Flying in the DRC

A new airstrip for Doctors without Borders...behind enemy lines.

Checking out a new airstrip location...Pinga, DRC

The only place you will see snow in the DRC

Volcano

The dream team

He looks hungry!!

David's favorite food small fried fish...sambozza

Eating after a hard days flying

The best beans and rice!
Mama and Mama Jan...our favorite lunch spot

Trent...pilot

Little Dave...pilot

David and Amy

Josh...pilot



Amy, the pilot

Maniema, DRC

Landing Kampene

Kampene, DRC

Peanuts or Ground nuts, selling them at the airport, Kampene, DRC

A very big waterfall.

The Rebels Are Coming!!!

I made it back to Goma on October 17th and David finally made it back on Sunday October 26th. There had been looming talks of the rebels advancing their position towards Goma, but we went about our lives as normal. Monday, Oct 27th people were really starting to get scared, yet we were in our own little world of flying and taking care of business. Then Tuesday they were really close within 10 miles of Goma, so I made the decision to evacuate our airplanes and crew. David and I stayed behind to keep an accurate assessment of the situation. By the end of the day on Tuesday NKunda and his troops said they would cease fire and not advance any further unless someone fired at them. David and I went to bed with all our escape plans in our head and a packed bag.



Wednesday morning all was great until the FARDC fired a shot at the CNDP (NKunda's rebels), the FARDC troops got scared and retreated into town. Shouting the rebels are coming the rebels are coming! Then the whole town absolutely went crazy! The UN ordered the evacuation of all expatriates. When this happened David was at the crew house and I was at the office. Our Congolese Security Coordinator was so panicking he made me leave immediately for the border where I had to meet David. So I gathered up our computers' hard drives with all our financial data on them and headed for the border which normally is a 15 minutes drive, but it took us about 5 minutes and David arrived 1 minute after I did and for him it is at least a 30 minutes drive. Which is pretty amazing because the roads are absolutely horrible the worst I have ever driven on which says a lot because I grew up on the back roads of rural Oklahoma.



So we made it safe and sound to Rwanda where by 5pm we were lounging by the pool and a little later on I ordered me up a massage. It is amazing the extremes you can go from once you cross the border from Congo! Although we are at a very nice resort within walking distance from Goma, we felt we had to be back in Goma to get a true assessment of the situation in case we needed to fly back in there. So we visited with the our Security Coordinator about us coming back and he felt it was safe enough to do so.



Turns out the main threat to the town was the National Army (FARDC), when they retreated they began to take out their frustrations on the people of Goma. FARDC troops hit the easy targets, the local community not the NGO community. My National Staff all had grave stories about what took place in their neighborhood during the night. The troops shot, raped, and looted anything that was easy. The stories made you be ashamed that you are even apart of this human race. The harm they brought was just so they could get a few dollars.


So now we live by each day waking up to a security briefing and trying to figure out where do I send my crew and my airplanes, and by the sounds of it things are not going to get better anytime soon. But we monitor the situation and evaluate the best way to go about our life everyday and this is the way we will live from now on in Goma. The sad thing is we can leave anytime we wish, but the National Staff they are just stuck here with their families.