You might want to have a Haiti map up and ready)

Cities, Planes, Pilots

With PAP being so centralized in terms of resources and the influx of refugees to the outlying cities and the performance characteristics of small aircraft as the ones we fly, we focus on flying everywhere except PAP, with rare exceptions.  Cities include: Les Cayes, Jacmel, Jeremie, Cap Haitien, Pignon and La Gonave.  We are working on Port au Paix.  Our requirement for landing and delivering supplies is that we have secured a ground contact that is ready to claim the supplies.  From there we match the conditions and need with the capability of the aircraft and supplies on hand.

Planes that have come through for the aviation enthusiasts: Albatross from Nevada, Skymaster from Canada (blew an engine on takeoff that they handled famously), Barons, Bonanzas, Cirrus, Senecas (one flew direct from Massachusetts to Nassau at night through the Bermuda triangle..nutheads), Aztecs, Diamond from Michigan, Pilatus from New Jersey and California, Meridians, Malibus, Cessna 180 and 182, Navajos, King Air from Texas, Lance from NY.  We have had about 130 planes involved so far.

The people who have come through have been incredible, about 250 so far (including relief workers and pilots).  Everyone has interesting stories, and it’s gotten to the point that I am no longer surprised or disbelieve anyone who tells me their airplane has been in movies, they own Madison Square Garden and the NY Knicks, they were the Sunkist girl from Hollywood when she was a teenager, a full-time farmer from Iowa, they started The Salon hair salons, are billionaires or have no money at all, or are world famous aerobatic pilots.  The guy organizing our warehouse built water purification systems everywhere from Africa to Costa Rica and Haiti, sailed the world, worked on fishing boats and he tells me something new everyday and I believe every word of it.  And, I may or may not know most of this because we Google-search their name after meeting them.

Day in Les Cayes

Three weeks ago we took off in a Baron and a Bonanza from Nassau before sunrise to try and make it to Les Cayes in time for church.  A few technicalities kept us from making it on time but instead we spent the afternoon meeting the doctors and seeing the clinics where the supplies that we deliver are going.  That day is one that I will not forget anytime soon.  After landing, about 10 of us piled into trucks and went to a missionary’s house, had lunch at the guesthouse, visited 2 clinics and a tent city, then flew back to Nassau.  The capability of general aviation shined brightly on the reality that we are able to go in and out of Haiti in a day able to serve a purpose without being a burden.  It was a battle internally having lunch there but accepted it with the realization that many times accepting hospitality serves a greater good than the obvious negative we are eating food that the country does not have to spare.

The clinics were heartbreaking.  I pray that God continues to break your heart and mine and realize that only through Christ are we made whole and righteousness is found.  This is a prayer that we pray regularly.  Of the 50 beds in the first clinic we visited 44 of them were occupied by refugees from PAP.  At that point, most medical procedures remedied injuries as a result of being crushed by buildings.  Broken legs and hips being set, many amputated. Forgive the gore, but to give you an idea of the need for medical supplies, many of the amputations are done with old hacksaws and Tylenol.  That is all that is available when the supplies are depleted as quickly as they are in Haiti’s crisis. 

Dr. Richard McGlaughlin is a pilot and a surgeon.  He came initially to fly supplies in and out but after seeing the need, decided that his skills as a surgeon would better benefit than as a pilot.  So on his second trip in, he stayed for over 2 weeks.  We were reunited the day we got to visit and he showed us one of his improvisations that impressed us all.  He ran out of hardware to set bones so he set a broken leg with rebar.  It was nuts to see.  One of my favorite personal aspects is seeing how a material, the rebar, is used in both parts of BMH’s ministry.  We use rebar so much in the home repair aspect and then we saw it used to improvise medical procedures in the relief efforts.  Dr. McGlaughlin beamed with his creativity.

There is more to this story but honestly, I don’t totally feel comfortable putting it on the internet...if this sounds sketchy, it is.  But it has something to do with customs, lost passports, passengers and plane checks.

I will say this one last part though.  To land or takeoff at any airport in the Bahamas other than Nassau, you must schedule an appointment and the airport operator must gain clearance from Nassau to turn on the runway lights.  In the air at night, you must be on an IFR flight plan.  We were really pushing time trying to get out of Great Exuma, our fuel stop, on the way back from Haiti to Nassau before sunset.  The first plane took off and a Bahamas Air DHV-8 squeezed between us for takeoff.  Annoying.  We were all calling Clearance for IFR and takeoff clearances.  The -8 literally positioned right in front of me in a Bonanza with both monstrous engines flowing.  Although they chimed in on the radios after me, they were doing their best to get ahead of me.  It didn’t help that the other aircraft and me differed in call signs by 1 number (N359P and N459P).  Anyway, by the grace of God I’m convinced, I was given a clearance before the Bahamas Air flight which usually get priority as it is a commercial airliner.  If I could have, it would’ve been better for me to reverse the plane to get around the -8.  Instead I scooted around the beast of a plane and puttered into position for takeoff.  I know I was cussed at least once.  We were on climb out when the sun dipped below the horizon.  A few minutes later and we would’ve been stuck on the ground trying to call Nassau for our appointment.  Whew!  This story is an example of some of the Bahamian ridiculousness.  I never did hear Bahamas Air on the Nassau frequencies.

Charlie and Fuel

God is incredible in provision and strength and love.  Multiple times daily we see the promise of God so obviously.  Planning only goes so far and then we see the reality of God’s guidance so obviously.  For example, Charlie Zaloom from NY flew with us for 11 days.  He shimmied down to PAP in his Cessna 180 to base himself independently distributing goods to outlying villages.  He was in Jacmel, a city just 25 miles south of PAP, and thought to himself that he could really use just a bit more fuel, 5-10 gallons.  Knowing the little to no possibility of actually getting the fuel to make him comfortable, he brushed it off just as another plane landed.  The pilot jumped out with a full fuel can and handed it to Charlie saying he had extra and didn’t know if Charlie could use it or not.  Charlie hadn’t made any request for it to anyone.  I’m telling you, these events happen daily.

Media

The day Charlie headed back to NY we had a short conversation about the struggle with the media attention of those like Charlie.  A reporter from Plane and Pilot was here and Charlie and I talked about how frustrating it is when people try to make heroes out of people simply doing what they can.  I just read in the book Three Cups of Tea what I think sums up our conversation:  (a quote from a well known climber and humanitarian) ‘I was just an average bloke.  It was the media that tried to transform me into a heroic figure.  But I’ve learned through the years, as long as you don’t believe all that rubbish about yourself, you can’t come to too much harm.’  I was reminded of Charlie and all the pilots who have come through when I read this.  I pray that the reporters that have come through here will simply tell the real story of what is happening in Haiti and the beauty of God that shines so brightly when we serve one another in love.

Holding My Breath

One of the more exciting flights was with Gene Schmidt.  This weekend he is on his way down for the 5^th time since the earthquake!  (I have Gene Parmesean of Arrested Development in my head whenever I say his name)  Kelsey Farrington, one of my college roommates, came down for over a week to help us out with emails, phones, logistics, etc.  She was a huge relief as we were able to catch a little air with her help.  (She says she’ll be back soon…I’m going to hold her to that!)  Gene, Kelsey and I flew down to Jacmel, Haiti.  The airport is fun as it is controlled by the Canadians from a collapsible table on the porch tucked in some mountains right on the southern coast of Haiti.  Landing to the South, on base to final there is a steep hill that causes a weird feeling, as you are on a normal decent.  And takeoff, although ultimately safe, gets your blood flowing a good bit as you stare at the mountain just ahead before turning around it.  There was a moment when you couldn’t think about anything else than that you’re committed on the takeoff and you just need to keep flying.  Gene said, “It’s not unsafe to fly down here…sometimes you are just very, very focused.”

La Gonave

The most risky, and in-need, place we fly is La Gonave.  La Gonave, also known as The Forgotten Island, sits just off the port.  If Haiti is a mouth, La Gonave is the tongue, that’s the technical descriptions I give in the briefings.  This island has 150,000 people living on it and depends entirely on shipments from PAP, just about 20 miles across the water.  With the disfunction of PAP due to the earthquake, there is no food/water or medical supplies or anything really going to the people there without the assistance of small aircraft.  Other organizations such as MAF and us are flying are the only physical way that supplies are delivered.  That is a crazy reality to us but because of that, there is danger when we land because the need is so great.  Mark, one of the pilots, in his C210 has gone twice to La Gonave.  To land he did a low fly-over to assess the field.  He saw some type of official holding a green flag giving the clearance to land indicating that it is secure and safe. Immediately upon shutting down the engine, a swarm of locals surrounded the plane making it difficult for Mark to get out.  The official who held the green flag for landing in one hand was now using the stick in his other hand to keep people away from the plane.  It was great, except that in his effort to protect the plane was hitting it every time he drew back with his stick.  Mark and I had a good laugh about that.  He also told me that women would hand him their babies and others would reach into his pockets looking for food.  Throughout the country when kids see us, they gather their fingers together holding it to their mouths showing that they want food.  Reflecting on his experience at La Gonave, he told me about his second visit there and said, “It’s scary but I would do the same thing as them if I were as hungry as they are.”

PAP x 3:: Day 1, MAF, and the Beech 1900

I’ve made to PAP 3 times so far.  The first was the Friday after the earthquake.  It took us 2 days to get there as the airspace was so congested.  The other pilot, Dave Spangler (a missionary pilot based on the same island where I live, Eleuthera) and I got as far as Inagua (the Southern-most island of the Bahamas and the island of Morton salt) where airplanes were stacked about 12 and 16 high holding until their turn to land on PAP’s only runway.  We landed here and stayed the night as we have connections through BMH and the Methodist church. The following morning we took off at dawn and landed by 8:30.  We circled the runway for 30 minutes, which is better than the 3 hours they anticipated the day before.  When we landed, we saw that everybody showed up for the party: The US government, Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, China, Jamaica, France, everybody.  It was quiet chaos as there was tons of need literally pressing against the glass doors on the other side of the terminal and tons of supplies and food ready to be distributed, but the terminal was empty in between.  It was very symbolic of the situation.  Everyone was there but there was no one to close the gap and actually meet needs with provision.  It took us 3 hours to unload a Piper Aztec because no one really knew what to do.  We finally made it back after picking up a family of 5 needing to get back to the States.

The second time I went in a Navajo, owned by the NYC Dolan family, with Ben Dolan to deliver a load to Charlie Zaloom, which he in turn delivered to the outlying cities.  Upon landing we met Charlie who took us to a hospital right on the field.  The tents, donated by Alanzo Mourning were filled with people being treated.  In block letters with permanent marker a cardboard sign read, “WOUND CARE”.  Coleman camping tents were set up only 50 feet away from the hospital separated by the walkway for everyone.  They served as isolation tents as some feared small pox was about to break out.  We walked around talking with lead doctors collecting information on specific needs that we can deliver.  We make an attempt to meet real needs, not just deliver supplies.  Especially after we learned that some of the medicine we delivered was cholesterol and Alzheimer’s medicine; that was frustrating.  We walked around and I actually ran into some friends of mine!  It was my boss/supervisor/mentor at MAF during my internship in Idaho summer of ’08.  They have a base there and had many from the Nampa office come for support including most of those who I knew from MAF.  It was really fun and we have since continued conversation about how we might partner in the relief effort.

The third time was just yesterday and I got to fly with Pineapple Air in a Beech 1900. Definitely the biggest airplane I’ve ever gotten to fly…and least technologically developed airplane lately.  For you pilots, it had Avidyne display but operated with a NDB and no autopilot.  Straight stick flying for 4 hours…whewhoo!  I have no idea how anyone gets away with letting me fly it with passengers on it and no training per that plane but at least there was a captain sitting next to me, never mind that he was 23 years old!  It was fun and on the way back we planned to pick up 17 doctors/nurses with Partners in Health.  Partners in Health is the organization that Paul Farmer started.  (If you don’t know who he is please Wikipedia search him and read the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and then let’s talk about it.)  We landed, I met a local named Rolex and got another guy to go with me to chase down the group of 17 at the main terminal since we were down the road at the general aviation terminal.  Lots of run around got us to a plane loaded with only 9, 4 of whom were Partners in Health doctors. We made it back and as excited as I was to finally meet people involved with Partners in Health it was pretty anticlimactic.

haiti relief

Today I got to sleep in…went to sleep at 9:00 last night and got up at 9:15 this morning.  Went on a walk to the store and got settled in the room that is a condo/time share marina called Sandyport donated to us for 2 weeks.  It’s ideal..3 beds/2 bath with a kitchenette.  I’m very thankful for a place to stay.  For the last 2 weeks we’ve slept at the airport, and Odyssey aviation is the FBO where we’ve based the relief efforts for the last month.  They gave us a warehouse space.  It’s a quirky space with one wall dedicated to a line of our air mattresses.  Pretty funny looking.  We now have a place just about 10 minutes away that is comfortable.  An update.  Where to begin?

The gist of the operation is that we are meeting needs through the use of general aviation.  We carry medical supplies, food/water and shelter materials (tarps, tents, sheets, etc.), listed in order of priority.  We carry passengers but it is by far the biggest challenge of everything.  We do not charge to carry passengers, as per legal reasons mostly but rely on pilots raising their own support to cover fuel costs.  We have a solid understanding as an organization that money will not be what inhibits a pilot’s willingness to serve Haiti through aviation.  Therefore, we rely on the financial support of donors.  I’m thankful to say that we have been supported solidly by many generous donors, many of who are you.  (Thank you!)

General Aviation (GA) opens many possibilities through its capability for small, pointed and flexible operation to respond almost instantly.  It’s interesting comparing the beginning of this effort to when we started growing into larger and faster aircraft.  At the beginning it was eating meager meals and going all the time.  When the bigger and faster boys came in, we found ourselves being asked to order catering for when the pilots returned and having to calculate every pound being loaded on the aircraft but able to get 2 runs to Haiti in a day as compared to the 1 by small planes.  We’ve had a few laughs about that, and learned to balance our fleet with small and larger aircraft.

One of my favorite stories is that a few weeks ago a Citation flew critical antibiotics destined for Cap Haitien, Haiti from Montgomery, AL to Ft. Lauderdale, FL by 10 am.  A few of our small aircraft met the plane and an Alabamian politician to transport them to Nassau, and from there, a Pilatus took the load to Cap Haitien in the afternoon.  I was amazed.  We didn’t even plan for it to go that quickly, we actually were excited when we planned to get it there the next day. This is the opportunity of GA.  Although seemingly inefficient as you think about how small and comparably slow the deliveries are made, small aircraft meet the needs without the red tape and provisions of large micro-organized operations.

I pray that we are getting more organized and balanced.  I think we are on our way more and more everyday but are also slapped every once in awhile when we try to do too much and get ahead of ourselves and possibly the Spirit.  A normal day:

6:45:  Breakfast for the pilots, prepared by St. Michael’s Methodist Church

7:00:  Dispatch airplanes and make final preparations for the day’s mission (fuel, load, plan, coordinate with air traffic control) 

**Flights are made both Ft. Lauderdale-Nassau and Nassau-Haiti carrying supplies**

8:30:  Pilots are out, and we (staff) coordinate pilots, planes, supplies, passengers, meeting requests of Haiti doctors and missionaries, receiving new pilots and supplies from Ft. Lauderdale and otherwise

4:00: Planes begin returning from Haiti

7:00:  Finalize the logistics for the following day

8:30/9:30:  Dinner

Abraham, Matt and I work together on all of these parts of the day.  I am usually coordinating and flying, working with people both in person and otherwise throughout the day.  I’m thankful that we all get along well and have grown to depend and support each other so critically.

The situation in Haiti is still desperate.  For the first two weeks it was constant trauma and emergency care.  Haiti is very centralized in Port au Prince (PAP) as a governmental power play and because of the port.  A parallel is if we in the USA had to drive to NYC from Tennessee to get your driver’s license.  Therefore, the country is extremely rural and undeveloped.  Many have asked if I’ve seen much damage but honestly Haiti was a desperate place well before the earthquake.  The silver lining is that this is an opportunity for a fresh start for an already hurting Haiti, even before the earth moved under its feet.  Haiti has the world’s attention.  (I can attest, we fly in sequence with Japan, Jamaica, USA, Germany, Bahamas, and others.) 

After the emergency phase, the second wave came.  Many many many people fled PAP to the outlying villages where many had family or some sort of transportation to get there.  Anywhere but PAP was good in most people’s minds.  Les Cayes (pronounced: la kii) is a city about 100 miles west of PAP with a population of about 7,500.  Within two weeks after the earthquake the population doubled. 

We are walking into the third phase now, which is the foothold for long-term partnerships and sustainable solutions.  Much of the needs that we meet are very necessary, but short-term focused.  We will continue as long as need and provision are there.  A personal hope is that the outlying cities will be strong enough to retain the influx of people and the country will grow stronger as density is dispersed.  That would mean opening more ports and a couple cities in particular, such as Cap Haitien, Jacmel and La Cayes are ideal locations to receive shipments.

Everyone involved with the Haiti relief effort are beginning to raise our heads and open our eyes to the long-term solutions and how we might contribute, if at all.  We are in a unique position here nestled in the middle of the USA and Haiti with access to so many resources such as medical personnel, aviators/planes, and incredible support from so many.  We plan to continue going daily as we have been through February at least.  Support is still strong, thankfully.  In March we have talked about having pointed missions every week, or on need basis, and go from there…we’ll see.

If you don’t have time/are done reading, thank you for your support.  Stories are coming if you are interested in the fluff, and pictures are on Facebook.  If you want to be involved, see these ways: 

1.) Pray and tell the story of Haiti’s situation.  Get in touch with the local Haitian community in your city.  I’d bet there is a lively one near you.

2.) Collect medical supplies and get it as least as far as Ft. Lauderdale.  The address is: 5320 NW 20th Terrace Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309.   Clearly mark it for Haiti Relief c/o Bahamas Habitat.  See the needs list attached.  You may also send food: Rice, Beans, Oil and Dry Milk.  We place a high priority on medical supplies, as rice becomes very expensive rice when transported on our airplanes with limited loads.

3.) If you are a doctor, particularly a surgeon, or a pilot with an airplane and IFR rating, volunteer your time and skill.  See www.bahamashabitat.org for both sign-up forms to get you on your way to Haiti.

4.) Give financially to contribute towards fuel and operating costs.  All donations are tax-deductible, including flights made as pilots.  You may make donations through our website:www.bahamashabitat.org.

5.)  (insert creativity)  Consider long-term partnerships and sustainable contributions.  (who loves buzz words?)

The day off was really welcomed.  I’m thankful for this team who makes me feel okay about taking the time to rest and be quiet today.  A song that runs through my head a good bit is by The Swell Season called “A Love that Conquers”.  Enjoy it if you find the time to listen to it.  I know y’all are busy having babies, doing well with your businesses, loving people constantly and pursuing incredible lives.  How are you?  What has been going on in your world?  I would love to know.  I hope you take time to breathe with the confidence that God is good, His love endures forever and His strength will withstand eternally.  Love you all.

peace, 

cameron

junk junk junkanoo!

the american contingency of bmh minus abe met in albany, ga to head back to the states.  we flew back in the cherokee that they had flown up a few days after i went back to the states.  the flight was fun and laid back.  it was a fun realization when i didn't feel compelled to take pictures crossing the water between florida and the bahamas.  we made it fine and it was good to be back, no doubt.

kp got married the weekend after i left for the states.  vonia, his wife, has 3 kids living with her.  all 5 are now living in the apartment above my room and the urick's space.  it's a really fun arrangement and it means that we get to be neighbors with all the people in this family who are great.  love it.  i wish that everyone will come and see everything and meet everyone.

i'm thankful to be here and here for a solid time.  coming in october and leaving in both november and december interrupts life a good bit in a place when people don't travel a whole lot.  settling in for the new year has caused us as an organization to start having good conversation about how we will live and work together.  good things are happening and i'm excited for the good things that will come when we are operating fluidly.

new years eve we had a spaghetti dinner and a righteous dance party at abe's house.  it was super spontaneous and turned 0ut to be really fun when we all got into it.  just in time for the countdown to the new year to begin, we got to the beach house which is a restaurant that had a band for the night.  they had fireworks and a lot of people...we brought lots too, about 13 of us piled into our 15 passenger van with only 2 seats (unless we stuff the adirondack chairs in for comfort).

we got in around 130 am and were back up again at 445 for sunrise at surfer's beach again.  the sun came, but we didn't see it because of the clouds.  we napped after eating pancakes and bacon that matt made us at 4 am (ridiculous) for a few hours.  we stayed through the morning and played in the waves and frisbee.  at one point there were about 13 surfers in the water and more people than i've ever seen there.

all the different cultures on this small island are amazing, really.  and how everyone gets along, too.  there's this small community of surfers and visiting surfers all ages, mostly older.  surf by day and play or listen to music by night.  then you have the church community, and the tourist community..everyone seems to have their niche or at least their identity.  then there's the love to not categorize each other that i think will always be a good struggle.  napping in the afternoon, we prepared for junkanoo in harbor island, or briland as it's affectionally known.

junkanoo started at "6" and that's when we got there.  i think besides the vendors, we were in the first batch to arrive for the festival.  junkanoo was built up in my head as this parade similar to the parades in china with the crazy multiple person dragons with a bahamian bent.  there's competitions and each settlement has a junkanoo crew.  last night was briland's junkanoo with kids.  these kids were so good!!  they were good but honestly...this whole thing was a little anti-climatic.  they didn't start marching until 945.  whew.  the time was spent well all hanging out and walking the docks.  shoot.  let me tell about that.  these boats are beyond description.  a smudge would be noticed on these multi-million dollar yachts, deep-sea fishing boats..some fishing boats had 4 300 hp engines on the back.  this island is where all the celebrities come when they say they're coming to the bahamas.  it's about an hour north of jc where we live.  we also watched them get ready for the parade.  they had barrels, like gasoline barrels, covered in goatskin that had to be warmed up by a bonfire.  the costumes are super colorful and paper mache.  these kids were so good!  they had these coordinated dances, with these crazy headdresses following them and a full band including the goatskin drums.  they did great..but really, it only lasted about 20 minutes.  whew.  lots o waiting.  but really, it was fun all us together and seeing this big tradition in the bahamas.

the airplane has a little trouble with the magneto and we won't be flying it until we take care of the issue.  but we have lots to look forward too as we all go at the new year.  we are getting in our groove as an organization.  our first volunteers of the year come in just a few weeks!

the verse that's been in my head is philippeans 1:9: 'so this is my prayer: that you love will flourish and that you will not only love much but love well.  learn to love appropriately.'  i hope we love well this year in all that we do.

nassau, flight attendants and christmas began

we took a trip to nassau on december 16, about 3 weeks ago, because i had a flight out of there early the next morning to go back to the states for christmas.  the evening/night was great.  we fly into nassau and the 5 of us (abe, matt, two of abe's friends and myself) head for the adventure learning center (www.alcbahamas.org), an evangelical ministry in nassau directed by one of abe's closest friends.  this is the same guy who we stayed with on the andros trip with his 9 kids.  this place is crazy.  it has its own planetarium, bunk houses, a huge dining hall equipped with a zipline (!), and a huge campus with a great outreach ministry.  on our way to the alc, we stopped by all saints camp, a community for those with terminal diseases.  abe described the place to us as like a modern-day leper colony.  it was a blessing to go and meet a few of those living in the community and see the progress in the conditions that need attention.  i left thankful that there is a place for people in the unimaginably awful circumstances as AIDS and other terminal illnesses.  i also left a bit more broken as we caught a glimpse at the plight of so many.  please pray that this community will continue to be loved and loved well with attention and care.

from all saints, we carried on to the alc and got settled for the night.  after riding the zip line we went to the devoux family christmas party.  the devoux family is pretty prestigious and the event felt like a wedding with no fluffy dresses or cheesy speeches, well maybe...but...there was a big tent, lots of food, a christmas sermon, carols and the family report of only the successful ones i'm pretty sure.  it was another moment in life that i loved and didn't care how life brought me to that event.

i'm about convinced that whenever i book a flight it triggers a convention of flight attendants to determine who will be working the flight i'm on.  the last few times, my age has been an issue of concern.  when i went back for thanksgiving they specifically asked my age to make sure i met the 15 yrs of age rule to sit in the exit row.  this time for no reason whatsoever, the flight attendant strutted past me down the aisle, stopped, and said, "how old are you?"  through glaring eyes and tight lips i replied that i am 22.  the response i prepared my pride for came, "well you don't look a day older than 15!"  why?  why is that necessary?  and of course, my minesweeper circle around me inevitably says, "you'll appreciate it when you're 40!"  i say thank you, and i think, "tell me that when i'm 40, and then, you're right, i'll appreciate it.  but only then."  let me say this publicly, it's not appreciated at 22.

about an hour and a half into the flight, the airplane turns around.  the captain comes over the intercom and says, "you may have noticed that we made a 180!  (yes, i thought) we have a problem with our pressurization system and cannot climb above 25000 ft.  we don't have the fuel to make it to nashville at this altitude and as a matter of fact, the best maintenance facility for this sort of problem is in miami!  so...we're headed back!"  a 4 hour event can be boiled down to say that our crew of about 50 people including babies and two elderly women needing a wheelchair on and off an airplane with out a jetway traveling between the terminal on a bus in the rain was an adventure.  amazingly, no one complained and it was actually really enjoyable...or bearable at least.  caroline, my sister-in-law, told a funny monologue by a comedian.  he said, "i've always wanted to be the one for the airlines to announce delays.  come over the loudspeaker and say, 'sorry folks, looks like we'll be delayed for about 30 minutes,' wait for the grumbles and groans and then put things into perspective, 'i'm sorry but the journey you're about to make at one time would've taken months in a covered wagon behind oxen and your aunt would die of a rattlesnake bite and you would forge rivers and some would starve.  really, is 30 minutes a big deal?'"

we were hugging in baggage claim once we made it to nashville, american airlines credited me 5000 miles (that's not a ...then i found $20 joke) all in time for dinner with the family and christmas commenced.

castles made of sand

friday was a good day.  we got to crash the primary school's Christmas party at the beach.  About 25 kids splashing around was a lot of fun...and having Christmas parties at the beach is a little bit of a novelty to us volunteers from the States.  

Mrs. Pinder is the 1st and 2nd Grade teacher.  She told me that she literally hasn't swam in decades because of inner ear surgery.  This day she proudly wore her bathing suit and swam like a fish!  All the kids LOVED it!  She raced them and play all the games.  It was really fun watching her.

I stayed until time to go fly to Nassau to pick up Abe and KP.  It was a fun flight as storms were building up.  We're learning that weather forecasting is a luxury.  All turned out well and we came back with the plane at max gross weight with food for the team next week and donated paint.  There was so much paint that we actually had to leave 3 5 gal buckets in Nassau to bring back another time!

Today was spent cleaning and getting the camp really ready for the team to come tomorrow.  Lisa is a girl from down the street and in 5th grade.  She's really cute and came over today and helped me put up Christmas lights on our tiki merchandise hut...then! she told me that she wanted to bake a cake.  That's how the afternoon was spent:  chocolate cake with dr. suess-like icing, it was lime green.  She was really fun and that girl can seriously eat..a lot.  She had 1/2 bag of popcorn mixed with cheese puffs, a small bowl of ice cream, chocolate covered peanut butter cracker, and a piece of cake all in the time that we were baking.  Almost impressive.

This week's team is on their way here.  11 girls and 3 guys, Millsaps College.

The epiphany I had this week is that I honestly think I could listen to blues music everyday of my eternal life and never love it any less.  honest.  and, hence this post's title.

Bench-pressing Camels, Willy Wonka, 3000 Santa Clauses and The Flying Begins (Pt. 2)

I met Thursday with a plan.  Matt, the other Bahamas Habitat pilot, would arrive in Nashville in our Cherokee 6 at 6 a.m. sharp.  We would fly to Albany, GA and meet Mark Grimaldi to pick up Abe’s bike, fly to Ft. Pierce, FL to refuel and complete the last bit of paperwork before leaving the country, cross the water and arrive on Eleuthera before Customs closes at 5 pm. There were major issues with this plan.  I arrived at 6 am sharp at the airport, as did Matt. Two problems:  bad weather and a failed audio panel.  A full day of problem solving left with us staying over for the night and tracking down a new audio panel from Georgia.  It was installed the next morning and we were on our way to Albany where we met Mark. 

Mark is by far one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.  His connection to Bahamas Methodist Habitat (BMH) is he helps the family serving here with me as their transportation back to the States when they need to go.  A rough childhood brought him to the day after graduating high school when he sent his bicycle from Pennsylvania to California and rode it to Canada to get in touch with some of his family.  Then he rode it back to Pennsylvania.  In 26 days.  He has done this twice.  The second time was after defeating a struggle with cancer from working with a chemical engineering company.  As a result of the cancer, the company moved him to NYC for 2 years, all expenses paid.  He was then transferred to Albany, GA continuing with this company and bought a chemistry set on ebay.  The chemistry set grew to the company he now owns and operates and is doing very well.

Mark met Matt and I at Albany’s airport and after looking at the weather, we decided that it was best to wait until the following day because of storms in Albany and all of Florida.  This weather stayed until Saturday night, so we stayed until Sunday morning with the Grimaldis. Mark took us to his office.  I was excited, no doubt, and he gave us a tour.  It was like a Willy Wonka factory!  Mark’s company produces artificial pineapple flavoring and that’s the smell through the whole factory.  Huge vats of gases and water and condensation are producing the flavoring.  This company also produces mint flavoring in toothpaste, chemical to detect explosive elements on people’s hands, a dry cleaning chemical so safe you can practically drink it and the whole state of California is required to use it, and more things!  We also got some dry ice from a huge container to help preserve the 120 lbs. of ham and turkey that we have on board for KP’s wedding on the 19^th.  That was fun too.

Then we went to their house!  The property is 10 acres of pecan trees and a swamp with a walkway leading to a gazebo in the middle and a beautiful house.  Mark’s wife and two girls were great and they took care of us completely.  We spent Saturday at the Riverquarium and couldn’t miss the amazing display of 3000 Santa Clauses.  It was ridiculous and, the Santas were a little overrated.  They were just someone’s giant collection of Santa dolls and figurines all in one small room.  It was a lot of Santa.

Sunday we were finally able to leave without the worry of icing.  We made it to Ft. Pierce where our path intersected with Paul Zdybel (pronounced Zy-bell) on his way back from Eleuthera to Myrtle Beach.  Paul came down the first time for the Fly-In and Help Out event in October.  We are thankful for the time and service he donated when he came back down last week to provide transportation services for BMH.  They flew to 4 different islands in a week to finish a roof and see other projects that we will be working on this summer.  We finally got to Eleuthera at 3 p.m. after 4 days of traveling.

We didn’t stay down long as Abe was in Nassau and Manex was still on Andros where Paul took them and the roof project was.  We left with KP and LaDonna on Monday morning and went to Nassau.  We exchanged KP for Abe and continued to Andros, about 25 miles southwest of Nassau.  Andros is the largest and least populated island in the Bahamas and where Manex is from originally.  Here we planned to meet a group who flew in Christmas presents to the community who they met when they came to serve through BMH last summer.  It was exciting to see the long-term commitment of the church to the community.  I got to ride around town with Manex and LaDonna seeing what he calls home.  His family is incredibly warm and loving.

Later that afternoon we flew back to Nassau where we stayed for the night.  As we were getting in line to land, another pilot declared an emergency that one of the engines was overheating. We literally got directed out into the wild blue yonder until the plane landed safely.  Everything turned out fine and we got to land.

The evening was spent at KFC and slight culture shock as we went to see Atlantis on Paradise Island.  One of my favorite parts was seeing a shop at the resort who sells hand woven baskets made by women on Current Island, the island with the future children’s home.  We stayed the night with a large happy family.  It was incredibly fun meeting them, especially having a special place in my heart for Liberia.  This family includes 9 children (I think) and 3 of them are adopted from Liberia.  The husband/wife lived in Liberia for a handful of years and adopted the kids during their time there.  They still travel back fairly regularly.  The environment at this house is calm, organized chaos.  One of the kids was 4 years old, biologically their son, named Tymen.  I met him as he literally jumped on a mattress nonstop for a whole conversation.  He really wants to be a dad and asked if I was a mom.  Midsentence he does a flip in the air.  My head bobbed to keep up with the conversation with every up and down he went.  Tymen said good morning to me this morning wearing a lion costume.

We flew back this morning to Eleuthera and are home for the week until we go pick Abe and KP up in Nassau on Friday.  The airplane is here and is wasting no time at all.  We stopped at Mrs. Lee’s café on the way back to camp for some lunch at the same time as lunch break for the school, which is just across the street.  It didn’t take 5 minutes after getting out of the car to have kids running up and hugging everyone as they go get food from Mrs. Lee, a baby’s in my arms and Charlie is being sweet 70-year-old Charlie saying hello.

We have a team of about 15 college students coming on Sunday.  

Bench-pressing Camels, Willy Wonka, 3000 Santa Clauses and The Flying Begins (Pt. 1)

On the 25^th I left Eleuthera for the States for Thanksgiving in Knoxville.  The airliners delivered me to Knoxville in 16 hours stretched over 4 legs.  No, it should not have taken that long.  But a 4 hour delay in Nassau proved to me that there really is such thing as a free lunch.  (Maybe that’s just a thing in America)  The holiday brought good times with family and unfortunately, the first year in the long-standing King tradition that the Thanksgiving football game was not played.  Football unfortunately was not played and my grandparents sadly weren’t able to make it.  But, my brother’s 3 Guatemalan friends and cousin’s English chap were able to make it!  David, from England, is the new worship leader at Jay’s church.  He’s apparently toured with Sheryl Crow and Ray LaMontagne keeps contacting him on MySpace, but you wouldn’t know that unless you do some background checking, not that I did that...  He threw his first football on Thanksgiving day, as should anyone who learns American football later in life.  Juan, Juan Carlos and Juan’s wife do not speak much English at all.  I think they enjoyed the meal though because all they said after the meal was: “siesta”.

The weekend rolled on with helping a church in the neighborhood set up the nativity that cannot be missed if you drive on Tazewell Pk. in Fountain City.  I was told that I could bench press the camel figurines that were about 25% taller than me.  I never tested it but did get to wrap lots of sticks in lights.  Sunday came and after a stop at the Soccer Taco to celebrate the match between Chelsea and Barcelona, Allie, my sister-in-law/love, and I drove to Nashville to help decorate my mom’s house for Christmas.  This went on for a few days and with my mom’s food and love, the days were filled well.