Week One - Arriving

Time for a recap of week 1 at the ASAM farm in Mozambique.  

The flight in went very well, as we had the luxury of being transported in Mercy Air's new Kodiak. What a great plane, capable of large cargo loads and six passengers, plus the two pilots, John and Paul. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to land directly at ASAM's new airstrip due to some ongoing political issues. But our hosts quickly made arrangements to pick us up, so we still made it "home" in time for supper.

The days here are busy and there's no shortage of broken things to fix. Word is out that I’ll be training the fellows on how to repair electric motors, pumps, and power tools. As a result, the mound of broken tools and appliances is growing daily.

We've been having a LOT of rain lately, but thanks to the new shop, we’re managing to stay high and dry.  However, the rain can be quite noisy on the tin roof, as we discovered when devotions got moved to the shop on a particularly wet morning. 

In spite of that, Nigel, our visiting vicar from England (a former mechanic himself) did a great job getting his message across, even to the point of using the repair pit to illustrate the day when he was baptized as a young child.

Prosper has been busy replacing the clutch on a small pick-up truck, while I’ve been teaching Vasco and Revy the basics of repairing electric motors and power tools. I am extremely impressed by Prosper’s work ethic, as well as his dedication to his role at ASAM. He is one of those rare young men, a natural born leader with amazing character and dedication.

The blue box of tools donated by CDX are very popular!

The new clutch in place

The metal needed for the bay doors project will arrive next week, so it will be full steam ahead with lots of welding and fabricating to do. The storage rooms are now completed, which means we can begin storing all the shop equipment and tools in one place. What a blessing not to have to search the entire farm to try and find a “borrowed” tool that innocently found a new home in someone’s closet or vehicle tool kit!

Rick demonstrating his phone camera function to Tome (yes, the vehicle was stopped at the time)

That wraps it up for now. Thanks for following along, and for the positive thoughts and prayers. Stay tuned; there's more to come!

Rick