office was loaded into cars and trucks in 3 hours. We were the first ready to leave the office, and so we went to report in to Steve, only to find he had in his office a bubble bath… no not really, it’s just a bad joke! He had a load of bubble wrap stored in the bath tub.

Driving... Kampala style

So off we set in the Land Cruiser. This was a big vehicle. So big it had 2 fuel tanks. It was quite exciting but at the same time quite nerve-racking. Firstly I had ‘precious cargo’ - all the data for MAF Uganda is on those servers - and secondly driving in what is quite dangerous conditions. There are all sorts of obstacles in the road: people who just run out in front of you, cows in herds or strays, dogs and chickens, cars who pull out from all directions, drive on the wrong side of the road, Boda-bodas swerving in and out from all directions... your attention has to be everywhere. It is quite an experience.

 

Oh and by the way, I learnt why they get the name 'boda-boda'. So boda-bodas are motorcycles that take 1 passenger, well, 1 passenger legally but it can be up to 3 or with the strangest of loads like a window frame or 6-foot lengths of wood width ways. Their original purpose was carrying people forwards and backwards across a country border. It became very popular as opposed to walking and the journey was called 'border to border'. Over time, it was shortened to boda-boda.

Server racks and switches

When we arrived at Kajjansi, we were lucky to see that our Cessna 208 'BIL' was firing up for a flight so we were able to watch it take off. It’s such a great privilege and exciting to watch our planes flying in action, knowing they are bring help, hope and healing to people in hard-to-reach places.

 

We unpacked the Land Cruiser into the IT office and first on the agenda was to build the rack and fit the servers in. I set up a camera to capture us building the server rack in time lapse so I am looking forward to looking at the final result. I also set up a camera to do a time lapse of the main office. This should be really fun to watch!

This took us most of the day, including rearranging some of the switches in the hangar to make room for the new internet modems and phone servers.

The rest of the office did really well to completely move in and most people had set up their desks and computers by around 3.30-4pm.

We finished around 4.30pm after configuring the firewall for the new network and headed home. At that time of the day, rush hour traffic is heavy and so Kalumba showed us some back roads. I can’t say it was quicker but at least we were moving the whole time. These were dirt tracks the whole way and the amount of dust was incredible. It has obviously been that way for so long that all the trees have actually turned orange from being covered in thick layers of dust. It was testing but pretty cool taking a 4x4 off-road! We were able to pass some of the slower vehicles that weren’t quite cut out for the off-road which made the journey more interesting, some would say I left them for dust.

A fun family

We had dinner with the Rogers that evening. Dave and Amy with their 6 children. The eldest 2 were actually at a youth group, but it was great to get to know the others. They are a fun family, originally from America and have served with MAF in Uganda for over 9 years!

I was introduced to Mountain Dew and love it! Amy apparently thinks it is better in Uganda than it is back in the States. Most things here are quite the opposite.

It was a great end to a very busy day!

Day 4: The big pack-up

Thursday was all about packing up! Today was the day servers were being turned off and everything packed away ready for the big moving day on Friday.

We made it to the office by 7.30am and started packing things into boxes. Most mornings the office will have 10 minutes' prayer and worship as a team at 8.20am, so it was great to be apart of that time together.

At 10.30 we headed back to Kajjansi to finish off a bit more networking, wiring up switches and putting cables into trunking. Short of tools again, I suddenly had a brainwave (amongst the many improvisation brainwaves). Across the airfield is the biggest man shed any guy could dream of in his garden! It is of course the hangar. Aviation spec SnapOn tools and equipment, masses of open space enough to fit a few planes, there is not a tool, screw or nut you could want that they don’t have! So I borrowed a saw…… Hmm, maybe I’ll find something more interesting to borrow and use next week.

We managed to finish at 1.30pm and travelled back to Makindye ready for all the servers to be turned off at 4pm.

 We ended up working until 7.30pm shutting down servers, taking them out the rack, using a high powered blower to blow all the sand and dust out of them, dismantling the rack and pulling all the cameras and Wi-Fi points out ready to me taken to the new office on Friday.

We were so knackered by this time we came straight back to our house and cooked some pasta with tomato sauce! Mmm, reminded us of home, even though it’s an Italian dish, but hey.

Moving day tomorrow! Wish us luck!

Luke

Day 3: a long day at Kajjansi Airfield

So Wednesday was our first full day at the new office on the airfield in Kajjansi. Because all the international staff housing is located near the current MAF office in Makindye, a lot of staff travel to Kajjansi every day. After the office move, almost everyone will have to do this journey.

We had planned to go with the engineers on the first run down but after finding out one of the pilots were travelling down slightly later, we thought we would go with him.

Unfortunately, the message didn’t get to Mark who’s guest house we are staying in, that we had changed plans and so at 7.15am he was banging on the door! Ooops! Yes, after a late night working I had forgot to set my alarm and so this very quickly woke me up!

The engineers all travel down in 1 vehicle very early to beat the morning rush on the roads. A 45 minute journey and they are working by 8am most mornings. But don’t worry, they do have some good coffee before tweaking bolts on the planes.

Greg Vine, MAF Uganda’s chief pilot, drove us down to the airfield. It was great to meet one of our British pilots and try to understand more what it is like living and working outside of the UK. He shared his experiences with schooling his children, adjusting to the culture, being away from friends and family and also the role of being a pilot. All of which was very interesting, and very positive, as he knew that this is where he was meant to be and was being led in faith by God.

By the time we reached Kajjansi, we caught the tail end of the coffee around 8.45 in the hangar with the engineers and pilots. I must admit, they have some really nice coffee here. A lovely dark roast ground coffee starts the day well!

It's our Cessna 182!

I walked out into the hangar and was interested in what Geoff Linkleter (an engineer) was working on. He showed me how he was mounting lots of little fins to the wings and tail of a Cessna 182. He goes on to describe that they improve stability at low speed so it can have a safer landing on a short runway where airspeed needs to be very low.

Fascinating. And then it clicked!!

*gasps*

'This is the 182 that MAF UK toured in the UK last year and I was lucky enough to see it and take a short flight!'

I was right. At first I didn’t recognise it, until I noticed the new fuel-efficient engine. The registration has now changed to a Ugandan registration 5X-MON. Since being in the UK, it has had an updated RF radio, a new heavy-duty nose wheel to give the propeller more ground clearance, new folding seats in the back to allow for more cargo and a new wooden floor. And now, the wing and tail fins. It was so great to see it again, and to actually see it out in a programme having work done on it.

Network cabling and broken ladders

Our main job today was to complete the installation of the network cabling in the office by connecting them all up into a switch cabinet in the server room. We also had other switches to install in 2 other locations in the building. It was a great challenge to work on a building site, without the tools you would expect to have in the UK. Improvisation was on overload!

I asked someone for a ladder and they came back with a few tree branches cleverly nailed together. The only problem is, I am slightly heavier than most and so I think I broke one of them. Apparently that happens all the time. And they make scaffolding out of these?!

I do have to hand it to them though, their craftsmanship is amazing. We saw them making concrete tops to the walls all by mixing cement and moulding it all by hand. In the UK, we would buy concrete tops and stick them on top of a wall with a quick set cement mix.

Loving my matooke and posho

Lunch break was such a great experience. MAF very kindly provide all the staff and site workers with a free lunch cooked fresh by a cook on site.

She cooks all types of local food in a hut on the airfield.

Steve and I sat amongst site workers, also accompanied by Jay, the project manager for the office building, originally from Vancouver, Canada.

We had some true local food and absolutely loved it!

Matooke - a starchy savoury banana mashed up, kinda like mashed potato; posho - a white starchy mash made from maze or corn, and accompanied by 3 small pieces of beef and lots of rice and cabbage.

Towards the end of the meal, we were joined by a guy called Uriah from New Zealand. He is a Civil Engineer working for EMI. They are the company moving in upstairs in our new office. It was great meeting him as I have never really understood what a Civil Engineer does. He explained how they have a lot to do with bridges, canals, roads, railways, all in an engineering perspective. It was very interesting.

A different world

After a long day's work, getting home around 7pm, we headed for the Makindye Country Club not far from the MAF office for some dinner.

It was strange to walk into a place and get totally confused as to where you actually were?! It was like stepping into a different part of the world. Everything had suddenly changed from dust and dirty, noise and busyness, into peace and quiet, a posh clean restaurant looking onto tennis courts and a swimming pool.

Nevertheless, it was great to unwind and enjoy a lovely beef wellington pie with fresh veg and potatoes.

 

We soon made it home to get some well-earned sleep!

Luke

Entry log 5942, stargate… no only joking.

Day 1 and 2…

Travel was pretty good. We left home around 8.45am got to Heathrow at 10am. Flight was departing at 12.35 so we had time for a Pret sandwich and a coffee. Of course, being the IT crew, I just had to pay at the Kiosk with Apple Pay on my iPhone, no scrambling for the wallet at the bottom of my hand luggage. We both also had our boarding passes on our phones for quick and easy boarding! #Geeks
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The flight was on time and we had a nice 8 hours on-board British Airways flight BA0063. A Boeing 767. I won the bid over the window seat and got some great views of the Sahara desert mid-flight. Flying into the night, darkness came upon us so quickly but gave a beautiful deep orange glow through the plane during the 5-minute sunset! I managed to catch 3 movies and enjoy a little snooze, as did Steve. During dinner service, Steve even managed to persuade the crew for an extra sandwich! Brilliant. She then came back to wind him up that he had taken her lunch and made him feel guilty!

A very distinct African smell

Once we had landed at 11pm, the first things that hit you when walking off the plane were, ‘Oh, its not as hot as I thought’, and a very distinct African smell. Something that is hard to describe but not unpleasant. Its like a burning hay smell mixed with a presence of earthiness and abundance of vegetation.

We had a very reasonable experience at customs, paying $100 US for an entrance visa and getting our fingerprints scanned! Slightly scary, I don’t think anyone has my fingerprint other than my iPhone!

We were greeted by Lawrence at arrivals who took us back to our accommodation, Mark and Sarah Newnham's guest house. Roughly 1 hour's drive.

The house was located on the bumpiest dirty track ever known but very well gated and guarded.

The house is HUGE! And we have the granny annex. We have all the facilities we need, a working toilet, hot water and a bed with your standard mosquito net! It reminds me of being a kid again and hanging a sheet over the bed to create your own fort! We both very quickly just crashed out in bed at what was 2am local time by then, ready for our first full day in Makindye.

We were very grateful to find some cornflakes and coffee in the morning (it’s the little things) that set us up for the day.

We walked to the MAF office, roughly 5-6 minutes enjoying the wonderful scenery.

MAF's 'oldest letter ever'

The MAF Uganda office is a converted house. There are lots of rooms, I think I counted 14? A Lovely house, very African, magnolia and brick walls, white metal floral bars in the windows and a lovely orangey-red sandstone tiled roof. We met a lot of the staff working there, all very lovely people.

First greeted by Kalumba, the local IT technician for MAF Uganda. They were in the middle of clearing out the building by going through old documents no longer needed. This is where I met a guy called Dave. Dave Rogers, the Operations Manager is hilarious. A great personality and sense of humour. So he comes in and says, 'I have just found the oldest letter anyone has ever written to MAF'. 'Oh really?' a few of us replied. 'Yes, it starts by saying, "I am delighted to write this letter to you after the resurrection of Christ from the dead."'

Brilliant.

After a tour of the office and meeting the staff, we got our heads together and looked over documentation regarding the big office move. We made sure we understood what was moving and where/when, what was staying, what changes to be made and any gotchas! We then took a trip to the new office at the airfield in Kajjansi.

Beautiful Kajjansi Airfield

This is a truly beautiful airfield, like none I have ever seen. The new office is looking absolutely amazing. Still unfinished, but we have a couple of days to go so we are hopeful. You can see right over Lake Victoria and the beautiful hills behind it. We toured around the new office to get our bearings and clarify we knew where things were going on moving day. We also had a look at the hangar and a few of the planes and met more of the staff there such as engineers and logistics staff.

Unfortunately we had to put on our IT caps straight away as there were power fluctuations, we had to shut everything down until the electricians sorted the issue. It wasn’t long before we were up and running again.

The whole airfield is great. The hangar is HUGE! And the new office will really pull the whole MAF team together working more efficiently.

After finishing our working day around 6pm, we were very kindly invited to dinner with Steve Forsyth, MAF's Programme Manager in Uganda. We had a very nice chicken curry with rice, fried courgette and fresh avocado.

A great way to end the day, especially being able to enjoy the amazing views of Makindye and Lake Victoria from his balcony/porch area.

Now back at the guest house and ready to sleep! Tomorrow we start on installing switches and cabling in the new office.

More soon.

Luke

IT Officer Luke arrives in Uganda!

Luke's blog starts here!