Jungle Photos

Sometimes life kind just passes by and it's hard to keep up with everything.  Here are some photos that Chad has taken over the last couple months.  I (Andi) keep getting on him to take more pictures, but no matter how un-ordinary our life seems to some, it can get pretty ordinary living it.  So here are some pictures to remind us that we get to touch lives with His love and that's special no matter where you live.

Josue (pilot in training) waiting in the rain with the kids from Iwia.  We were waiting on a patient to be brought out to the plane for us to take to the hospital.

It never ceases to amaze me that jungle kids are wet all the time.  There's really no escaping the rain and they don't even try. 

The community of Copataza having a minga (community work day) at the airstrip.  It really does take a village, to keep the jungle from reclaiming the 600 meters of airstrip they worked so hard to build.

If you look closely, even the little babies are out with their moms.  That sounds nice, until you realize that everyone is swinging a machete!!!  It's amazing there aren't more machete injuries than there are.

The community of Uyuimi after our first landing and as we prepared to inspect the strip.  They have had a strip for years, but it was always very marginal and we didn't fly into it. 

They worked very hard to improve what they had.  We recommended that the sides be cut back further, but otherwise the strip was in pretty good shape.   It can still be a little "sporty" when it's wet.

Chad showed some of the men how to use his "inclinometer" to measure the climb out angle over the trees.  Everyone wanted a turn. 

Two of  us landed in Copataza to wait out some low weather. 

A small church at a community with road access.  We often do hops from this community to other nearby strips with work teams etc. after they drive to this strip.   It's cheaper than doing multiple flights from Shell. 

I couldn't tell which one of these two was happier when I dropped this puppy off.  When I looked back after I started the engine, the girl was sitting on the log in the background cradling the puppy like a baby.  Happy!

Bright sun over the strip at Masaramu, but dark skies in the background.

They look pretty happy for being behind bars :-) 

The kids in Masaramu were happy to have their picture taken while we waited on the Doctor to see a patient. 

Dr. Andrea after her first visit to the jungle to check on a patient. 

Andrea wanted to try out her dad's satellite phone.  It didn't seem to work.   We usually have a young doctor working in the hangar for their "rural" year.  After med school, all docs must spend a year working at a "rural" location.  So, we get a new doc each year to help our full-time airstrip doctor.