Welcome to Paul and Cathy's blog . . . . . please scroll down for new posts

Let us introduce ourselves.

Our names are Paul and Cathy Middleton.

That's us clinging to the top of an engine on one of the planes we fly.

You can find out about how we got to be where we are in the 'A short history of us' on the right (quite an interesting story if we say so ourselves).

This blog is basically a collection of the e-mail updates we have sent out since we joined Mercy Air in 2003, as well as some of the personal family activities we have got up to. Click on a year and read from bottom to top and it should give you a good idea of what we do.

Time for Tea

Late last year you might remember that we flew a load of malaria medicine up to Nacala in the north of Mozambique (http://pcm-mercyair.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-tea-vicar.html). Nacala is half way back to the equator from where we are and 200 km further east than a line with Moscow. Well, last week we flew another donated consignment up accompanied by Cathy, Holger (Mercy Air's very own German mechanic) and Michael, a German TV news editor who was making a documentary about Mercy Air.

The Artemisia arrived in our office from Durban..

and was loaded into just about every available space in our Cessna 310..

This time we could fly more directly to Nacala (through Beira and Nampula rather than having to route via Malawi) so the flying time was only 5h30. We still had a two hour drive on rough dirt roads after that so again, we arrived after dark.

Eight squares on the map above is about the length of the U.K.

Artemisia was discovered in China and has been used for thousands of years as an effective cure for various diseases including Malaria. Martin and Simone Schumann along with Myriam Wahr, the missionaries working in Memba, have set up many rural clinics and use natural medicines, many of which they grow themselves. Unfortunately the Artemisia plant will not grow properly where they live due to bad soil and irregular rain.

The next day we delivered the Artemisia to the clinics..

 and had a large reception sing a welcome for us.

Later, and mainly for the benefit of the camera, Myriam and some of the Mozambican clinic staff explained their work to us and how it helps fight disease in the area.

Memba itself is a real back of the beyond type of place. It was attacked three times during the war (which ended 20 years ago), but not much seems to have improved since then.
This was the hospital which was left in ruins..

These are council houses, some of which are still occupied..

We didn't just go to deliver the medicine so during the days we were there we got busy with various jobs.
Paul helped fix some leaks in the roof..

Note our accommodation on the porch outside.

Paul and Holger also wired in some extra lights and plug sockets..

Good job Health and Safety in Moz has no direct rule on stacking tables and chairs.

Martin and Simone used to get water from a well 4 km away across town. Since we were last there things have improved and they now are able to collect rain water from the roof..

They have also finished the well in their garden..

We also got out to the market to buy some interesting colourful stuff..

and some bread..

 as well as to various parts of the coast..

 

This guy fancied himself as some kind of rapper as soon as he put my shades on.

One one day we drove to Nuarro Lodge which was only 9 miles away in a straight line, but took us 2 hours to get there by 'road'. Still we took the chance to relax a bit before the long flight home the following day.

Some of the scenery on the way up was quite impressive..

Some of these are over 1000 ft high

as indeed it was along the coast on the way down..

The appropriately named Paradise Island

It turns out that our departure airport in Moz had run out of fuel but fortunately we managed to locate some down the coast at Vilanculos and leave from there. A bit of a diversion and a very long day but good to get home in the end.

So, after 2200miles (3500km) and six days away, the 115 Kg of Artemisia we flew up was enough to treat over 2100 people and was well timed as they had only a small amount left from our previous visit.

Paul and Cathy

Interesting places to sleep

Last week Paul flew out with an education team to Chimoio and Marromeu in Mozambique on a trip which included a few interesting accommodation options.

In Marromeu, while the team traveled by road to the YWAM centre, he stayed at the new Mercy Air 'Shipping Container Base' (http://pcm-mercyair.blogspot.com/2012/04/accommodation-in-mozambique.html) and helped Mikael, a Swiss volunteer, with a few jobs. First they put a roof on the departures lounge..

and then installed some security lighting..

which gave quite a moody effect at night.

They, well Mikael, also installed a windsock..

The education team came down and spent two days flying into the Zambezi Delta..

On Thursday the team flew back to Chimoio where they were picked up and driven one hour north to ASAM, where we saw the progress made on the Mercy Air house.

While there was just enough room for the team to stay there, Paul got to stay in a tent..

Mind you, how many bush tents have a nice comfy double bed?

The next day he spent some time with Rick Cogbill whom he had flown up the previous week (http://pcm-mercyair.blogspot.com/2012/04/educational-medical.html). He saw the workshop he was building and watched him give a lecture to some of the Mozambican students.

The inspection pit

Lecture about suspension

Lastly, they visited the 1.2 km long airstrip as well as the hanger that was shipped from the US in a container and erected earlier this year.

After that all that was left to do was to fly back to SA just in time for the weekend and to prepare for next weeks flight to the north of Moz.

Paul and Cathy

Educational, Medical, Mechanical

In some respects we felt a bit like a Swiss Army Knife during the last trip, doing a bit of everything in one small, neat and efficient package.

The initial call was to take Rick, a Canadian motor mechanic, up to Mozambique so that he could continue to develop an auto workshop training facility at a mission base that Mercy Air is connected with.

To help him fund this there were also people connected with Mercy Air/YWAM's education ministry who contributed and traveled up for meetings. We had also received a call a week earlier asking us to transport a missionary who had been involved in a car accident and who had head and spinal injuries.

For Paul this meant a lot of parallel planning and initially spending two days in Nelspruit helping the car mender man shop for all manner of tools - boy shopping in the extreme.

The result was not only a shed load of tools, but a huge tool box for them all to live in. Rick's penance was that he had to dismantle the tool box so it could fit in the plane.

The following day people and cargo were inserted into the plane like a 3D jigsaw and delivered to Chimoio in Mozambique. Paul then flew on another 1h45 up to Quelimane on the coast where some missionaries took him to the local hospital to meet Elias. Elias was part of a team that had been driving up to Nampula in the north of Moz three weeks earlier when he had had an bad accident resulting in injuries to his head and spine. After stabilizing he was now faced with a two day drive on dirt roads in the back of a minibus, or a 1h45 flight with Paul.

The next day they went to the hospital where they transferred Elias onto our stretcher and wheeled him outside...

where he was loaded into the back of a pick up truck...

and driven at 5kph, due to the heavily pot-holed roads, all the way to the airport.

After loading him on the plane they flew the 1h45 back to Chimoio...

Any passenger with his thumbs up is a good sign!

where he was met by friends and family.

Paul then picked up his original passengers and returned to South Africa via Beira where they landed after heavy rain, resulting in an interesting picture of the plane 'floating' on the apron.

Paul and Cathy

Bling Bling 210

We used to have a Cessna 210 which for many years looked like this..
Then for a while last year we had a 210 that looked like this..
Now we have a nice bling Cessna 210 that looks like this..
This is a good thing.

Just like with any home decorating, things had to get quite messy before they start looking any better, and such is the case with our 210.

It spent eight months in the shop for a refurb that included new paint, interior, carpets, upholstery, and an avionics upgrade. It's first work outing is due for the middle of this month.

Paul and Cathy

Accommodation in Mozambique

In a recent post I was working on a container that the helicopter uses for fuel storage in Mozambique.

Obviously the places Mercy Air go are often are pretty far away from the flight base in South Africa and it's not possible to return every day. Therefore a trips can sometimes last up to 14 days. Now four containers have been positioned in Marromeu for the crews and mission teams.

For the past five years, Mercy Air has operated in the small town of Marromeu in Mozambique, on a regular basis. From there the Zambezi Delta stretches out over 10,000 m² to the Indian Ocean in the east. The area is very remote and doesn't have any infrastructure. That’s the reason the people who live there are dependent on support from the air.

With temperatures soaring to over 40 deg during the day and barely dipping below 25 deg at night, it is necessary to have comfortable accommodation for the crew. As there is no hotel or guest house in the whole area the Mercy Air staff were able to stay with a YWAM couple in their own house. But the couple have now moved away. We didn't want to give up our flight programe in the area and therefore we decided to position three living quarter containers along with another storage container in Marromeu.

Mercy Air has obtained and re-fitted these containers in South Africa.

One is for accommodation
one a kitchen...
and the other has laundry and ablution facilities.

Last week two flat bed trucks arrived at the farm
together with a huge crane whose use was kindly donated by Lowveld Mobile Crane Hire.
It took the best part of a morning to load the containers
before they started their long journey across the border and up to Marromeu.

Paul and Cathy