It’s good to have this new page up and running. Thanks again to Andy for his help and advice in getting it going. Hopefully there will be more additions made to the page soon.

Last week I posted some photos of myself for Abel following his request. And if he still hasn’t worked it out yet, none of the photos showed my face. So after my little joke, I’ve posted a few that actually include my face.

1. Myself removing an elevator and two colleagues posing for a photo

2. Don’t mess with this native

3. My good friend Nick, one of the storemen and me

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Last Saturday I had the great privilege of going for a hike with several guys of the national engineering staff. Our aim was to climb Mt Engiki who’s peak is 8000ft above sea level and then to hike across a mountain ridge down into a village for lunch. It was estimated to be an hour and a half of hiking, but I knew that was unlikely and would take porbably all day.

We started off Saturday morning in town, fortunately I had access to one of the MAF van’s. And started the transport run of picking people up and shopping, which started at 0800. Around 0930 we started to drive out of town, down roads which a Van is not designed for. It was amazing scenery out of town, we arrived at Engiki, the village that we would be starting from around 1030. Some of the group took the Van and headed for our finishing point to prepare lunch for us. It worked out really well, that the villages we were travelling from and travelling to belong to the guys we were with.

Being out from town as we were in the middle of no where, most people see very little white people or have ever seen any before. So every village we travelled through, there was a lot of excitement. After greeting a lot of people we started hiking towards Mt Engiki with a group of locals joining us. The track itself was very basic and rugged, once we reached the bottom of the mountain the track just went straight up and was very steep. Sometimes using whatever I could grab to help pull myself up the track.

As we continued to climb, I knew that it was going to get harder as the altitude increased. i have never hiked up that high before, I managed quite well. But I could notice the change in altitude and as I looked up, like any mountain you can see that the track is ongoing. You can tell when you’re close and not sure when it finishes. After about an hour of walking some of us reached what I thought was the peak. But as I caught my breathe, I looked up and saw the mountain peak which was still quite away above us. We continued for about another half an hour  or so and reached the peak. I started to become a bit nervous with the track, as it was very narrow and either side was a very long step drop. And involved a bit of climbing to get up. But the sight from the top of this mountain was absolutely breathe taking, it would be one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. These photo’s don’t do any justice for the view and since it was overcast. We could see 360 degrees around us of different valleys and other mountain ranges.

We spent a bit of time up there enjoying the view. Interesting enough there is a prayer house up there, where locals from the village walk up to once a week for a prayer meeting, now that’s commitment. We headed off again back down the mountain a bit, and then hiked across a mountain ridge. This involved hiking up and down other mountains for some time. At one point we left the extra crowd that had come with us. And this was good just so we could enjoy the hike with one another.

As we worked our way down from the mountain ridge, we passed through different villages. But also could look over the wide open valley, and it always amazes me that people live pretty much anywhere. On top of mountains, side of mountains or in valleys. We walked through villages that belonged to the area that the guys are from. In the end we entered Northeru Dame Secondary School teacher’s compound after 1530, where we would have a late lunch.

So we did about five hours of hiking in the end. Those who had taken the Van from Engiki and driven to the school, had prepared a Mu mu (meaning ground oven). This is a traditional PNG meal of chicken and vegetables cooked in the ground, which was beautiful. A lot of the guys were tired after the hike and was good to get some food. We left the school around 1700 and made it back into town just before dark, as we were driving back in it started to rain. So it was a great day and adventure. I really love hiking and it was a difficult hike at times, but was a lot of fun and beautiful surroundings. It was great to get out of Mt Hagen, but most of all it was great just to bond with the guys and the share the adventure with them..

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Finally have another video finished after having a few technical problems. This video is on our construction of our Haus Kuk and a tour around it at POC. We built this the second weekend of the course, the first day we spent nine hours and the following Saturday maybe four hours constructing it. Our Haus Kuk gained a reputation for having advanced features, from our kitchen sink to a flower vase. We spent every weekend using the Haus Kuk after construction to prepare our meals and to dine. It’s purpose being to prepare us for the living conditions in a village. All we had available was a wooden fire, kerosene and a kerosene stove (which we didn’t really use) for cooking on (plus the drum oven). So it was interesting experience living this way, but I love the kitchen I now have in Mt Hagen.

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The other week Abel requested some photos of myself to be posted. So last week I went to the effort of getting someone to take a few photos of me while at work. Two of the three are actually staged, unfortunately another did not meet up to my censorship act. The photo itself was okay, but probably not the best to present an image of MAF in that way. So I hope this meets up to your requirements Abel, hahaha.

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Last night was the first time I have had people round for dinner during the week. Kaikai is a very important word in Tok Pisin, it means food or meal (added with another word, it can describe many things to do with food). Majority of staff at MAF are nationals and it really is a blessing to work with them. It is hard though to spend time with them outside of work. So I thought of a way to try and get round this by inviting someone round for dinner. Which can be hard at times for many reasons, but mainly because of the difference in culture. But no dramas this time round. I invited round one of the fellow engineers and his family, who came round last night. He is a good friend, I originally met and worked with him back in 2005. His wife also works for MAF. It was a good night, it’s always awesome to have good food and good fellowship.

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The past month or so there has been a bit of tension in the Mt Hagen area, as there have been local council elections. The town of Mt Hagen has 17 or 18 different clans (tribes) which are normally without any dramas with each other. And at Kagamuga (Mt Hagen airport) 12 km’s out of town, there are another two clans. Who are normally the ones who are fighting with one another. As one is at the airport and owns most businesses there, and the other is down the road.

There has been some fighting the past weeks, but nothing on the scale to what has happened in the past. But last Wednesday, would be a big day, as the already elected council would elect seven council presidents for the seven districts made up by the council. Leading up to Wednesday there was a lot of talk about what was going to happen and civil unrest was a real possibility and always is come election time in the highlands, whether local or federal. The whole town would shut town for Wednesday, in case things got out of control. The market, shops, businesses and schools would shut down.

Last Tuesday the MAF leadership team decided to keep staff at home for the Wednesday and that would involve a lock down. Everyone would stay in their compounds until further notice. For the engineering team, this was a frustration change of events. As we had worked so hard to get the C check done as soon as possible and were so close to finishing. But with this lock down, it would delay the release time of the aircraft back into service. But for staff who are living at the airport compound’s would  be able to come to work on the Wednesday, as it seemed that the trouble would be in town. And would not be safe to travel from town or into town. Only a few living in town were asked to go into work on the Wednesday, which was optional. Two pilots, the program manager and two engineers, one being myself.

So come Wednesday morning, expecting that we could get stuck out at the airport compound. We left 30 mins earlier than normal and the town was very quiet. We continued our work on the C check and the pilots continued their flying program. After morning smoko break at 1015, a meeting was called. Where we were informed that the neighbouring clan with a 1000 men were going to trash and destroy the airport once the election results were announced. Even though we were aware of the possibility of civil unrest and praying against it, I wasn’t fearful. But it was a surprise, as it was expected in town if there would be trouble. The decision was made to fly all our serviceable aircraft to neighbouring airstrips, to secure the unserviceable aircraft in the hanger and to return to our compounds. We only had 30 mins to prepare all these aircraft for flight and to secure the hanger, especially finishing our C check on the Twin Otter. It was like scrambling aircraft in a time of war.

About fifteen minutes later, an update came through and our plans were changed. The decision was made to secure as many aircraft into our hanger and to return to our compounds. So we managed to squeeze in five aircraft. The Twin Otter, the C172, two C206’s and one GA8. Part of me wanted to stay and defend our aircraft and hanger. But that would not of achieved anything at all and most of all wouldn’t be right.

We all returned safely to our compounds, where we were locked down until Thursday afternoon. Some people did get stuck at other compounds and had to spend the time in other compounds until the lock down was cleared. I was just grateful to be able to get back to my place and spend the time there, to have electricity and running water. During this time of lock down, things were VERY quite around town and out at Kagamuga, which was very eerie and normally when fighting or civil unrest breaks out. Throughout the night there were a few things that happened. But nothing on the scale of what was predicted and has happened in the past. So we are really praising and thanking God for the peace that has been here amongst the clans here. And recognise that it is Him alone that has done this.

Looking back and seeing the possibilities of what could have happened, it is amazing the outcome that has taken place. Especially with all the sources that there are on the decision making the leadership team have to work with. It is a complicated issue and precautions are taken as needed. Come Friday morning all had returned back to normal. There are a lot of storeis just from this event alone. I have been in quite a few dangerous and tricky situations in my life. But I would say that this would be the time that I have felt the most at risk before and added some action to our week.

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My commissioning service was on back on the 4th of May. This is a short video of it, thanks Andy! It would have to be one of the most special days of my life to date. I am posting it for those of you who don’t go to the youth website, enjoy.

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The last few weeks have been very busy out at the hanger and I am feeling it. Despite this we have been able to get through all the scheduled maintenance we have had coming in. Aircraft after aircraft, one comes in, one goes out, and another comes in. During this time we have had aircraft come in for unscheduled maintenance. And this always puts extra strain on us, as we are busy with other aircraft, but to have one come in to get something fixed that is planned to be flying does make things interesting. It has been really good that we have been able to work through it all. Close to two weeks ago on the Friday, it was probably the busiest I have ever seen before. Out of the fourteen aircraft we operate, we had six of them in the hanger and outside for some sort of work.

Following on from this Friday, the following Monday saw us receive a Twin Otter for a C check (carried out every 500 flying hours) which is the biggest check we do. At the moment we only have three Otters operating in the country. One is in Australia undergoing a C check at MAF’s hanger in Mareeba, as we don’t have the man power at the moment. So with these two C check’s, that meant only one of the three Otters was flying, which is a huge strain on our flying program and means that one area of the country has no coverage while we carry out this C check in Mt Hagen. This does put a bit of pressure on us, as normally a C check takes at least 3 - 4 weeks on average. Last week we worked 0730-1800 to try and achieve more work in less days. And the guys working on engines carried on working on Saturday for engine runs and adjustments.

And praise God we were able to carry out the service in record time, the aircraft was ready last Wednesday afternoon. But a change of events saw this become yesterday morning (Friday). But to finish the check in a week and a half is a big accomplishment. And following the completion of the check, saw work commence and continue on four other aircraft. So the maintenance carries on.

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I received an email from a friend who did POC with these photos attached the other week. She was travelling from Madang to Ukarumpa. They are aerial photos of the village I spent five nights in called Dogea, on the coast near Madang. I knew that it was an isolated place, but looking at it from the air really makes that hit home at how isolated it really was.

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Last weekend was the first time I have had visitor’s stay with me since being in Mt Hagen. A good friend from another mission organisation (CRMF) in PNG who was also a student at POC with his family purchased a car from another MAF family.  He brought two other worker’s from different missions up from Goroka. Which is about two and a half to five hours drive, depending on what sort of vehicle you travel on. They arrived Saturday afternoon, and we got acquainted with the purchased car. That night we hanged out at a little gathering at another house on the compound, watching the Union game and a movie. And Sunday morning we went to a EBC church in town, and after lunch headed off back to Goroka. I was able to travel some of the trip, as I was heading out to Kudjip (40 mins out of town) for a once a month expat service out at the Nazarene Hospital with another MAF family, which was my first time. It was an interesting experience seeing more of the Highlands Highway, plenty of big pot holes and crazy driving. Despite there being a limited amount of things to do in MT Hagen, it was a good time of fellowship and really good to catch up with my good friend from CRMF, but also to have people over.

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