abysmal frequency

What does it take to be a good blogger? I suppose doing so more than once every couple of months is a prerequisite. Sorry, folks. I'll try and do better.

Last week was a doozy, with a multiple changes of plans in terms of how and when we go to Mozambique to do our 737 acceptance, plus a drive to Joburg and back on a failed attempt to get Shell & the kids on a flight to the States. Yesterday the four of us drove down here to Johannesburg again, and God be praised the family got on the flight. They'll spend a week or so in Seattle before flying to Ohio for sister Sue's wedding, where I'll meet them and the rest of the extended family for resounding celebrations.

I am now sitting in a hotel lobby near the airport, waiting to hear the plan. . . looks at the moment like I'll meet our chief engineer here and then we'll fly to Maputo for a few days. I hope to be off to the States by Thursday evening.

Caleb writes

This picture is me with a dead hornbill that my Dad ran over. I am chopping its head off so that I can use the beak for a necklace. My Dad ran over it while we were going to a lodge near Victoria Falls. When we went to Vic Falls, we went through all these points next to the falls so we could take pictures, and at the end we rode a zipline that was 500' in the air. We went on a sweet boat ride along the Chobe river, and saw many hippos, elephants, and crocodiles. During the whole trip we saw exactly 497 elephants. We got blockaded by elephants three times, and all three of those times we almost got killed. Before we got to Vic Falls, we went to to Makgadikgadi Pans, and we ate the ground which was salt. Since the pans are very flat, the water goes out a long way, but it's not deep the whole time - maybe up to your ankles. We saw many animals, including giraffe and a lioness and her cubs. It was a fun trip.

Malena writes

This is when I went to vic falles one of the 7 wonders of the world. on this same vacaction we went to THE VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL and looked around.I went on a zipline and over a gorge and if we fell we would have fell 100 meters down. We were staying in the town Kasane and we could see elephants and worthog (wild pig)and other animals like: leopard ,cheetahs, lions and jakals and hippo. My dad accidentllay ran over a hornbill and i felt so sorry that i almost cried but i told myself i was a big girl now . we almost died because an elephant was walking in the road and behind the car and a herd was walking in the middle of the road toward the car so if we wanted to go back the elephant still would kill us if we did but we went to the side so that they could cross and then we were fine. By Malena

hospital outreach

We have long been wanting to start some sort of ministry in the local hospital, Princess Marina, and this week things took a big step forward. Here's an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a friend yesterday:

"Just a bit of background: For decades Flying Mission has been doing a Bible distribution on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas, for you holiday-illiterate Americans) in the Princess Marina Hospital, giving out several hundred Bibles, and stopping to talk and pray with people that are interested. It’s a great time, but there’s no real opportunity for the building of relationships or the meeting of long-term needs due to the merely annual nature of the event. When we Weiseths joined the rest of the Flying Mission family this year for the event, I got separated from the herd, and ended up spending an hour or so with a young paraplegic named Kabelo. I resonated with this bright, hopeful guy, and found myself returning to visit him and a few other friends regularly. In the meantime, a few people at our church, unbeknownst to me, started talking about a hospital outreach. Additionally, Flying Mission saw the arrival of an Australian nurse named Laurel who started engaging in home-based care ministry.

 

In the past month or so, it occurred to me and and others that we might join together – Open Baptist Church working with Flying Mission in Princess Marina Hospital. Two initial fronts are envisioned: men working in the Orthopedic ward at the hospital, and women reaching out to expectant and new mothers, many of whom are far away from their home villages for the delivery of their children, and who often face difficult circumstances. We met with the Head Matron at the hospital, and received permission to begin outreach there, with no restrictions upon any kind of ministry we wish to do. And I stood in front of our church this last Sunday and announced our inaugural planning and training meeting this coming Saturday.

 

We are excited for this new open door, and think it only right that you guys, our Tacoma family, would know about it. If you have the opportunity, Shelley and I would ask that you pray for all of us here. In future updates, I look forward to introducing some of the other people involved in this to you. . . and to telling you how things are taking shape. Much remains to be decided. We don’t even know what we’re going to do in the hospital beyond talking and praying with folks! But God has planted something here, and I know He will make it grow."

 

 More soon. . .

Stasis?

As cooler temperatures set in here in the southern hemisphere, it would seem that hibernation is beginning in areas other than the animal kingdom. You may recall that I flew to the States in February in order to qualify as Captain on the B-737, with the hope that Flying Mission would initiate airline operations on behalf of Air Botswana soon thereafter.

Well, here's June. And no 737 has darkened the ramp at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport as of yet.

Why the delay? The reasons are myriad, and I am unfortunately not at liberty to discuss them in any detail. And the future looks pretty murky as well. But. We came to Africa as a result of a series of opening doors which I frankly would have called impossible a year earlier. Our time here has been both transformational and fulfilling, with a clear sense that the Lord has prepared a way for us all along.

Is this stasis? Emphatically no. Yes, I and a number of folks in Flying Mission Services are frustrated that we aren't yet flying jets. But there is more going on in the meantime, details of which I'll relate in my next post.

waking from dormancy

Holy smokes, I have neglected this blog for too long! Stand by for some substantive updates later this week. . .

TWIR, Part 2

As the school / work week began, Caleb made a presentation on the life of Captain Cook, along with two intrepid compatriots.



Meanwhile, Roscoe P. Coltrane continued to take it easy.


Malena enlisted the help of a neighbor friend, Wapa, as she did a baking project for school. Pancakes.


And I flew a team of doctors with Airborne Lifelink out into the Kalahari desert for a day of medical outreach.

The Week in Review, Part 1

It's been awhile since I've put up any images on the blog; here's a quick review of the past week or so.



My boss, Mark, is friends with a brother and sister who were orphaned at the ages of 10 and 8. Six years later, they are still forging along without the support of any significant family members. We four Weiseths joined him and a few other folks from Flying Mission and from church for a house painting party. Malena managed to get no more than 15% of the paint on herself.




Caleb did great, ascending to great heights in order to get every square inch covered.



On Sunday, Malena and Shelley went and rode horses at a nearby stable, while Caleb and I engaged in more motor-driven activities. There is a nearby motocross track; Caleb shaved a good thirty seconds off of his previous best lap time.



Meanwhile, I studied the adventures of a local dung beetle as he (or she) valiantly tried to wrestle this prime piece of dung up a significant incline.

. . . to be continued

African Speed

Well, it's been a few weeks since my return from the beautiful USA - a whirlwind tour consisting of five or six gloriously busy days with family and friends in Seattle, and two weeks of eating, sleeping, and breathing 737 at Higher Power Aviation in Dallas.

I had hoped that we'd be farther down the road in terms of getting operational here. But the mark of an veteran of Africa - a title to which I suppose we Weiseths can begin to lay claim - is a moderation of temporal expectations. So. . . we are currently at the mercy of the powers that be, both in Botswana and South Africa, as we wait for papers to be signed, licenses to be validated, and manuals to be approved. In the meantime, I am dividing my time between pushing the paperwork forward and starting to fly air ambulance operations again.

homeward bound

Well, after a month stateside, I'm headed back to my beautiful family in Gaborone. It was a dizzyingly fast 30 days, with a week home with my folks and time with siblings, nephews and niece, and friends. . . then on to Dallas where my Flying Mission partner in crime Matt and I got "type rated" in the Boeing 737.

If the reason for getting captain rated in the 737 is a mystery to you, stand by just a few days and all will be revealed. Right now I have a plane to catch. . .

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

2010 was one heck of a year for the Weiseth family.  Casting off, packing up, or packing away all we own and making a new life here in Africa hasn’t been without its share of turbulence.  But we find ourselves slack-jawed with amazement at God’s tender, direct, and faithful guidance over these past twelve months.  He steered us into just the right place for our family, and we are so very thankful to be here.  Here are a few highlights from our year:

 

 

 Flying Mission has a Boxing Day tradition of visiting the hospital, distributing Bibles, talking with and praying for people there.  More than ten families showed up this year, distributing hundreds of Bibles in both English and Setswana, and forging some great relationships.  Caleb and I are headed back today, and it’s a Weiseth family goal to continue visiting throughout the coming year.  The little ones in particular touched our hearts, and there’s been some talk about starting some sort of drama or puppet show for them.  If you have script ideas, let us know!

 

 

 We had kind of assumed that all neighbourhoods in Gaborone would look like this, but in actuality it’s kind of a rarity.  Many have paved streets and a good deal of traffic.  The dirt streets and relative quiet of our little corner of town allow all four of us to get out a lot and spend time with neighbours.  Caleb and Malena in particular are constantly out and about with kids, exploring and playing.  We look forward to continued open doors of ministry on our block.  Here a few kids join us for some of our own 4th of July festivities.

 

 

It’s always great to get out of town for a bit.  In early December the four of us travelled in South Africa, spending a few days at a great little cabin in the tiny town of Groot Marico – swimming, canoeing, rope swinging, bird watching, and star gazing – followed by four or five days with friends in Johannesburg.  Just before the trip I reached my limit with the Botswana heat and shaved my head.  I soon learned firsthand about what I regard to be a highly questionable Botswana practice: when someone shaves his head, people spit on their hands, dip them in the dirt, and slap the unfortunate man hard on the head. . . and laugh uproariously. 

 

2011

 

And what does 2011 hold for us?  O that we had a clue.  I must needs be a bit cryptic at the moment, but the spectrum of possibilities is wide!  Nevertheless, as we look forward to the upcoming year, we do so with great confidence.  Many years ago, my lovely and wise Mom introduced me to the passage in Joshua 4 that speaks of Stones of Remembrance, a memorial that Joshua had the people set up so that they would remember God’s faithfulness and provision in bringing them across the Jordan. Every time they and future generations passed by those stones, their confidence in the Lord was bolstered by that tangible reminder of God’s untiring, perfect, and all-foreseeing care for His people.  The four of us Weiseths have added greatly to our pile of stones this last year, and the beauty of it is that it has nothing to do with our own faithfulness or bravery.  It has everything to do with God and His character.  It is in Him that we place our trust in 2011, no matter what comes.

Conversation with an Amusement Park Ride Operator

If you've ever spent time in Africa, the following conversation may sound familiar.

Cast:       Pete, a visitor to Gaborone's premier amusement park
               Mr. Ride Operator
               Three or four enthusiastic children
Setting:    An otherwise deserted ride


Pete:           Hello there! May we ride for a long time, seeing as how no one else is waiting in line?
Operator:    Yes.
Pete:           Great. Here we go. . .wheee!
after thirty seconds, the ride comes to a stop
Pete:           Wow, that was fun! Um, may we please go for another ride?
Operator:    Yes.
Pete:           Great, and this time if you wouldn't mind we'd like to go for a long time. Here we go. . . wheee!
after thirty seconds, the ride comes to a stop
Pete:           Ummmm. . .
Operator:    Now you must get off of the ride.
Kids:           But we want to keep riding! There is no one in line!
Operator:    No, you must leave the ride. Come back in ten minutes.

I looked back at our friendly operator as we walked to the pool, and he was just sitting at the controls, waiting for his next customers.  I wouldn't paint with such a broad brush as to say it's universal, but after a bit of time here you do start to notice a certain tendency toward rigidity in the minds of some people here. I chalk much of it up to the education system: rote memorization is the overwhelming standard, with little emphasis upon creativity or innovation.

Holiday Ramblings

Ah, the cognitive and emotional dissonance of celebrating the holidays overseas! What is one to think whilst, nearly antipodal to one's kin, he is assaulted by the juxtaposition of summer hallmarks and winter celebrations? I needed a towel this year to mop off the sweat generated while decorating the Christmas tree. . . if that's what one can call the spray painted branches adorned with ornaments that currently stands sentinel in our family room. A thunderstorm and the neighbor's techno music interrupted our singing of "Silent Night." We cut out paper snowflakes with the air conditioner set to max.

Amidst all the features of another caddywompus overseas Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is a real joy here that is difficult to relate to those who haven't yet experienced this life. Friends become family-like in the common absence of real family. Old traditions bend, but don't break. And once in awhile there is profundity in discovering that people half a world away, while completely different, are really just the same. I'm really looking forward to celebrating Jesus' birth with our Batswana brothers and sisters.

engage!

While I was excited to fly airplanes again here in Africa, I think what really had me spooled up was the prospect of getting involved in ministry - developing friendships, learning the culture, seeking to clearly communicate my own experience of God's grace and mercy to the people around me.  Based on past experience, I thought the best place to start here would be to develop a friendship with someone involved in spiritual leadership.  I've found that man.  His name is Emanuel, and I wish everyone I know could meet him - funny, winsome, articulate, and equipped with a plus-sized heart.  In addition to pastoring a church in an outlying village, he works for Flying Mission, managing a number of outreach programs that we are involved in as an organization.

The past couple of months he and I have been meeting, and I have been accompanying him on a number of the projects with which he's involved, with an eye toward discerning where best I can come alongside.  Please pray for me as I become more engaged on this front.

Shelley writes

It’s certainly not what I expected - filling my days with work, work, work.  And some days I do feel sorry for myself.  This job really is a life-sucker sometimes.  I work 8 or 9 hours a day.  I work on Saturdays, I work in the evenings, I get up early every day.  Every day there is something new to be depressed about – I have to do conferences this week, I have to advise a tournament on Saturday, I have to stay late . .  . again.  But thankfully Pete’s job keeps everything in perspective for me.  It’s easy to feel sorry for myself until I hear about people who are 90% burned, their skin too charred to even give them morphine.  Or about another baby who died of a respiratory problem.   

And I do have so much to be thankful for.  I’m living in the continent where my heart is. I feel at home in Africa.  Of course, I love the sun.  I love that our neighborhood is filled with roosters, goats, packs of dogs, loud hip-hop music, and the beautiful sound of children playing.  I love that Caleb and Malena can go outside our gate and play with the neighborhood kids, buy ice lollies from the tuck shop right around the corner, walk the dogs all by themselves.   

And I’m extremely thankful to be at the same school as my kids.  They are getting a fantastic experience and I get to share that with them.  What a blessing! Caleb and Malena are learning to speak Setswana.  They get to take a real art class and a real music class.  Caleb regularly gets to play the drums at assembly.  Malena gets to take swimming at school, they only have 15 kids in their class and the students are from all around the world.  We recently had an assembly at our school to celebrate Independence day for Botswana and the local chief came and gave a speech.  Caleb’s class did traditional dancing and there was so much Botswana culture emanating from the auditorium - it was truly moving.  I felt truly blessed to be in Botswana and I want to give a big shout out to God for giving us this amazing experience, and even though I will be working late today, I am truly thankful . . . . . . .

A Tough Week

This is what I came here to do.  That doesn't make it any easier.

On Monday, we flew to the town of Kasane in the middle of the night to pick up two victims of a car crash - one with a broken femur, the other with both head and internal injuries.

On Thursday, news came that five men had been terribly burned out in the Kalahari desert, near the town of Hukuntsi, after they'd been trapped between converging bush fires.  During this season, we often see these lines of fire, sometimes extending for miles, while flying at night - eerily beautiful dull orange slashes through the bush.  Never had I imagined the nightmares they could produce.  We launched from Gaborone into the ominous dark sky, timing our departure so that we would touch down on the unlit, unpaved airstrip precisely at sunrise.  Out of the ambulance came a horror of charred flesh, second and third degree burns covering more than three quarters of their bodies.  We did our best to put down the incongruous mixture of revulsion and compassion that we felt upon the sight of these poor men, and to concentrate on our jobs - getting them back to medical care in Gaborone.  The last news I heard was that they were being cared for at the new private hospital here in town.  Two had died; three were still hanging on to life.

On Friday, it was up to Kasane again to pick up the German victim of an elephant attack.

How does that old Peace Corp recruiting line go?  Something like "the toughest job you'll  ever love."  I can't come up with a better description of my work here in Botswana.

Elephant Attack

Olga and her husband were sleeping peacefully in their tent.  They had camped here in Chobe National Park several times before, and their experience gave them great respect for the wildlife around them - particularly elephant, which are found here in the greatest concentration of anywhere in Africa.

Nothing prepared them for what was to happen next.

At about 5:30 in the morning, they started to hear the rustling, breaking branches, and heavy footfalls of an elephant herd approaching.  With no discernible provocation, one elephant became suddenly agitated, trumpeting and stamping very close to the tent.  Suddenly a tusk came through the wall of the tent, pierced Olga's back, and lifted her off of the ground.  In shock, neither husband or wife was able to move before one of the elephant's legs crushed the side of the tent, quickly followed by another tusk which this time completely impaled Olga.

I was sitting in the office on flight standby when the call came.  We knew that with the level of medical facilities available in the town of Kasane, we would have to be as fast as possible in getting advanced care to Olga, and just as fast in transporting her to the hospital in Johannesburg.  We launched with a doctor and a medic on board, and after a two hour flight had Doc and Collin busy stabilizing her and preparing her for the flight south.  When they returned from the hospital, we were fueled and ready to load her and her husband onto the aircraft.

When we have patients on board, we use the radio callsign "Mercy One."  This tells the traffic controllers and other aircraft that we require a clear route ahead, with no delays to our flight because of its critical medical status.  Upon our safe arrival in Johannesburg, Olga's husband shook our hands, saying in his broken English, "You are called Mercy One. That is a good name. Thank you for showing us mercy today."

I am thankful that the Lord has given us here at Flying Mission the ability to translate, in some small way, the deep mercy He has shown us into mercy for others. 

Mozambique and Beyond

We just returned a week or so ago from a long road trip through South Africa, our much-loved Mozambique, and (briefly) Swaziland.  There were many highlights on a very memorable trip indeed, but chief among them was the great joy of introducing Malena to her homeland.  Caleb was about four when we left, and he has a surprising breadth of memories of our time there - his very earliest memories, in fact, are of Moz.  But Malena was only one when we departed, so all she knew of the place were stories she'd been told and pictures she'd seen.

Driving into Maputo brought back to us all we'd forgotten, and revealed how different it is from Gabs: crowds of vibrantly dressed people all over town, riding perched on top of 18 wheelers, hawking steering wheel covers on the side of the road, women carrying their little ones wrapped up in capalanas, commuters packed by the baker's dozen into honking, sidewalk-driving minibuses.  Maputo is a seaside mix of high-rise communist era apartment squalor, decaying excesses from the days of the Portuguese, interminable hovels made of concrete blocks and aluminum roofing, and narrow slices of opulence, which the cynical among us would say are inhabited primarily by UN aid workers and other governmental development people.

We stayed with my old Air Serv boss, Chris Branks, and his family for a few days while we reacquainted ourselves with the city.  It turned out to be quite an adventure.  Riots started in the city over a rise in the government-set price of a basic staple, bread, just 36 hours after we arrived.  We were forced to hunker down for a couple of days, listening to sporadic AK-47 fire and keeping a close ear on the radio news.  We were distraught to hear that ten or so folks died and a good number were injured in the chaos, with people lighting tires on fire and burning buses and cars around the city.  Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries on the planet, with a vast gulf between the rich and poor.  What we consider an inconsequential rise in food prices can have a substantial impact on those living on very little indeed.

Fortunately, things calmed down enough to get around the city a bit.  We visited our old house, which we believe the current tenants have not improved.

Caleb and Malena believe our old back yard may have shrunk in our absence

We also were able to visit the Hospital Central where we first found Malena, and to see the orphanage where she would have grown up had we never met.  At the orphanage, Malena spent a bit of time with a baby that looked much like her at six months.  I found myself simultaneously occupying both 2003 and 2010, looking down at the beautiful daughter that God brought into our lives, and that other little girl that very well could have been Malena seven years ago.  I wondered what Malena's life would look like today, and perhaps more acutely, what our lives would be like today had we never met.  We wouldn't know it, but we would be impoverished beyond reckoning had this clever, lovely, and funny girl never entered our lives.

outside Hospital Central

getting to know some of the kids at Primiero do Mayo orphanage

Primiero do Mayo

We also spent some great time catching up with our dear friends the Reeves, and had some serendipitous chance meetings with a number of old friends and acquaintances around town.  Then it was north to Chris's beach paradise near the town of Xai-Xai, the subject of my next post. . .

Recent Adventures

Here are a few pictures from some out and abouts we've had this past month. If you're looking for more, check out Pete's Facebook page.


Caleb trying out his birthday present. I told him when he was six that he could have a BB gun when he turned ten. . . this was the sweet reward for many years of patience.



Malena helping me navigate the rutted tracks of the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. She did a great job, and so did Caleb - who drove the car all by himself for a good portion of our two day visit.



Malena checking out a few white rhino. Those dudes weigh as much as more more than our CR-V.



Caleb and Malena found this stick bug not far from our house. Impressive.

Outreach

I've become involved with the music team at church - here's a picture of the men rocking out on Men's Day. . . not to be confused with Father's Day. We were, in a word, awesome.



When time allows, our family goes on Friday afternoons down to Old Naledi, the poorest part of Gaborone, and helps out with a feeding and evangelism project for about 100 kids. Here's me being the evil old King Saul, just realizing that David cut off part of my tunic while I was taking care of, um, physiological matters in a nearby cave.