Crime Triangle

Lately there have been a large number of robberies, muggings, etc around Maseru. Last week the U.S. Embassy hosted a meeting in which several people shared their thoughts and concerns of the current situation. Two leaders of the Lesotho Police force shared for a while and spoke of a specific high crime area in Maseru.
In one corner you have the China Garden Restaurant, in the other you have the World Food Program headquarters, and the final corner in the Peace Corps house. This area was referred to several times. I took this map off of Google Earth showing these three locations. If you look at the map there is one house right in the middle of this triangle. You guessed it that is where Leslie and I live. The only building right in the middle of this triangle.
About two weeks ago we were finally able to get a couple of Labrador's. They have been great and are excellent with kids. Please keep praying for our family and for our friends who have been personally affected by violence in Lesotho.

Rorisang

Another day and another urgent prayer request.
Several weeks ago a precious 9 year old girl was flown from Lebakeng to Maseru in order to go have her leg examined at the hospital. She has a tumor on her knee and thigh that is about 6 times larger than the diameter of her leg. Doctors were afraid that the tumor has spread throughout her body and needed to amputate her entire leg as soon as possible. The mother decided to wait and flew back to the mountains in order to talk to the father about amputating her leg.
We flew Rorisang and her parents back to Maseru on the 18th of April, just in time for the scheduled afternoon surgery. The doctors are not excited about this surgery and as of yet it has not happened. Every day is another excuse about why it has not happened yet. One time the doctor had to go to the bank, and the next time she needed blood before they could operate. Every day is something different.
I have been sharing with Evi about this little girl and told Evi that Rorisang had to have her leg amputated. Evi said that Rorisang would feel better after the surgery because the hospital would give her a nice baby doll or barbie to play with. I told Evi that this hospital was different than Texas Scottish Rite Childrens Hospital and that the didn't have toys for the kids. Evi went to her room and picked out one of her favorite barbie's, a stuffed animal and drew two pictures to hang next to Rorisang's bed. On Thursday I took Evi to the childrens wing of the hospital to meet Rorisang. Evi was a huge hit and the kids along with their mothers loved little Evi. The could not stop talking to her and touching her long blond hair.
Today my friend Justin had a chance to visit. She is still awaiting surgery and her leg is severely infected. Pray that we would have wisdom as to what we can do next to help. Pray for Rorisang, that she would receive a peace that only the Lord could give.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Wow, Things have been crazy around here lately. Almost 2 weeks ago Evi came down with some sort of Flu virus. Eventually as it normally happens the other kid, Caleb came down with the same thing. As a result of Caleb feeling bad he always wanted dad and mom to hold him. That then led to mom being sick for a couple of days, and then last but not least dad is now sick with the same stinkin flu. Actually it has been 6 days and Caleb still is sick. poor thing. Oh and did I mention the circus that went up across the street from our house? normally that would sound like fun; who wouldn't want to live across the street from the circus? But as we are all recovering it would be nice to get some peace and quiet.

Evi playing with her friend after dance class at school


This little boy could not walk after an error at the local hospital that left him with a knee that couldn't bend. These crutches allowed him to walk without scooting around on his hands. Justin (a fellow pilot/mechanic) and I modified these large crutches to fit this boys very small arms and height

A Week in my life

Sometimes while living overseas it is hard do describe what we are actually doing over here in Africa. The adventures are so exciting that it is easy for me to write about what is happening here in Lesotho, but often it is just easier to leave out some of the more challenging and difficult situations that we find ourselves in at work. I have no pictures but I want to share a few of my experiences from the last week.

First I want to share a little more about how we work in Lesotho. Our day begins with a schedule for each airplane that is flying for the day. The only sure thing about the schedule is that it will change multiple times throughout the day. We also have four categories of patients that we transport:

Code 1: Urgent medical condition that requires immediate transport (Life and Death)
Code 2: Medical condition that requires transportation sometime the same day.
Code 3: Previously scheduled flight for routine Dr. visits, surgery, etc.
Code 4: A patient returning to the mountains after receiving medical care in Maseru.

Last Friday on March 28th I was scheduled with a busy day making 12 landings throughout the country. I had planned on leaving by 8:30 so that I could make my last landing in Maseru by 4:30 later that afternoon.
My day and that of the other pilot flying started with a couple of broken airplanes, I then switched to mechanic mode and worked on the airplane until almost 10:30. Thankfully three other pilots prepped their trusty steeds and took to the air to cover all of the flights that we couldn't do in the morning. Before long we had all five of our airplanes flying all over Lesotho just to meet the needs of the day. As the day progressed we received code 1 after code 1 for a total of 8 Code 1's before the end of the day.

Mid-afternoon I flew to a village called Nkau to pick up one of these patients, a little girl who was 2 years and 4 months old. Although you would of thought that she was only about 6 months old based on her size and weight. She was severely malnourished and was having a very difficult time breathing. I loaded the baby's grandmother (I am assuming that the mother has passed away), oxygen bottle, and IV fluid in the airplane. I then handed the tiny child to the grandmother so that she could hold her for the 30 minute flight back to Maseru. After loading the baby we proceeded to load another code 1 patient with Stevens Johnson Syndrome; A severe drug reaction that caused the skin of the entire body to slough off. She was wrapped in a bloody sheet and had a hand towel in her mouth that was soaked in blood.

I departed Nkau and climbed to 9,500 feet the lowest I could fly on my way back to Maseru. After taking off I radioed ahead and requested to have immediate medical attention and a Dr. available as soon as I landed. As we climbed away from Nkau I spent my time glancing back to see how she was doing and praying for her as we were flying. After about 10 minutes of flying, I noticed that she wasn't moving like she was before and I could not see her breathing. My front passenger climbed back into the middle seat to take a closer look and confirmed that in fact she wasn't breathing anymore. I radioed ahead and spoke to Dr. Jen and verified that they would be waiting for me on arrival. 20 minutes later we landed just as another airplane took off to collect 2 more Code 1's in Mokhotlong. After stopping we sprung into action taking the child to our patient waiting room that is most often used as our emergency clinic. After about 5 minutes, she was officially declared dead as we continued to clean up and prepared the child in a somber silence.

Now we were awaiting the arrival of the other airplane bringing 2 critical code 1's to the hanger. Dr. Jen, Justin (another pilot) and myself stayed to assist. Once again as the airplane showed up, we donned our gloves and rushed to remove and quickly examine the patients. One had severe head trauma, and the other had some major intestinal problems. They were stable at the time, so we loaded them into the ambulance and watched as they headed for the hospital. Of the 8 emergencies that day it is hard to keep track of how they are all doing. I do know that there are several who did not live through the weekend.

Fast forward to Yesterday April 2nd:
Another busy day here in Lesotho with multiple code 1's. I arrived back in Maseru at 4:00 PM ready to go home and relax after a long day. After landing, as soon as I walked inside I was told of another code 1 at Manamaneng; the place I just returned from. I thought they were joking until I saw them fueling my airplane and putting a stretcher inside. I grabbed a coke, something to eat and ran back to the airplane to leave once again. Normally I would call Dr. Jen to have her go with me if some care was needed, but I had to leave immediately or I wouldn't be able to land back in Maseru before sunset. 40 minutes later (our longest flight) I was circling overhead Manamaneng and saw a large crowd next to the airstrip. I landed and was immediately surrounded by people as they quickly transfered the nineteen year old boy into the the stretcher in the airplane. He was obviously in pain from the single stab wound he received the day before in the bowels. His breathing was heavy and I tried to ask if someone could go with me to keep an eye on the patient. They assured me that he was OK, and would have no problems on the flight. After departing at 5:05 PM I called Leslie on the radio and requested that Dr. Jen meet me at the hanger when I landed at 5:45 PM. Once again I passed the time by monitoring the patient and praying for them. His eyes were open and although in extreme pain he seemed to be OK. At 5:10 PM I glanced back and saw him as he was experiencing convulsions and vomiting, after which he stopped moving at all. I put on a pair of gloves, cleaned off his face and began to give him chest compressions the best I could from the pilot seat. I called Leslie once again and had her warn Jen that I had a patient who appeared to be DOA. I spent the rest of the flight doing some more chest compressions and praying all while flying the airplane back to Maseru as fast as possible. Once again I landed with tee sight of Dr. Jen and Justin waiting so that we could immediately remove the patient to our own emergency room. Dr. Jen, along with Justin and myself worked for about 10 minutes before confirming his death at 5:53 PM.

I share these stories so that maybe through reading them you will have a better idea about the needs of the Basotho and the work that we are doing here. I share these stories so that maybe you can know how to pray for us a little bit better.
I am privileged to have a large number of people praying for me around the world. Please continue to pray as we work with the sick and dying of Lesotho. Often it feels like no matter what we do or how hard we work we can never make a difference. Please keep praying. Pray for myself and the rest of the MAF team. Pray for our families as they stay at home and take care of the kids. Satan has a stronghold in this country and people are dying ever minute without knowing about the one thing that can bring them eternal peace. Pray for Dr. Jen, she deals with this every day here in Lesotho. Pray that MAF Lesotho would take the time and listen to what God would have us do. We have never been as busy as we are now, and we are growing like crazy. We have two new families coming in the next 12 months, and more airplanes on the way. The bottom line is that we need your prayers. Life here can be emotionally and physically challenging. Please... PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Hluhluwe

Vacation

The last week has been keeping us busy. The last week of February I was involved in a course to become a certified VSAT installer. My parents also came in on Thursday. Thankfully my friend Justin (a fellow MAFer) graciously took one of my vacation days and went with Leslie to pick up my parents in Johannesburg so I could continue my course.
On Saturday I celebrated my 30th birthday and had a great time with my parents and grandmother here to visit. This last week I was able to take off of work for most of the week and was even able to take my parents on a flight to the mountains so they could see what we are doing here.
Tomorrow the adventure continues as we head on a grand vacation of South Africa. We are visiting the Indian Ocean and Hluhluwe; a big 5 game park. I am leaving my computer home so I am not tempted to try and get some work done. After we get back in 8 days I will be sure to update with some pictures of our adventure. Evi just loves going to dance class every friday afternoon at the American International School.

Thlanyaku, Lesotho

Sometimes you get the chance to go and use the airplane just to do something fun. Earlier this month I had the chance to go and pick up Dr. Jen from Thlanyaku on a Saturday. Instead of going straight to the mountains and back I thought it would be fun to take Evi and one of our new pilots Justin with me and enjoy a nice morning in the mountains of Lesotho. Justin and I both have Radio Controlled model gliders that we took with us. Actually I just built mine and it (or myself) has ever flown before. Here are some pics of our day in the mountains. It was a lot of fun and kind of funny that we took a real airplane to fly somewhere where we could fly our toy planes. Because I was on call for emergencies we used a satellite phone to make sure there were no emergencies while we were out playing.

My how time has flown the last month. It is hard to believe that we have been back here in Lesotho over a month. Things are going great and we are keeping busier than ever.
Please continue to keep praying for us and we will keep you updated on life here in Africa.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
Leslie turned 30 on January 16th. We had a nice dinner and cake at home. We enjoyed spending the evening underneath the grapevine in our backyardEvi is also doing great and still is walking better than ever. She is loving her jungle gym and doing great on this climbing wall that I made for her. Even in the midst of the business of Lesotho we still ahve time for a little fun and games. Before we came back to Dallas in October I found a pair of "fun-noodles" in the hanger and had fun directing the airplanes on the ground with the noodles. The Lesotho military in the hanger next door though we were completely insane, but I did have fun. While back in Dallas someone broke into my locker and put the following sticker on my flight helmet. I had to get a pick with the helmet and my "fun-noodles" before removing the sticker. Although I did forget and it wasn't untill a passenger mentioned it that I remembered to take it off.

Lesotho at last

Here are a few highlights of the last couple of days:
1. 31 hours of travel from Dallas, Texas to our home in Maseru.
2. Celebrated the new year somewhere around the 37th parallel according to the captain.
3. One lost bag who's whereabouts still are unknown.
4. Two happy kids who are happy to be back home (At least Evi is excited, Caleb has spent more time in Dallas than he has here in Lesotho)
5. Two cats who are 4 times bigger than they were when we left a couple months ago
6. A summer in Lesotho, the last time we were here in the summer was two years ago.

We look forward to keeping you updated to our adventures in Africa. Stay Tuned...

Evi's new foot...

Well after over a month and a half of surgery, recovery, and the making of Evi's new foot we are almost to the finish line. Yesterday we received the final copy of Evi's new foot. We will wear it for all of next week so that she can make sure there are no problems before we return to Lesotho. Scottish Rite Childrens Hospital has been absolutely fantastic. Dr. Rathjen; Evi's surgeon went above and beyond to take care of Evi. She is healing magnificently, and the wounds are almost completely healed. Evi's Prosthetist has given us enough supplies to cover almost any problems that we have with Evi's foot the next couple of years.

Lesotho News:
You may remember that we had a break in to our house just a couple of weeks before we came to the states. That time they were able to steal $350 from my wallet without ever actually getting inside the house. Last Sunday we got word that our house was broken into again, although this time it was much more serious. Praise God that David, who is house sitting for us was safe. Here is my understanding of what happened.
They climbed a telephone pole next to our fence and was able to clear the barb wire on top of the fence. They then managed to break into three of our storage and tool sheds and even ripped some of the doors completely off the hinges. They then used my tools to remove a small window next to my front door. They then reached through the window, and opened the window above the small window. They then used a hacksaw from the tool shed and cut through two 1/2" burglar bars and pryed them back so one of them could crawl into the house. Once inside they attempted to bypass the security alarm by cutting all of the wires going into the alarm box. They also cut and removed a motion sensor and a door sensor above the front door. All of these should have set off the alarm, but the alarm appears to not be working properly. They then attempted to try and remove the sensor above the kitchen door to the outside and the alarm finally went off and they took off.
The alarm should send a signal to the security company but this was not working as well. It took over 30 minutes for the security company to get to the house after they were eventually called. The police came as well and showed up a long time later because they had to walk to the house. At first it appeared that nothing was stolen. But now it looks like either a tote of clothes was taken out of the storage shed or they removed the clothes and left the trunk, we aren't exactly sure yet. It also looks almost all of my power tools are missing that I just bought about 4 months ago. In the midst of all that was stolen we are extremely thankful that David was safe. MAF has hired a night guard to watch the house at night until we return later this month. The scary part for us is that there was somebody actually inside our house, and no alarm ever went off. Right now it looks like the best way to secure our house is to purchase a couple of dogs to watch the house. So when we return we will be shopping for a couple of dogs.

Dallas...

Sorry for the delay in posting an update. We have been busy since arriving in Dallas. Here is my quick list of things that we have done since we have been back...
* Adjusted to jet lag
* Visit with my sister beth and Nephew Kaden from Flagstaff
* My mom has helped us out taking care of the kids for the last 3 weeks... Thanks Mom
* Visited the Dallas childrens museum
* Surgery and recovery for Evi
* Gained about 10 lbs each for Leslie and myself..... Lots of good food here

As you can see we have been busy. We have had a great time with my mom and are sad to see her go back to Arizona on Tuesday. Evi is doing great and can't wait for her new foot. We have made a mold of her foot and they are now in the process of making the first socket for a test fitting on Wednesday.