Death by Language Barrier

Jason (another pilot) came back from a flight to Manamaneng a few days ago with the news that the windsock pole had fallen to the ground. The windsock is mounted on a tall pole with two large bolts through the bottom. The upper bolt serves as a hinge for raising and lowering the pole, and the lower bolt serves to lock the pole in an upright position. Apparently, someone passing by decided they had more need of the lower bolt than we did.

 I had a flight to Manamaneng on Tuesday, so before leaving the hangar we found a replacement bolt for me to take. I have helped raise and lower a few of these poles. They are surprisingly heavy! Ideally, you have a minimum of five tall, strong people to lift the pole into place. More is better. The process looks a lot like Joe Rosenthal’s photo, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” from World War II. Except those guys make it look easy.

 Unfortunately, when I arrived I could only find five short people. I’m pretty sure I was the only person who had done this before, but I was pretty sure we could make it work. Enter language barrier…I could not communicate well with any of the people helping. On our first attempt, we got the pole raised up about 7 feet off the ground. That was as high as my helpers could reach. On our second attempt, several people went around to the short end of the pole to push down on that end. That actually gave the long end of the pole a significant advantage and we could only lift the pole about 5 feet off the ground.

Time for a new idea. After much discussion in Sesotho that I did not understand, someone went and got an 8-foot step ladder. This time we lifted the pole about 10 feet off the ground. But it was still only halfway up.

Next idea. Lift the pole and rest it on top of the ladder. Lift a few more inches and slide the ladder. Lift, slide. Lift, slide. Lift, slide. We were making progress, but because the ground was uneven the ladder was starting to tip and the pole, now perched a few feet above our heads, was moving closer and closer to the edge of the ladder. Oh, no! Someone is going to die! One wrong move and half of our crew is going to end up under that falling pole!

Holding the ladder as still as possible, I started talking as strongly and calmly as I could, “Go to the other side of the ladder! The pole is going to fall! You have to move! You have to move!” No one could understand me. But thankfully someone else saw what was about to happen. We were able to take the pole slowly back to the ground without anyone getting hurt.

I’m not sure how the pole actually got up in the end. Some combination of the mechanics of before and a little extra effort and, after an hour of trial and error, the pole was up.

Auntie Deanna's Visit

We drove 5 hours to Johannesburg,South Africa to pick Aunt Deanna up.

Her arrival also brought the unexpected arrival of a favorite snack!

Auntie Deanna is amazing. Look! She even lets me pull on her necklace!

She brought a bunch of books with her and spent hours reading with the kiddos.

Got to love visitors who do your dishes!

Joey was able to take her along on a flight.

Lesotho mountains from the air: Bonus points if you can find the airstrip!

We took her by road up into the mountains too. We picnicked by a dam, enjoying the sun, wind and gorgeous view.

On our way home, in keeping with tradition, we found a waterfall!

Sometimes you just need your sister.

Come back soon!

Letsema

So, as best as I can understand it, a Letsema is kind of like an old-fashioned barn-raising. People from the community all come together on the same day to work on a particular project, then when the work is done they share a meal together.

Last fall, MAF hosted a Letsema in the village of Nohana. The runway condition had gotten pretty bad. Small clumps of grass had grown on the dirt/gravel runway, and over time the small clumps turned into large, hard bumps that made for a very rough ride in the airplane.

 

On Monday morning, two airplane loads of MAF staff showed up and we started clearing the clumps of grass with picks, shovels, and rakes. Over the next hour or so, more and more people from the village showed up. In the end we had about 50-60 people working on the airstrip! Though we were not able to complete everything that we had hoped for, we were able to clear the grass clumps out of the parking area and the first third (approx. 600ft.) of the runway.

Everyone worked until 2pm, when we stopped to share our meal together. A few of the ladies from MAF had spent the day cooking a delicious meal of papa (a corn meal based dish that looks like mashed potatoes), some fabulously seasoned vegetables with a little touch of spiciness, and mutton.

When we arrived in the morning we landed on a very bumpy runway. But when we left in the evening, we enjoyed a nice, smooth takeoff! 

Favorite Photos from January

OK. How can I not include this one in my favorites!?!

It is summer here. Hot and dry. The kids are discovering the joy of water to play in, even though Levi still thinks it is way to cold to sit down!

As our kids have gotten older the challenge of how to help them grow in their relationship with the Lord grows as well. It was a delight, though, to get to give Dorothy her very own copy of God's Word!

So one minute I am moving the chairs to sweep and the next I am being run over by an airplane taking off! Don't worry. Their luggage was safely stowed, seat belts fastened, and seat backs in their upright positions!

Another friend made. Another hard goodbye. Thanks, Amanda, for being willing to be friends even though we were only in the same country a short time.

Daddy's First Solo day...see how wet the floor is? More details later!

Best seat in the store! Have I mentioned how spoiled I feel to have grocery stores, aisles, price tags, and carts again?