Desminagem

I just returned from a week of flying in the interior, part of which time was spent with the guys from HALO Trust. HALO is an Non Government Organization that works at removing land mines and other explosives left over from Angola's wars. The area that we visited was a place called Cuito Cuanavale where the largest battle in Africa was fought, other than during World War 2. Tens of thousands of mines were laid in fields that cover almost 100 kilometres in length. Daily, the residents of Cuito Cuanavale thread their way through the mine fields to get to their fields of manioc and corn. The danger is extreme to say the least and illustrates the risks that people are willing to take to in order to provide for their families. Every day the workers from HALO head out to remove these weapons of destruction to make things safe again.

Kitted out to go into the mine field.

Don't cross the line of red stakes.

Every square inch of the mine field must be checked, by hand.

I know it is hard to see, but at the centre of the staked area a metal rod is sticking out of the ground. It is attached to what is in the following picture.

Every three metres there is an anti tank mine.
Behind the anti tank mines is a row of anti personnel mines.

Each taped off square contains an anti tank mine, when a sufficiently large area has had all the mines identified, they will be exploded in place.

Your support directly affects the lives of the people of Angola.
Thank you for supporting MAF.

"Desminagem" means de-mining in Portuguese.

Exhaustion

Well, maybe the title is a little overly dramatic, but the last month and a bit has been pretty hectic. Since our other pilot Brent is still waiting to get his residency visa I, Gary, have been doing all the flying. Which is great, but I must admit I am a little tired trying to keep up with all the other daily things that need to be done as well. Since the last time we chatted I have been to Windhoek in Namibia, twice. Kalukembe, six times, Mukwando, three times, Luanda, twice, Ngiva, Cuvelai, Xangongo, Menongue and Chinhama. Now I realize that most of these places don't really mean a whole lot, but it means I have been away a lot and Tammy has had to hold down the fort on her own quite a bit.Speaking of Tammy, lots of you are aware that she has been fighting malaria off and on for the last year or so. It turns out, after we got some tests in Namibia, that she has never had malaria! Not once, ever?! Go figure. Most likely she had a virus of some sort that was misdiagnosed and then mistreated here in Lubango. Fortunately she is feeling much better now and is back in action. 

Most of the flying has been moving medical teams around as well as doing flights for USAID as they do a survey of the flooded areas of southern Angola. A significant part of southern Angola is under water for the second year in a row. This part of the country is known for its' lack of water, so to have flooding two years in a row is devastating. The real disaster is that there will again be no crops to harvest this year. The disaster is coming when last years food add runs out in the next few months. Please pray as we look to help this region of the

country.

I am always amazed as I get to accompany medical teams and see them share the love of Christ as they bring health care to some of the six million people in Angola who have no access to any medical care of any sort. It is heart breaking to see people suffering from simple injuries that turn life threatening, all because there is no health care. We are privileged to be connected with a group of doctors here in Angola and Canada that are giving of their time, energy and money to make a difference for the people of Angola.

Again we cannot thank all of you enough for your prayers and support. You have literally brought sight to the blind, strength to the weak and the ability to walk to the lame, and above all that the gospel.

A view from our house

Sunset in Lubango from our house

Sunrise over southern Angola.