Haydom

Tuesday last week I flew out with another MAF pilot, Kirstein, to Haydom. Our schedule was full with flights out to even more remote villages, and we would not return back to Arusha until Friday. On one of the afternoons we needed to haul to the maximum capacity of the aircraft, and so I was left on the ground. 

As I waited to catch a few pictures of Kirstein taking off to the villages, these two girls kept begging me to take a picture of them so they could see themselves. They were quite pleased, and a little shy, when I showed them my camera screen.

After he was off, I began my hike to the large hill beside the town of Haydom. Having grown up in the mountains of Idaho, I miss the tranquility and peace of being in the wild.

Being away from busy city life gives me time to think and process. I began to contemplate how different Tanzania is from the world I grew up in. For instance, it took me multiple visits to the Haydom airstrip before noticing the ridiculous amount of trash on the side of the runway. I have ceased to think twice about a motorcycle or Landy speeding down the wrong side of the road right at me. Even now as I write, the electricity has been out for over eight hours. I do not even know if 20% battery power will allow me to finish this post. But I am getting used to it. This is normal now.

Although, some things I am not yet used to. During the week we flew out to a village called Gorimba. hundreds of mothers crowded in a line leading into a small room were I and a Tanzanian nurse sat to fill out paperwork (in Swahili) before these women and their children could be seen by the nurses and doctors. Sweat poured down their faces as they held their babies under the harsh sun, waiting for hours before it was their turn. Doubtless, they had already traveled far to get here. Flies buzzed around the babies' faces attempting to drink the moisture around their eyes and mouth. But I guess they are used to it. The dust, the dry seasons, hard manual labor, and the struggle to survive and raise a family at the same time -- life in the village is hard.

In a couple months, these dry fields will get rain, and it will be lush again. In the meantime, it is very common to see young boys leading cattle in search for food and water.

Such a harsh and beautiful landscape. Even the bushes and trees are out to get you!

As Kirstein returned with the airplane, I knew it was getting close to the time to be back in Haydom before dinner. Looking in the distance, you can see how the dust is filling the sky towards late afternoon. Today is not so bad.

Hopefully, if even in a small way, I am able to bring God's love to the people of Tanzania through utilizing the tool of aviation or even just the day to day interactions.