We do more before 6:00 AM ...........

This morning it was planned that we all rested after the exceptionally busy weekend's activities. HUH! Rest? Sleep? Recovery? No such chance .... not here!

After finishing complicated funding related discussions last night, we hit the various metaphorical haybales at around 10pm... then, Matthew had to leave at 05:20, and Rex left the accommodation block to fly at 05:30 with his PPG. (Rex has a special permission to fly his Powered Paraglider for this week and has found that the wind is very limiting as to when it can fly). Happily, the young lady we had in Quarantine is now able to return to school as a day girl as she regains her strength and some weight (she was VERY sick), and so we have, in conjunction with her and her sponsor, arranged a special support for the re-integration. Therefore, at 05:50 a taxi arrives to take her to school, and she leaves, accompanied by Michaela, who will now be gone for a couple of hours sorting that whole scenario....

The AvTech girls then suddenly appeared from their dorms at 06:30 forgetting that this was Monday, the nominal 'day off' in our week (well they had an exam yesterday on First Responder training and they WANT to be in classes today....). Jenny, meanwhile, is getting ready to fly back to Germany later today after flying in to for the weekend to help out with the various activities... Melissa will spend most of the day working on the practical exams for the girls First Responder programme and, as always, on the 'rest day' there is lots of hand washing, cleaning and preparations for the busy week ahead.

Oh, did I forget, we also have a meeting with Air Traffic later today to work towards streamlining our flight plans and RT operations. (Here we need to file for ALL flights, even for the PPG - which makes perfect sense once you understand the environment!)...

Oh, and the car has a fault on the oil sensor that shorted the starting circuits... and the old grass slasher blew its gearbox last week, and the new one donated by Sid (THANKS SID) and transported by Huub (THANKS Huub) is not directly compatible with the tractor and needs modified... and we hope that Mr Solo will be well enough to be back at work this week too...

In addition, this week has planned bag-drops to a number of communities, and all the usual work that happens.... add to that a film crew from France 24 who are excited about the operations here and the Bag-Drop and.... well, as I write, it is already over one hour into my day.... and the birds are complaining that they are woken by the sound of my keyboard chatter instead of waking me up by the sound of their chirping... (I must learn to type more quietly so as not to deflate the birds egos, then walk out and smile at them as they gather in the trees to wake me up, pretending they managed it...)

This is not the way of life for everybody... it is not easy... it is not without tears... not without upsets.... not without frustrations... not without worries... but it is about changing lives - and that is certainly the nett outcome of it all...

Thank you for reading... sharing... and supporting us all!