Week 3

Marg:  Sorry we didn’t get around to any blogging last week…  A virulent kind of flu is doing the rounds and we have been among its victims.  We took it in turns to suffer – my bout started last Friday and is only slowly losing its grip more than a week later.  Andy’s attack was rather more short and sharp, starting on Monday night and just about abating this weekend..  The medical advice was bed-rest and keep warm, but the latter is easier said than done in an unheated house in the middle of the Botswana winter, where the outside temperature has been between about 2 and 8 deg C in the night.  OK, the sun is always up in the day but the houses here are specifically designed to keep the inside cool, which is certainly true of this one. The inside of a cave is more like it.

We have been very glad of the little blow heater we brought with us and have bought a few other things to try and keep snug – including an electric kettle for the bedroom.  It seems all electrical goods here are made in China, but so far the cables haven’t melted like the extension lead we bought in Tanzania.  An odd thing here is that most of the houses including this one are equipped with UK type 13 amp sockets, but the only appliances available have round-pin 15 amp plugs, which is the South African standard.  Until recently appropriate adapters were available, so there was no problem but they now seem to have been withdrawn, presumably because you can’t logically get 15 amps out of a 13 amp socket, or something..  Anyway, suffice it to say that while we have been transferring equipment between the bedroom and other rooms during our sick leave it has been a minor nightmare trying to get everything plugged in.

Andy:  It’s been a bit of a struggle keeping up with work needs while trying to stay home and warm, as there is a never-ending need for me to sign things.  My office at the hangar isn’t the warmest of places in the mornings, so I have been glad of the reason to keep my visits there to a minimum.  They have kindly provided me with a small electric heater, but so far the lack of an adapter has prevented me using it – just when I needed it most.  It would be easy to just change the plug, but that would invalidate the guarantee, of course. (Remind me to describe the palaver you go through getting your new kettle or iron tested at the supermarket before being allowed to take it home…)

The flying programme suffered its own down-turn this past week, as one pilot was declined his work permit in the final stages, leaving us with 3 operational Cessnas in the north of the country and only one and a half operational pilots.   Meanwhile spares and maintenance issues have been affecting our KingAirs used for the medical mercy flights from Gaborone, and the engineers are struggling to keep them ready to answer the emergency calls.  Hopefully things will pick up during the coming week, ourselves included.

Week 1

Well, here we are beginning another blog, this time from Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, which you probably know is a landlocked country of 2 ½ million people surrounded by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.  We arrived on June 25th via Nairobi, and were once more amazed that all our luggage (6 pieces this time) arrived intact, though among the very last items on the carousel after all but 2 other passengers had left the airport. We are here for a job very similar to that in Tanzania, with similar numbers of expat and locally employed staff, plus a similar fleet of small and slightly larger aircraft.  The main difference at the moment is the weather, as  we have arrived right in the middle of a southern African winter with temperatures plunging uncomfortably low from evening to mid morning.   Central heating is a rare thing here because 'the cold only lasts for 2 months' we're told!  So it is encouraging to hear that later on the summer temperatures will shoot up to 40 deg C.

Marg: We seem to be settling in reasonably well, though being in temporary accommodation (house of a family on leave) means that we shall have to do all that again later. Quite a bit of stress and time wasting has been caused by the electric gate whose remote controls don't work reliably, raising doubts as to ones chances of re-entering after leaving.  Climbing over the wall isn't an option either due to the electrified fence! To complete the security array we negotiate an outer grill door with padlock and ordinary front door with dead-lock.  Not a place to exit in a hurry and I'm not sure what it says about the gentle people of Botswana to be so heavily fortified.  However, unlike Tanzania, nightguards are not normally engaged for private residences.

Another domestic highlight featured the washing machine, which turned out to be broken the first time I tried to use it to spin some hand-washed laundry (which came out wetter than it went in).  A reliable handyman duly pronounced the machine completely dead - bits of locking wire and screws from the pockets of an aircraft engineer living here before we arrived had disabled the pump and due to its age parts are no longer available.  It helpfully and enthusiastically rinsed the floors of two rooms during the damage assessment, all adding to the excitement. Never having had a washing machine in Africa before it's not a problem for us but will be for the returning family who have 3 small children plus a new baby.

Andy: Work has had it's moments of excitement and stress, much like the MAF Tz experience, and since Tuesday evening I have been left in charge as the previous (interim) Manager departed for leave in USA. Maintenance issues seem to cause more delays here than I am accustomed to, partly because the lack of stock and finance means that parts are only ordered when we can afford it, and then there is often a long wait for parts to arrive, mainly from USA.