On the road again...

We asked Josh what he wanted to do for a last family holiday with us. That could be considered a mistake because we ended up making a trip that covered almost 7000km in our little Toyota pick up. It was amazing, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the memories will be with us forever! Thanks Josh!

The first of five flat tires. This one outside of Okahandja, Namibia.

I hope this one doesn't need an explanation.
We crossed it just south of Windhoek, Namibia.
Yes, it was cold.
You think the roads are straight and flat in Saskatchewan, eh!?
This is somewhere between Keetmanshoop, Namibia and Upington, South Africa.

The Indian Ocean at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
Errr...yes it was cold...

Matthew feeling big and powerful.

The whole reason we came to South Africa.
To wear funny belts and have a picture taken with a complete stranger.

Actually, it was to fling ourselves off the world's highest bungy jump.
216m or 710feet
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO.........

Another 2000km of mind numbingly straight, flat road on the way back home.

This is a section of the main highway in Angola between Xangongo and Cahama. The camera is eye level with the top of the road. The "potholes" are even with the top of the tires and the entire truck fits inside.

It was a great idea Josh and I would do it again in a minute. Anyone want to join us?

The last two days of the drive home were without Josh, we left him in Windhoek with our good friend Brent Mudde, who was also flying back to Canada for his holidays. After drying up my tears and the 18 hugs later, we drove off, heading for home and Josh heading to the airport. A few hours into the drive I was thinking about the year ahead, planning it out in my mind - if you know me, then you know that I thrive on making plans....and changing them...I started thinking about the preparations that we needed to start making for our trip back to Canada next year. Then it hit me, Matt will have his 18th birthday while we are in Canada, that he might not want to return to Angola with us after the six month furlough is over. The tears started rolling down my cheeks again, thinking about life without any kids in the house. I got a terrible paniky feeling in my heart, I have very rarely been alone in my 44 years and I really really don't like it - at all. This coming week will be my first real test, Matt is out at the farm and Gary will be flying around the countryside for the next 10 days. I know that this is part of life, to have and to let go. I praise God that our kids are healthy and happy and have a passionate heart for the Lord. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life, to see how God is going to fill my time.
oh, and for the record, at this point and time in life, Matt promises that he has no plans to ever leave Angola....

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.