Getting to Malawi

Mozambican immigration were being silly and had decided to take the end of Ramadan as a public holiday – this meant that my passport was still in their possession on Thursday when I was meant to be flying to Malawi with Rolland… We called and even sent someone to the office to ask for my passport – they refused to give it to me before 2:30pm. So frustrating!!!

Eventually I had to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to go to Lilongwe for the Iris Central Malawi Conference. I walked back to the little plane and took my suitcase out and sat on the front steps waiting for a driver to fetch me. Rolland and his other passenger cleared customs and took off.

I let everyone know that I was going to be in Pemba for the next four days and set about preparing for the next day. Suddenly I got a phone call – arrangements had been made and a Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane will come pick me up in Pemba the next morning and take me to Lilongwe. I was astounded. WOW! Someone had sponsored me a flight!!

The next morning bright and early I was at the airport – it was deserted and the few staff that was there must have thought I was slightly crazy, being there so early when there were no scheduled flights for the next 5 hours. It wasn’t too long before I saw the plane land – the guy at the gift shop kindly let me onto the runway and he also called the immigration guy to let him know I was there. He arrived 30 mins later and stamped me out the country. Finally we were off.

The pilot, Dave, had been working with MAF in Mozambique for 10 years! After we took off he let me fly the plane – quite a challenge trying to keep it level and on course! But it was fun – we had to dodge the clouds because MAF regulations require that they not fly thru clouds - I think that made the flight even more interesting! It wasn’t long before I saw the clear blue water of Lake Malawi below us, the next thing I knew Dave had taken the controls and we had landed.

I was really happy to be in Malawi!

(continued...)