Inspiring a new generation of aeronautical engineers

One Saturday earlier this month we had the pleasure of hosting the engineering club of St Andrews School, Turi, at the MAF Hanger.

One of our engineers, Vincent, did a wonderful job of explaining the workings of the different types of aircraft engine,

from a six cylinder piston engine ...

... through to a turboprop engine.

The A-level students were clearly fascinated by the experience, as was a certain accountant! Vincent was very engaging and answered loads of questions with great authority.

Having learnt about how the engines worked Vincent then explained the aerodynamics of flight












and the features of various different types of planes that allow them to take off and land, roll and change direction.











Elijah was delighted to be asked to sit in the pilots seat and to demonstrate the controls to the pupils.









All in all a very interesting way to spend a few hours on a Saturday. I wonder whether one day we will fly on a plane maintained by one of the engineering club - or indeed one flown by them!

Murder in the Forest

Sunday afternoon family walks aren't quite the same as those in the Cotswold!  For a start, you have to pay for the walk as there are no safe, free places to walk.  Then there is the fact that you need to take a guard with you to protect you from the animals and show you the way.  Thankfully, Nicolas (our guard) was great at guiding us through the thick woodland.

He pointed out a tree, called the Strangler Fig that cleverly suffocates any tree that is too close to it by growing long tendrils that once touch the ground, grow into another tree.














This new tree binds itself around the neighbouring tree as it grows and eventually suffocates it - see below - neighbourly love and all!
















We saw an African Crown Eagle's bird nest high up in the branches of a tall, tall tree.  This bird eats monkeys, small deer and ladies 40 and above with curly hair. It almost bit my head off! I am now in hospital with a broken nose and half an eyebrow. The doctors say I'll be out in 2 weeks but unfortunately my face will never be the same. How's that for a Sunday hike!  (that's what happens when you leave your teenage daughter alone by the computer whilst you make a cup of tea!)











Anyway, where was I?  Ah - yes, I was just about to show you the hyena poo!  The colour of which is determined by what it has eaten.  Can you guess what this hyena had eaten for dinner?


Bones!  Thankfully not ours!












Our walk then took us through a dry river bed.  This is particularly important at the moment as there is a severe drought in Kenya (of which we will tell you more in our next newsletter and how MAF is helping with the drought relief).















We passed a beehive (this one is for you Dad) and then back to base, picking up an old horse shoe as a momento of the walk and the obligatory stick for Elijah to whittle when he gets home!

And I came back with a live chicken!

And I came back with a live chicken!

It was a Harambee that I had been to.  A cultural first for me.  Douglas, one of the MAF Kenya staff, was fundraising for his daughter, Rhoda, who had a tragic car accident 6 weeks ago and has been in a coma ever since.    There is no NHS here in Kenya and at the moment there has been a doctors strike for the last 6 weeks, so the Harambee is a fundraiser to help pay for all of the hospital bills - which are ever increasing.  

Held at Deliverance Church in Kawangware slums, we arrived an hour into the programme.  We drove through the streets of the slums going from paved roads to smaller dirt tracks; held up by traffic and cows on the way until we found the church tucked in one of the side streets.  We parked the car and could hear the claps of people as they celebrated the money being collected before we had even entered behind the corrugated iron gates of the church.    The entrance to the church was a bustle of noise and people as they paid the 100 KES to enter and a handkerchief was pinned to your shirt to let others know you had paid to get it.  The church was full to bursting, filled with regular members and many other people who had come to support Douglas.  We were escorted to our seats, the 3 Mazungu’s (white people!) as the compare of the event welcomed us specifically and thanked us for coming.  The ‘larger than life’ compare then continued calling people and organisations to the front of the church, asking them how much they were donating to Rhoda as they put their money into a pink wicket basket held by the compare’s assistant.  One by one, people would say their name and how much they were donating, and everyone clapped to show their appreciation.  So culturally different to what I am used to but so supportive for Douglas and very humbling to know that many people who have never even met his daughter were giving of so much to help.  A neighbour looking after their neighbour - loving one another.  

As I looked around, I could see people giving large sums (up to $1000) and smaller ones ($5) but it didn’t matter the size, every one was clapped and thanked for their contribution.  As my hands were beginning to ache from the clapping I looked around.  The alter at the front of the church was laidened with eggs, a cake, a water filter, pottery and then I saw it -  live chickens underneath.  Once all of the money had been collected from everyone coming forward and donating, then came the auction.  Again another new cultural and fundraising experience for me.  It started with the water filter.  One lady bid 500kes and put her money in the pink basket, and then someone else placed a bid for 1000kes and added that.  The first lady raised her bid and put it in the basket and then others put in their bids in support of the two ladies in a  bidding war - so it becomes not just about the two ladies bidding but also who is supporting them and also putting money in the basket - there was certainly a feel of ‘all inclusive bidding!’  Finally it was won.  The pottery came next and then the cake.  When it came to the chickens I had to put my bid in.  It was too good an opportunity to miss, so Daniel (a MAF Pilot) and I kept increasing our bids until we were the winners of a live chicken - and a warm glow that we had donated more to help Rhoda.    There were no tears at the event, just a huge appreciate of the goodness of what God has blessed us with and how we can help others.  I hope and pray that Douglas has enough to cover the medical bills but more importantly, that Rhoda recovers.

Plane in a can

One of the things we've been working on lately is using any spare capacity we have to do maintenance and other technical work on non-MAF planes.

This not only helps us to fund the cost of MAF Kenya but it can also be quite a fun break from the normal routine.  Take this - one of our latest projects, putting together a plane nearly from scratch.

Unloading the plane parts from the back of a lorry - wings first.

The nearly finished article! 

Springtime

It feels a bit like Springtime at the moment.  I know we don't really have a spring - just rainy and dry seasons, but there is a feel of Spring in the air.  The Jacaranda trees are dropping their beautiful big purple trumpet-like blossom over the dry ground and it looks like purple snow in the morning when I open my curtains.

I thought you might like to see a few of the other beautiful flowers that are blossoming here too.  We are so fortunate to have such beauty right on our doorstep.

 

Panic Alarm

Now, this is the sort of button I need when I haven't had a good coffee in a while - but this is not the sort of Panic Alarm button I was looking at today.  

Today we had someone round to assess where we needed the fixed panic alarm button for our house in case of intruders.  When going to bed we already have 12 locks on 3 doors to bolt, 3 night guards on our compound, a walled compound with razor wire on the top along with a huge security gate and a panic button.   Now we will have a fixed alarm button too.  

Having assessed various options of where to put it we decided on a fairly central location. 

Fingers crossed we will never have to use it!

Tis the season to be jolly - not!

One of the hardest things in life is to say Farewell.  And we have come to that time of year again when it is a common word in our daily vocabulary.

This week alone I will have gone to 3 farewell parties of good friends that we have made these last 2 years. People we have had adventures with. People who started life in Nairobi at the same time as us and whom we have discovered the highs and lows of Nairobi together. It is a sad time of year for us as we bid them farewell and wish them the best on their new adventure in new places.

Even on the way home from school today, Edie was chatting about everything and anything and then said with a forlorn face; 'Mummy, I will miss Armrah and I will miss Anya.  I will miss their giggles.' All I could do was agree.

As part of living abroad we have to prepare our children for a lot more friends who will come and go in their lives and how to manage this without constantly feeling too hurt or shutting themselves off from making friends altogether.  Something we all have to learn to do.  And I have to be more aware of bad behaviour that it may just be their way of saying they are hurting and are sad.  Not always easy to do.

Last time in Church they also mentioned transition and asked everyone who was moving in the next few weeks to stand up and we prayed for them.  You really know you are living internationally when your church does that.

(Oh and even as I write this and Audrey is playing the piano facing the other direction she asks 'Mummy, when is Nicole leaving!'  So I tell her to come over and read what I am writing - and she humphs and tells me I have made a grammatical error)

So there we are, another part of 'normal' international living - saying Goodbye.   All I can say (for once) is thank goodness for Facebook and keeping in touch with people all over the world.