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

2012-12-31T22:11:00.000+02:00

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.

Weather

2012-01-23T17:58:00.005+02:00

There is only one cyclone/hurricane/typhoon active on the whole globe at the moment. Unfortunately it's in our back yard.

Occasionally we have to delay a trip for a few hours due to early morning fog. Once or twice we've had to divert to another airport due to bad weather. It's not often, though, that we postpone a whole flight altogether.

Right now I was expecting to be in the village of Nensa on the banks of the Zambezi with an education development team, but instead I am sat at home in South Africa typing this update.

The last entry below detailed some weather that we had about a week ago that affected us in the east of South Africa. It seems that when that dissipated some of the moisture got sucked into another depression that was developing off the coast to the north of Mozambique and the result was another more powerful cyclone, misleadingly called Funso.

To give you an idea, two of the boxes on the map above are a little further than the length of the UK.

Currently Funso is a Category 3 cyclone but is forecast to develop into a Category 4 tomorrow (Katrina in the US a few years ago was a Category 5). Here's a map that shows rain intensity. Basically as you can see from the key, all the pinks and purples are as about as heavy rain as you can get.
The next two maps shows how quick it developed and are two days apart from each other.

All is not entirely lost though.

Mercy Air has a working relationship with a number of aid organisations (CARE, OXFAM etc) based in Maputo and we are on call to assist with natural disasters of varying magnitudes. The rain we had last week has now made it's way into the river systems and the levels are currently peaking in the lower Limpopo River Basin. They have asked us to do some survey flights to assess the situation and Paul will likely fly over early on Wednesday morning to take various NGO representatives to have a closer look.

My guess is that will be the subject of the next blog.

Paul and Cathy

Rain Rain Everywhere

2012-01-18T19:49:00.007+02:00

We've been to help in other areas a number of times when they have been hit by flooding, but now we have our very own storm come to visit us.
It is called Cyclone Dando and developed last week between Madagascar and Mozambique. It is only a category one storm but it has been raining hard continuously here for three days now and we've had the same amount of rain in three days as we usually get in the whole of January - which in itself is one of the wettest months.

Here's a pic of one of the rivers in the nearby Kruger Park.
Mercy Air has had it's issues with the weather as two large trees on the farm fell down last night, one narrowly missing the Ziessler's house.
At least we'll be alright for fire wood this winter!

I think we're due to get one more day of rain before things start to clear up. It's just like Britain!

However, one article suggests that moisture from Dando could get sucked into another depression that is forming off the coast to the north of Mozambique and create a new cyclone. This would be particularly worrying as Paul is flying a team up there this coming Monday.

Paul and Cathy

More Tea Vicar?

2011-12-08T22:00:00.004+02:00

Recently Mercy Air was given 130 Kg of Artemisia Tea and asked to take it up to a mission station in the north of Mozambique that specializes in natural medicine.

Go and weigh a tea bag - never mind, I have one here (that I prepared earlier) and it weighs 4 grams.

This isn't any old tea though and a course of 14 of these particular tea bags (56 g) taken over a week can cure Malaria. So 130 Kg of the stuff is enough to treat over 2300 people and well worth the effort of raising the money to cover the cost of flying it there.

Getting it from Durban wasn't too hard - it just arrived on a truck. Getting it to Nacala, on the other hand, was a different story. Nacala is half way back to the equator from where we are and 200 km further east than a line with Moscow.
We had a plane and a pilot, all we needed was money and fuel. People in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the USA responded brilliantly to a request for funds, raising about half the costs. A week before our intended departure some guys from Hope for Africa (www.hopeforafricamission.co.za), rang with a request for help in getting three of them to Blantyre, Malawi. As it happened Blantyre was one of the few places that had avgas, so by having them cover most of the cost of that part of the flight, we could refuel there and still get to Nacala.

So, the packing began.
The nose, wing lockers and back of the plane full to the brim.

The total flying time from SA, via Blantyre, to the military airstrip in Nacala where we loaded the tea into a pickup truck, was 7 hours.
Then there was a 2 hour drive mostly on dirt roads to Memba where they are based. I wouldn't say the road was bad but on the way we passed a grader that usually shapes the roads in Africa. I guess this one lost.
We arrived after dark and so delivered the Artemisia to various clinics the following day.
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.

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 nothing seems to have been fixed since then.
This was the hospital which was left in ruins...
and this is one of the main streets where trees in blossom provide a temporary relief from the usual dusty monotone appearance.
Martin and Simone have built a small three roomed house (where Mercy Air helped install the electricity a year ago - http://pcm-mercyair.blogspot.com/2010/11/woken-up-by-whales-but-not-whilst.html).
They get water from a public well on the other side of town...
but in the mean time are digging (chiseling) their own well.
The night before I left, we got a call asking us to pick up a lady who had been ill for a couple of weeks and needed to return to SA for further tests. So on the way back I routed via Lichinga to collect her and her kids as well as the guys I had dropped in Blantyre earlier.
The flight across to Lichinga took me past some very impressive scenery that gives an idea of the ruggedness and remoteness of some of the parts of the world we fly into.
So, after 4300km (2700 miles) and 16 hours of flying, this is primarily written to thank those people who gave so freely towards the cost of this flight. Because of your generosity many other people will benefit and many of those will probably live longer than they would have done if we'd of all stood back and done nothing.

Paul and Cathy

Make over

2011-08-23T16:45:00.004+02:00

We used to have a Cessna 210 that looked like this..
Now we have a Cessna 210 that looks like this..
But this is a good thing.

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

It is in the shop for a refurb that will include new paint, interior, carpets, upholstery, and an avionics upgrade.

Paul and Cathy

Fire!

2011-08-02T22:29:00.006+02:00

No joke actually.

After yesterdays mammoth flight to Chimoio I had planned having an easy day today. Well that all ended at 05:30 when we were alerted to a fire in the main house at Mercy Air. We rushed round to find the house filled with acrid smoke and the living room ceiling on fire. On top of this the electricity had tripped so inside and out was pitch black with the only light being the flames.

Guests had made a fire in the fireplace the previous evening and we suspect that some soot in the chimney had ignited and found its way through gaps in the mortar and then set light to old bee hive and rats nest material in the roof, which had then spread along the eves and up into other parts of the roof.

The back of the main house is almost completely made of wood but fortunately the fire was restricted by the small space between the ceiling and the tin roof. This hadn't stopped it spreading as such, but it had prevented it getting well out of control.

We knew the fire brigade wouldn't come out to us so we had to make our own plan. This amounted to stringing a line of garden hoses together to extinguish the visible flames. After that the darkness worked in our favour as we could then see additional flames flickering through other small gaps. This now meant that we had to get a ladder and axe and break down other parts of the ceiling and walls to get access to these different areas.

All in all it took us about an hour to bring things under control and make sure everything was well and truly out. This also included taking some of the corrugated roof sheets off.
This is the scene from inside after it got light.

All the black bit in the photo above was ablaze when we first arrived.

So, not a good day at all, but one which we realise could have ended far far worse if it hadn't been for God's protection.

Paul and Cathy

One week on from the fire and a couple of pics to show progress on the reconstruction. The first was after the corrugated sheets had been taken off showing the fire damaged portions.
And the second, a day later, when the internal tongue and groove had been removed.Mercy Air staff and volunteers are doing the work as there was no buildings insurance and we expect to complete it in about a weeks time.

P n' C.

Quick Trip to Chimoio

2011-08-02T17:47:00.006+02:00

The title of this entry is a bit misleading as you can never really have a quick trip to Chimoio. If you drive it takes you at least two full days and even if you fly it's about 3h30. If you fly there and back in a day it requires getting up very early and just making it back before dark. This was the case yesterday. To make it harder I had the runniest or noses and the sorest of throats but at least the weather was kind with blue skies all the way.

I flew three Canadian mechanics up to ASAM in Chimoio, the same place Mercy Air is building a remote base. I flew Rick up in March as he was preparing to start a mechanic school and build a workshop to help service the mission vehicles (all on his site at http://mercytechmission.com and his blog at: http://mydustyshoes.blogspot.com/2011/07/leaving-on-jet-plane.html).

This time he went with two friends, Todd and Ed who were also instructors and technicians and they will stay for up to a month. They spent a few days at Mercy Air prior to traveling up, which gave them, and Paul, the chance to do some boy shopping for socket sets, screwdrivers and other tools to equip the workshop. Despite the simplicity of the task, this still took a whole morning!

At the risk of including another, 'here's us on the way up' type photo, what else can I take a pic of to grab your attention and save this being a blog entry full of just words?

So, here's us on the way up!

Paul and Cathy

OK. I wrote this as soon as I got back and now the team have posted some photos on the net, so, I'm sure they won't mind if I plagiarise their efforts and include them below.

The boys at Vilanculos, our port of entry into Moz.

Me, not looking where I am going.

Some of the tools and manuals they took up with them.

Their home for the next month and the same tents we usually stay in when we go up there.

The Training Centre well on its way to completion.

The first motor mechanic class in Chimoio.

Putting their new found knowledge into practice.

Paul and Cathy

Sunny Durban by the Sea

2011-07-19T13:43:00.004+02:00

Last weeks business overflowed into this week as Paul did a flight for a UK church missions team on Monday.

Their church has been helping a Durban hospital who run a rural baby project supplying new mothers with a birth pack containing various items including clothes, nappies and a teddy bear.

Whilst the team visited the sites Paul stayed at the airport and caught up with a few flying friends as well as Matthew, who was able to join them for lunch.

Typical of a lot of these types of trips the only 'action photo' we could

come up with is one of them all in the plane on the way back - sorry!

The 1 hour 40 minute flight saved them a 9 hour drive.

Paul and Cathy

Doing something useful

2011-07-15T17:41:00.008+02:00

A moderately productive day in the office was interrupted by a call to get a couple out of Mozambique who had been in an accident. They were part of a 21 strong group from churches in Cape Town and Rustenburg in South Africa, who were at the end of what had been a very successful three week mission trip. They had left Mocuba at 04:00, to get an early start for the first of a three day drive home.

Whilst it was still dark one of their minibuses hit an unmarked and unlit parked lorry in the middle of the road. Two people were killed instantly whilst another, the minister of their church, suffered serious head wounds and the drivers wife, Beryl, broke her femur. They were transferred to a local hospital but obviously needed to get back to SA as soon as possible.
The minister had international heath cover and so was medevac'd out later that same day. Beryl's medical insurance, however, only covered her in SA and so Mercy Air was asked to repatriate her and her husband. We quickly prepared the plane and obtained flight permits so that Cathy and I could set off as soon as the local international airport opened the following morning.
To give an idea of scale, we flew further than Land's End to John O Groats just to get to where we had to pick them up.

It also was well cold at 10000ft that time in the morning on the way up.

As she didn't require any medical attention during the flight she could technically travel as a normal passenger although, of course, because of her broken leg she had to lie on a stretcher, which she wouodn't be able to do on scheduled airlines. Driving three days back to Johannesburg was obviously out of the question.

On our arrival we found out that the hospital hadn't got the patient ready for travel and also hadn't got a trolley or stretcher available for transport, so she was loaded on an old mattress into the back of a pickup truck and driven to the airport. We then had to pay $12 to allow the truck onto the apron to get near to the plane.

On top of that, and despite pleas on compassionate grounds, the police, who had detained her husband, would not release him as they still wanted him for questioning about the accident. This was very upsetting for them, but it was best that she at least traveled with us and so we began the long flight to Johannesburg.
We arrived in Jhb just before dusk where a proper ambulance met us and whisked her away for surgery.
Cathy and I made time for a quick burger and cup of strong coffee before flying back to Nelspruit in the dark.

So, 1700 miles and over 9 hours of flying but the weather was good and it was nice being able to spend the day together, doing something useful.

Paul and Cathy

Member of the four mile high club

2011-07-08T16:02:00.007+02:00

The day before NASA prepared for the final launch of Atlantis, Mercy Air also was on a mission, to explore strange new heights and to boldly go where no Mercy Air aircraft has gone before.

We had some issues with the turbo charging on the C-210 and needed to do a test flight to verify that things were working as they should. This basically involved flying it at a certain climb power setting and noting what happened.

Towards the end of the test I took a couple of pics. This one shows us doing 500ft/min rate of ascent at 170 knots ground speed - not too bad for a 210.
But a quick glimpse at the outside air temperature shows a chilly 0 deg F or getting on for -20 C.
The reason for that is found with a closer look at the altimeter, not 11500ft but 21500 ft. That's just over four miles high.And a quick look out of the window...
It was well chilly up there wearing just shorts and T shirt and it only occurred to me to close the air vents on the way back down. More important was though was to use a little supplementary oxygen, which you can just spot in the next pic.
So, I didn't find any new life or new civilisations up there and I was only gone an hour, rather than the five years it took the Starship Enterprise.

The proof from the Spidertracks site

If you are an airline pilot or Himalayan mountaineer, please feel free to be quite unimpressed by all this. But for a little plane pilot like me it was a very novel experience.

Paul

Classroom in a Box

2011-07-08T11:36:00.008+02:00

Imagine living in a village so remote that learning to read is only a distant dream.

There are many faced with this exact problem in the delta region of the Zambezi and because of this Anne Herbert, a Mercy Air staff member with 27 years teaching experience and Caitlin Mbewe of YWAM in Marromeu, herself a physics teacher have developed the 'Classroom in a Box' project.

The airstrip right in the middle of Marromeu

The project aims to provide literary resources and training materials to to the people in the delta in their own language and last week Paul flew a team up to Marromeu to start the process. The first 10 weeks of the classroom in a Box is based on a chronological childrens Bible and covers four learning areas Bible, Language, Numeracy and Life Skills. It starts with the basic skills needed to master the learning areas and when these are grasped, moves on to harder skills.

Anne sorting out the box contents after our arrival

Mercy Air has been working with YWAM in Marromeu for a number of years now using both fixed wing aircraft and the helicopter. The town is the last sizable place on the Zambezi before it empties into the Indian Ocean 40 miles downstream.

The Russians, or at least some of their military hardware, were here during the war, although it seems they had some difficulty in leaving.

This Antonov 32 finished its days after a crash in 1992. (The 210 in front is ours and is working just fine).

There are a number of artillery units around. This T34 tank is in the garden of some YWAM workers but at least it saves having to build a climbing frame or swing - if you can handle its gun barrel being permenantly pointed at your house.
Anyway, back to business. The idea is to train and equip local teachers on how to use the box and so Anne, Sally and Samantha bought one up and shared its contents with some teachers and spent time some time getting feedback on how they thought the methods would work.
We will send another team up with the helicopter next time it goes there and they will be able to take it into the really remote areas in the delta. Once this is established the idea is to then extend the project into other areas in Mozambique where we have existing relations with missionaries.

You can read more about the project at:
http://www.mercyair.org/en/projects/operational-reports/218-education-project-advances.html

Paul and Cathy

The Great Gig in the Sky

2011-06-15T08:47:00.004+02:00

A year after South Africa so successfully hosted the 2010 Footy World Cup, Africa has been awarded the latest spectacular global event – the 15th June Total Lunar Eclipse.

And it’s not called the Total Lunar Eclipse for some sponsorship reason. Although much of the rest of the planet will have partial coverage, we get the whole thing and the best seats in the house are right here in our own backyard.

In a real David and Goliath showdown, Sol, the star of our solar system (sporting a waist measurement of 1.4 million kilometres and weighing in at some 2 million million million million million kilograms) opposes the diminutive Moon (with a belt size of 3,500 kilometres and at a sprightly 7.35×1022 kilograms, that’s the number 735 followed by 20 zeros!).

But don’t worry about the underdog – the only thing that will put our nearest neighbour in the shade is, well, our home planet Earth’s shadow!

We don’t expect one of those protracted, dragged out, multi-week things. The opening ceremony begins at 20:23 tonight, the main event getting underway from 21:22 and lasting until 23:03. Then straight into the closing festivities, everything wrapped up shortly after midnight.

No expensive tickets, stadiums, fan walks and definitely no need for special viewing equipment. We will watch the entire show with our own eyes from the comfort of our own stoep, without having to queue for public transport home afterwards. But, seeing as it’s late in the evening, maybe we'll hold back on those vuvuzelas!

A match-up like this hasn’t been seen here since February 2008 and won't happen again before September 2015, so we won't miss out on the opportunity.

With apologies to Richard Wright and Clare Torry, The Great Gig in the Sky is the most fitting song for tonight's event off possibly the most fitting album.