Dale
A Mission Float Plane
 

070914 08:00

Morning NW 3, we leave for Bumbire, the home Island of Dale and Chris Hamilton. Dale is missionary of the Africa Inland Church

Church planting, aviation and health? We go!

Photo: to Dale

We take four people connected to the Bukoba tourist office: Mary, manager, wants to meet people at Bumbiri, she takes Ishengoma who knows the island, and two young Dutch volunteers Michael and Liza. All photos on this page except the last are made by Michael with his state of the art digital mirror reflex camera.
Wind turns gradually to E 3-4 and we reach Bumbiri at 12:00. At 13:30 we enter what we were made to feel sure was Dale's bay. But, no mzungu house and no float plane. I call Dale. He is in the air. I get the GPS coordinates of his beach. We had passed it 6 km before. Since we had anticipated to need a full day anyway, we anchor for lunch. During the chopping for the sauce the Dutch teach the Tanzanians "lekker hakken en dan een biertje". Also we get many interested questions, like (Mary): nice sail, but how do you wash it?
This once was also the wrong bay for Africa Explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. In 1875, after mooring in this bay with his small steamer Lady Alice he was treated disrespectfully by the hosts: he was refused food, threatened with spears and arrows, they pulled his hair thinking he wore a wig, and dragged the steamer on the shore and stole the oars. Stanley had to shoot 14 tribesmen before he got out, returned to kidnap their leader to be returned for a ransom to his overlord, who thought his vassal not worth it. Then Stanley decided to return "punish Bumbireh with the power of a father punishing a stubborn disobedient son". That wounded 130 tribesmen, and killed at least 30 of them. Though Stanley clearly showed he had mastered the language Africa speaks up to today, at home it made his reputation suffer.
While enjoying Mary's meat with pasta and beer, Dale, coming from the mainland, lands next to our boat to welcome us.

Photo: Dale comes down: "Wrong Bay Man!"

We return to the North side of Bumbiri (very lucky! S and back N with wind E, 90^o being the only wind direction that allows you to return on your route by sail).

Photo: Bumbire fishers' compound

Photo:  fishers on their way to their nets

Now, for a dhow to return on its course, that is to turn 180 degrees, the wind should be exactly 90 degrees on the course. It was!, and even backed a bit on return. We ended 700 m downwind of Dale's beach and were pulled in.

Photo: Dale (his rottweiler, tongue out, feels excluded on the jetty )

AIM AIR, the organisation of which Dale forms part, is a Christian missionary aviation organization, part of the larger ministry of AIM: AFRICA INLAND MISSION. Dale and Chris have set up a network of AIM churches and health centres on the Lake Victoria  South West Corner Islands and Coasts. Chris does the Health ministry on their home island Bumbiri. She does most of the non-home deliveries and estimates there are 30 births a month, that is xx? of population. Average life time is said to be fourty (including those who die from all types of diseases), Which would mean a monthly death rate of xx%. Bumbiri population growth hence xx% hence doubles in  x.x years. Of course, a large part of the health efforts are in AIDS: testing, helping the patients and prevention. The floatplane enables Dale to coordinate a lot of activities on many places in the Southwest of the lake by personal involvement, the key power in setting up something in Africa: be there, be around.

Last week, one of the two dog puppies was shrieking loudly and turned out to be in the mouth of a python. The rottweiler attacked, the snake tried to flee but got pierced by Dale. The local workers delayed a bit disposing of the dead python scared off by some local beliefs about this type of snake, so the dogs started to feast on it. There seems to be a photo of one of the puppies, belly big with snake meat, sleeping in the middle of the curled snake remains. When my guest Michael's charming 19 year old girlfriend Liza stood behind the back of the sitting rottweiler, scratching him behind his ear, and I stood next to her, she asked: "do you also want?". I said yes, kneeled next to the rottweiler and got myself duly scratched, with a lot of giggles I duly failed to have attention for.

At home we, including our passengers are cordially welcomed by Chris, Mary Jane and Dale with food and drinks. I tried my portable VHF marine transceiver, never used but bought years ago in the Netherlands, where you have to attend a half year irresistibly soporific course by some imbecile and do an exam, then pay for it every year. Here I pushed some buttons, read the fucking manual wherever this did not lead to the expected results, including, I quote (color type setting sic!):

• Dual and triwatch (prohibited in the Netherlands)

• Channel group selection (prohibited in the Netherlands)

• Scan and Tag (prohibited in the Netherlands)

Dale has VHF transceivers at home, in the plane and at his other AIM posts, so the total issue of getting VHF going cost me a few minutes.

Photo: Sunday, captain to church. Note the plane right

At night, we hear hippos blurping. Sunday morning, I was treated with warm fresh cinnamon cake and scrambled eggs with coffee before attending the Church ceremony. The reverend is not Dale, but an African from the region. The church is, as often, built on a widely visible, hence windy place on the slope of the hill, which, due to the absence, as often, of  window panes, led to the familiar scenes of the reverend every now and then chasing behind plastic flowers blown off their places. Africans are speakers, and the reverend had excellent Bible knowledge and entertaining talents. For the captain, to to be exposed to such talents for 2.5 hours is a bit long, but after all, he is not the target audience.

Photo: Captain after church, waiting for canoe to return to boat, caught by crew in Bible study, indeed one of his passions

Sunday evening in Dale and Christine's house is coke, pop corn and video. I enjoyed the film "The Perfect Storm" on TV projection screen with Dolby stereo surround, and dreamt at night of waves bigger than anybody has ever seen..

070917 We say goodbye to Chris and Mary Jane up in the Africa Inland Church clinic near the church. The women group (of all religions) supposed to come this day is gathered and the reverend does a small ceremony, not even a full hour, in which he stresses he is not trying to make them switch churches but simply wishes to explain what the Bible says and what it means. When this is done we say goodbye and Chris and Mary Jane can start their work. Dale is on the jetty to say goodbye.

That was a very warm and agreeable reception in the Bumbiri Africa Inland Church community.