Marsabit shuttle

Many of you have heard during our presentations about the essential weekly shuttle flight MAF runs between Nairobi and the town of Marsabit in Northern Kenya which makes it possible for aid and development workers and missionaries to serve this remote town.  Well Elijah and I were recently able to experience this trip for ourselves.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Here we are coming in to land at Marsabit.  The ground was so red and dry I could say it resembles "Mars a bit" but that would be a bit harsh!  However, there is a huge creator in the grounds near the town and it is believed that it was created by a meteorite crashing a long time ago.

On our flight there were seven passengers other than Elijah and I from six different mission, relief and development agencies.  The plane was also carrying clothes for a childrens' home, and freight for both a famine relief agency and a commercial bank. I spoke to some of my follow passengers who said just how valuable the flight was with only one other airline flying to this drought ridden and insecure region.   Without this two hour flight they would need to travel by land for two days and would risk getting attacked by the bandits which are prevalent in this area.

The Cessna Caravan flight has a solo pilot and so the co-pilot's seat is normally empty.  However, on the way back Elijah got the honour or sitting in the co-pilot's seat.  

I meanwhile enjoyed the journey in the seat behind him.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink!

It has been raining here for the past 24 hours almost non-stop, very unseasonable for this time of year.  We've had quite a lot of rain recently but this hasn't stopped us running out of water most weeks since we arrived.  This week we had to cope for three days with no water at all in our house.  We have certainly come to realise just how much we take water for granted in the UK.  Today we have got some water and we are trying to make it last as long as possible by keeping water usage to a minimum and recycling water.

Water collected whilst taking a morning shower.  Despite being a very frugal shower I collected enough water to nearly fill the toilet cistern.  The cistern still needed a slight top up despite having a brick in it to reduce the volume of water required to fill the cistern. 

Our problems in water supply however pail into insignificance compared to those of so many living in Kenya and other parts of Africa where villagers have to walk miles to collect a bucket of dirty water.  It feels so unjust that those in the Western nations have so much whilst so many suffer elsewhere in the world. 

Thankfully MAF is part of the solution as it multiplies the effectiveness of NGOs and others who are working hard to improve water supplies and sanitation.  It regularly flies these experts to areas that they wouldn't otherwise be able to reach safely or without several days travel on flights such as our Marsabit shuttle.

I shall be writing more about the Marsabit shuttle soon but today it is unlikely to fly, despite having passengers booked onto it, as the heavy rain would make it too dangerous to land on the basic runway at Marsabit.

Our water butt in the garden collecting rain water during a down pour.  In the foreground you can see another of our energy saving devices, a solar light, hanging from the rails on the window.  These lights are very useful as we suffer power cuts most days and so the lights enable the kids to do their school homework during a blackout.