March 26th

Five consecutive office days this week did see some important items ticked off my to do list, which was satisfying. Some of those had been waiting for my attention for far too long. However, there are still a lot to deal with and as is always the case, I didn’t achieve as much as I wanted to due to plenty of other things needing my attention.

There is good news on the work front: Doug Miles, whom I work with very closely and who is my immediate line manager, is now in PNG full time with his wife, Yvonne. Their special needs daughter has settled very well into sheltered accommodation in Cairns enabling Yvonne to join Doug here and put an end to his need to do tours, which was wearing both of them out.

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Perhaps even bigger news is that a new Programme Manager has been appointed. Todd Aebischer and his wife Connie, should arrive in August. They came for a short visit a few weeks back and both of us, along with everybody who met them, were extremely impressed. We’d wondered how anybody could jump on the MAFPNG express train and cope, let alone provide leadership, but we all think that Todd is just the person who can do that.

He has an aviation background within the Nazarene Church, with which we have close links. In fact I flew him out to Dusin a couple of years back when he was taking some video (another of his skills) for the church. I mentioned last week that Nicki and I had gone to Kudjip to join in the 50^th celebrations of the church’s health ministry and Todd was there.

On Thursday, just before he flew out to the Philippines where he is currently based, he came into town and all the leadership went with him for a cup of coffee and enjoyed a relaxed time of getting to know each other.

I am deeply impressed and very excited at the prospect of having him come to head up the team. He’d love to do a bit of flying again, and we can always do with an extra first officer …

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Last week I mentioned Verne and Natalie Ward, friends from years back, were also visiting for the celebrations. We flew them out to Dusin on Tuesday, which is where they first felt they should be involved in full-time mission. They lived in Dusin for 8 years, supported by MAF and are people whom I admire greatly; really, really top notch folk. Verne is now Global Director of Mission for the Nazarene Church worldwide, but they wanted to get back out to the people they lived with all that time ago. Needless to say that when they came back on Friday they were full of the time there. They said that as far as the Kopon people of Dusin are concerned, they are “their” missionaries whom the church in Dusin has sent out.

Verne related one story to me that had been highly influential in their decision to work in Dusin, before any church was established there. It may have been his first trip there, but certainly early on, he’d been walking out from Dusin with a couple of local men. A young woman had come on to the path in a frantic, distressed state. The men talked with her and hurried her off the path as they continued.

Verne asked what it was all about. They told her that her baby had died. The local witch doctors had met to determine who was responsible for the baby’s death and had decided that it was the mother. “What will happen to her?” Verne asked. The men replied that she would hang herself. He heard later that the witch doctors sentence had been carried out. Nearly 40 years on the pain of that encounter was still visible in Verne’s eyes.

Similar events still occur in PNG. Anton Lutz, Richard’s peer at Ukarumpa could tell you multiple similar accounts from the area where he works.

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The rest of the week’s news seems incredibly trivial next to events like that.

Yesterday we enjoyed a slow drive out to the airport along the back road we’re using at the moment because the highway is in such an appalling state. Colin McIntosh (our next door neighbour for many years) is here at the moment and he took us out but asked if we could take some photos for him en route. Nicki and I were very happy to oblige. There’s a nice coffee shop at the airport which we patronised before coming home, the same one that the leadership team had gone to with Todd earlier in the week.

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Hagen town has had a major clean up. No longer are there piles of stinking litter and rubbish covered by spittle from betelnut users. What is perhaps more amazing is that the clean up all happened this morning.

I don’t know if it was entirely organised by the SDA church, or whether they were just involved in our part of town, but either way, there’s been a huge community effort and the place is dramatically nicer than it was this time yesterday.

It proves it doesn’t have to be that big a deal to keep the town clean and we hope that the new standard will be maintained.

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You may have heard that there’s a major cyclone off the east coast of Australia. I’m keeping a close watch on that as I’m due to ferry a Twin Otter to Cairns on Tuesday for an avionics upgrade. It looks like it will hit the coast further south near Townsville, so I hope it will keep out of my way.

I’ll fly back on Wednesday, hopefully with a new hard drive for my computer. The current drive is the original one, so about 8 years old now, and is showing signs of deteriorating health. I want to replace it before it packs up completely. In the meantime I am being particularly careful about keeping everything backed up.

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It’s only 2½ weeks until we go on leave. Time is rushing by and both of us have a lot to do before we go. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to a very welcome break.

See you soon!

March 19th

Last weekend I finished going through the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. I’d read it before, but never worked my way through it slowly and thoughtfully. In some parts it seems almost outrageously cynical or pessimistic, at other times humorous; in places it’s incredibly poetic – the description of old age towards the end is brilliant, and that comes from somebody who is not usually affected much by poetry.

What has really fascinated me is that the writer, most probably King Solomon, has tried just about everything, and observed the intricacies of life, and keeps on repeating his statement: “It’s meaningless; it’s pointless. What I see just doesn’t make sense.”

His conclusions as to how this all relates to God and our relationship to him, read for yourself, but that a book like this is in the bible is wonderful. It’s OK to ask hard questions like, “Why did this young person die?” Or, “Why do natural disasters happen?” No, we can’t make sense of them; that’s also OK, we don’t have to.

At a more personal level, what I find encouraging is that when next week I have yet another go at making various plans that affect other people’s lives, then it’s OK that it won’t work out as I expect The one certainty is that it will change because the unexpected will happen. I don’t understand the whys and wherefores, but making those plans is not pointless because even in their failings and incompleteness, they still move MAF, other people and ourselves forward.

I must remember these deep thoughts at the end of next week when the recently reworked plans need changing 24 hours after I thought I’d completed them!

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Over many years MAF has worked closely with the Nazarene Mission, which is a denomination that

is strongest in the USA and which grew out of the same roots as the Wesleyan/Methodist churches. The hospital at Kudjip, our first point of call for medical treatment 40km east of Mount Hagen, is run by them and is one of the best hospitals in PNG, if not actually the best. It is also where the Nazarene Church has their last mission station in the world, as in all other locations responsibilities have been handed over to local people.

The MAF Leadership Team, of which I’m part, had arranged for one of the missionaries at Kudjip to come and facilitate a day retreat on Friday. Coincidentally, because we didn’t know about it when the retreat was arranged, this last week was the 50^th celebration of the Nazarene Health Ministries in PNG.

Friday was a very worthwhile day; it’s far too long since the Leadership Team took time out to reflect, think, talk and pray together. It will be repeated with a much smaller gap than there’s been since the last one.

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On Saturday Nicki and I drove out to Kudjip to be part of the final day of the celebrations. When we arrived we were asked if we’d like to join in a song the Kudjiptians (as they call themselves) were doing! Fortunately it was one we knew and it was a nice to be actively involved.

Friends from times past were also there, which was one reason why we’d gone. Neville (top photo) and Joyce Bartle whom we lived next door to for the best part of eight years were there. They came to PNG in the late 1960s and left in the early 2000s and taught us a great deal about PNG from their incredible depth of experience.

Verne (lower photo) and Natalie Ward were there. They were the missionaries who were based in Dusin during the 1980s and by the time we came in 1994, Verne was the Nazarene Field Director. Later they moved to Singapore as a Regional Director and is now the Global Director of Missions for the church. It was a delight to see them again. On Tuesday we hope to fly them out to Dusin for a few days. I think it is great that they still have their hearts based in a remote community in the mountains of PNG, which they influenced so greatly, but which has also influenced them just as much.

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Returning to my philosophical reflections. Our highlands blackberries are fruiting incredibly well but are covered in vicious thorns. Why are the thorns, both on the stems and the backs of the leaves so vicious? It’s an incomprehensible and meaningless question, but it isn’t pointless. Groan. 

I hope that sets you up for the week!

March 12th

A quick reflection on last week:

Monday – a good day. A pilot I was checking did well and passed their flight check.

Tuesday – not a good day. A pilot I was checking didn’t do well and didn’t pass their flight check. It’s an inevitable part of a flight examiner’s job, albeit only occasionally, but it’s never an easy part.

Wednesday to Friday – meetings. Some good decisions reached, so overall good days.

Saturday – a good day catching up on some outstanding jobs and picking a good crop of rhubarb.

Sunday – slept late for me; I reached 6:14! Must be a good day! This afternoon I’ve helped a friend’s dog that had an aural haematoma.

Therefore, if a week is judged on balance, it’s in the positive, even though marred by the disappointment of Tuesday.

We’ll see what the balance turns out to be next week.

March 5th

We came back from Telefomin as planned on Friday afternoon with mission accomplished. I completed checking Mathias Glass into the airstrips he was unfamiliar with and which are most important for him to be able to go to. By and large the weather was very cooperative with only a couple of late starts due to morning fog.

I have thoroughly enjoyed having a block of continuous flying, the first one in a long time. It took me several days to feel really back in the groove, but it was good when I got there.

Meanwhile ‘stuff’ continued to happen that demanded my attention and I was busy on several evenings sorting out various issues and having Skype conversations with others on the Operations Team. Come this week there will have to be a major effort at catching up on other outstanding business.

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The main problem encountered at Telefomin was the duvet, duna, continental quilt or whatever you want to call them. In an aircraft we have various limits and ratings that can’t be exceeded and we know what performance will be under specified conditions. Maximum take-off weight, engine temperature limits, speed limits and so on are examples.

Duvets need a similar rating that goes further than the vague TOG value. If, as the one we were using, it is made of artificial fibre, then it should also carry a government health warning for the danger of overheating or dehydration caused by excessive perspiration. Has self-combustion ever occurred in a duvet? Or is it prevented by the profuse sweating?

With blankets life is much easier. If you’re too hot, remove a layer. If you’re too cold, add one. With a duvet, if you’re too hot, throw it off and freeze. If you’re too cold, there’s usually nothing else around unless you can find a blanket (then why not use that in the first place). If you do find a blanket, soon after, you’re too hot and bathed in perspiration. 

I suggest that performance charts are designed for duvets based on the material they’re constructed from, the temperature range they’re rated for taking into account variables such as the body mass index of the user and whether you’re sleeping solo or with your spouse. It might mean that you have to have six different duvets, but at least you’d be comfortable.

Alternatively, use sheets and blankets.

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Our return to Hagen was a return to hard labour. We’d ordered another load of tea compost to put around the garden and that arrived in the middle of Saturday morning. I didn’t count the number of barrow loads in my quarter of the total load but it must have been 8-10, so probably about half a tonne in all.

Knowing it was coming we set about some urgent weeding and clearing of the flower beds before breakfast and while it was still cool, which was well over due. The garden hasn’t looked so tidy for a long time. Now with the black, almost peat like, compost on top it looks really nice and if everything grows as well as it did the last time we mulched the beds, then it won’t be long before we’re tying up the plants to keep everything tidy.

Tomorrow back to more of normality with some flying interspersed with meetings, email and so on and so forth.

Have a good week.