A few more of Gulu

This is a view of the houses in Gulu. These particular homes were located right next to the runway across the street from the airfield. In addition to all the kids that came out to greet us, the place was just bustling with activity, with lots of people moving up and down the road to and from the market. You would see the local women coming back from shopping balancing these impossible loads up on their heads. I guess that is what you do in Uganda when you don't have the luxury of SUV's and a cart. I am hoping that on our return trip to Gulu I will be able to get some pictures of the kids playing with their new soccer balls that you all donated.

More Pictures of the kids in Gulu

As promised, here are the pictures of the kids at Gulu, Uganda. They were really having a great time, smiling and laughing and just being kids. This of course proves my theory that kids in general can tune out the reality of their everyday situation and just concentrate…..on having fun. What a concept, the world woud be a better place if adults could learn to do that more often. Especially politicians and third world dictators.

Here I am handing out sodas. May their parents please forgive me! Although, my guess is that these little guys do not need to be told to “Put up the ^%$# video games and go play outside!”

Gulu Pictures

Above: Village at Gulu Above: The Kids at Gulu hamming it up!

These photos were taken at Gulu, and are of the village just across from the air strip.

I have more pictures, but I am having trouble uploading them. More to follow.

The Sunset View over the Mozambique Channel

I snapped this picture while at 23,000 feet on our way to Madacascar. Looks like I am getting the hang of this picture taking thing!

Gulu and Entebbe Uganda

Earlier in December, Hardy and I had a three day trip down to Uganda. It was a fascinating trip, as we got to stay in a hotel right next to Lake Victoria, which is the second largest lake in all of Africa, and is also the head waters for the mighty Nile River.

Our first stop on this trip was airport at Entebbe. Entebbe, if you remember your history, was the location of the famous Israeli raid to free a hijacked airliner from terrorists working for the Ugandan dictator at the time, Idi Amin. This raid took place in the summer of 1977-and was remarkable for the speed and accuracy with which the Israeli commandos accomplished their mission. The commandos flew non-stop from Israel in C-130’s and executed an assault on the airfield that resulted in none of the hostages at the airfield being killed. The Israeli’s managed to kill all the terrorists (always a good thing in my book) while they themselves sustained only one casualty, the man who lead the raid. Sadly, (and in true to their cowardly nature) the terrorists murdered the only hostage that was not at the airport at the time. This man was in a Ugandan Hospital and Idi Amin ordered him killed after the success of the raid.

The old control tower is still there, and you can still see the bullet holes left by the Israeli heavy weapons during the assault. The Ugandans have erected a plaque there to honor those killed in the raid, and to condemn the rule of Idi Amin.

Later in the same trip, we got to play the part of true African Bush Pilots. We had to drop some passengers to a remote airfield to the north of Entebbe called Gulu. It’s a nice, long runway, and it’s even paved (although the surface is somewhat questionable) but it’s truly out in the bush. No runway lights, no instrument approaches, no control tower. The airfield information said to beware of animals on the runway. So when we made approach into Gulu, we left the gear up and did a low level pass over the runway at about 300 feet above ground level. We didn’t see any animals, but we sure did scare the heck out of a local who was riding down the runway on a moped for some reason. As it turns out, this fellow was just doing his job ensuring that the runway was clear of animals for our arrival. We sure got his attention with the low pass though.

Gulu is what I always imagined that the African Bush would look like. It is a lush green place, located on a high flat plain, surrounded by tall grass and trees. To the east of the runway, right outside the fence was a thatched hut village. Upon landing we got a very friendly welcome from the folks there, and had a lot of fun passing sodas to the kids just outside the fence line. They congregated quickly after our arrival, hamming it up for the camera and generally having a great time just like kids anywhere else. I am guessing that they probably had not ever seen a Metroliner before.

All of this kind of makes our ‘hanging chads’ look silly, doesn’t it?

Hey folks….I do not know if this has garnered much attention back home, but I wanted to let you all know about the current situation ongoing in Kenya as you are reading this. Kenya is currently experiencing some pretty bad violence associated with their presidential election. As of this writing, (according to the AP) approximately 135 people have been killed in post election fighting between rival supporters of the two candidates. The cause of the initial violence was the disputed victory of the incumbent president. Apparently he had been trailing in all the Election Day polls, but when the official results were declared, he had retaken the lead, and the government declared him the winner. However, the opposition refused to accept this outcome, and declared their candidate the winner.

I have been told the actual policy differences between the two politicians is quite minor, but there supporters are split down ethnic and tribal lines. Tribal and ethnic affiliations play a large role in African affairs, and it is difficult for me as a westerner to understand why this election has sparked so much unrest.

At any event I feel for Kenya…especially the innocent victims of the clashing tribes. Kenya is a fantastic nation, and a strong ally of the United States. They have probably the fastest growing economy in Africa, with a nation rich in natural resources and rich in human resources as well. Kenya is a spectacularly beautiful place-a vast hilly green land, with everything from tropical savannahs to desert in the north.

Please keep Kenya in your prayers and thoughts as her people struggle to come to grips with this election. The people of Kenya have always treated us well, and I can only hope that those folks have managed to avoid the current trouble down there. On a positive note, I have heard from people in the know (sorry I cannot reveal more about who told me this) that despite the violence there is a sense among the people there that this will pass relatively quickly and things will return back to normal. One can only hope so.
All of this kind of makes our ‘hanging chads’ look silly, doesn’t it?

More Whale Shark Pictures!!!

Kim and I on the boat ride out to see the Sharks!

Whale Shark Pictures

Whale Shark getting ready for a snack!

WHALE SHARKS

The late fall and early winter time mean one thing in the coastal waters of Djibouti: WHALE SHARK time. Every winter, these truly magnificent fish swim west bound up the bay in Djiboutian coastal waters (well, actually, I am told this is the time of year that they migrate all around the eastern coast of Africa…at least in the waters just to the north and south of the equator.) I must confess that I am ignorant as to exactly why they are migrating but they do. And in doing so, the swim relatively close to shore in the coastal waters around here, feeding on plankton as they go.
The fortunate thing for those of us out here in CJTF-HOA is that the good folks at MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) managed to lay on some charter boats to allow us the opportunity to swim with the Whale Sharks. So, naturally, there wasn’t any way I was going to pass up a chance to actually see these guys in the wild.
We had to depart Camp Lemonier early in the morning, So Rob, Kim and I caught the charter bus with the sunrise out to the docks in the Port Of Djibouti. Once there, we loaded up and were headed out along the coast for our big adventure. The Chartered boat was a large traditional Djiboutian fishing boat that had been converted for charter and dive operations, and we were joined by approximately 20 other folks from the camp.
The trip out was awesome….calm waters, slight cool breeze blowing and not a cloud in the sky. It took us about an hour and half to get to the initial point, where we anchored at got a chance to dive on a shallow reef while awaiting the arrival of the sharks. The reef was probably the most pristine I have seen since coming on this trip. I saw all sorts of fish, a moray eel, and blue spotted ray and a sea turtle. It was incredible.
We soon got the call that whale sharks had been spotted, so we loaded up in the boat and headed up the coast line to find them. About ten minutes later….one of the guides saw the tale tell signs of the tall dorsal fins protruding just above the water while the sharks swim slowly along, feeding. It was time to swim with the sharks.
We loaded up into smaller, faster boats with outboard motors and quickly took off after the sharks. While waiting for the boats to get to the sharks, we all put on our snorkeling gear, to be ready to jump overboard as quickly as possible. As soon as a guide would spot the sharks, the little boats would speed up ahead of them, cut the power to the motor and we would jump of the boat into the path of the sharks. (Yeah, I know, it sounds a bit strange to be jumping out of a perfectly good boat into the path of oncoming sharks…).
SPLASH! You would hit the water…wait for all the bubbles to clear, and then,…..looming out of the dark, deep blue color of the sea, this HUGE creature would be swimming right towards you. It was amazing-these animals are so big, and so beautiful, and they just don’t care that you are there. They are busy eating the plankton…and you just have to get out of the way.
The first shark I saw had to be at least 18 feet long. She was just swimming along, seeming effortless, with her big tail swinging gracefully back and forth. I quickly changed direction and began to swim parallel with her, less than a foot from pectoral fins and gills. I could see her looking at me with her eye…simply amazing. I had to really swim pretty quickly to keep up, even though this shark looked like she was just swimming along with no effort. Every now and then, she would find a dense pocket of plankton, and she would open her mouth wide, arch her back and filter a tremendous amount of sea water through her gills, getting a nice mouthful of the tiny creatures. One could think of this as a sort of whale shark floating buffet, I guess.
All in all it was a fantastic day. I love the water as it is, and having to opportunity to swim with these animals is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Rob and Kim had a blast as well….getting the same chance as I did to swim up close and personal with a whale shark.
It is times like these that make me thankful that I signed my name on the dotted line. Sometimes, the military opens up doors that would otherwise never been open to you…and it makes you realize that in the big scheme of things, this is a pretty good job!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!! I cannot believe that the busy holiday season has come and gone. I wanted to take a moment to wish everybody out there in blog land a long overdue MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR. I hope that everyone back home had a truly happy holiday season. I am hoping that somebody out there even got a white Christmas. Having a white Christmas is something that we don’t really have to worry about here in Djibouti. I think the daytime high on Christmas Day here was a chilly 88 degrees F. You might even say that we have been having a Djiboutian cold snap.

We have been busy flying all around the horn. Since I last updated you folks, we have had numerous missions –flying to places like Aden, Yemen, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Gulu and Entebbe Uganda, and back down to the Comoros. I even managed to get in an overnight in Madagascar. (And no, sorry to disappoint but there were no animated animals running around) It’s been busy-but that’s ok, we are doing what we came here to do. Not to mention the view from 20000 feet gets pretty spectacular.

Everyone in the office got lots of support from the folks back home. Packages, cards, and almost daily reminders from you all at home helped us keep our spirits up over the holiday season. Thank you all very much!

Soccer Ball Drive UPDATE:

Hey folks, just a quick note to let you know the first shipment of soccer balls have been uploaded to the Civil Affairs. They are leaving here soon to do a mission downrange. I don’t want to disclose the where and when’s just yet, but it will be a remote location out in the ‘bush’ as we call it here in Africa. The CA team will be conducting a VETCAP as well as other missions. The CA folks have promised me pictures and possibly a guest blogging, so I will keep you posted.

Today Jeff and John departed for a mission with a fuel stop in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. Jeff Webb’s church has put together a soccer drive as well, and they have collected approximately 200 balls. We loaded some of these balls, the shin guards you guys sent, and some pumps in the aircraft. Our Handler (a handler is somebody who takes care of filing our flight plans, coordinating for fuel, parking, customs, basically anything that we might need as a crew) at Dar is woman named Susan. She is on the cutting edge of women in business in Africa- She has a remarkable story. She was born in Tanzania, but educated in the US. She gained experience as an aircraft maintainer for Comair. (Comair is ASA’s sister Delta Connection Carrier, based in Cincinnati Ohio.) She worked on numerous airframes for a number of years before returning to Tanzania to found her business, Tanzanite Jet. Now her company provides Handling Services for every major air port in Tanzania. This is a remarkable accomplishment for anyone, let alone a woman starting a business in a male dominant society located in Africa that is approximately fifty per cent Muslim. She is going to take Jeff’s soccer balls to a local orphanage there in Dar to be distributed to the children. Again she promised pictures so I will keep you all posted.