Friday, May 9, 2008

Thlanyaku (Klien-ya-ku) by Hannah


Today I went to Thlanyaku to help my dad put in the pole for the dish. We rode in the airplane and I was the co-pilot! We wore headsets so we could hear each other and talk to each other because the plane was so loud! We left early this morning and got home at supper time.

When I got to the village, I gave out stickers to the kids there. The kids didn't have very warm clothes and there was a girl in a tee shirt and it was cold. They loved the stickers! One girl kept pointed at her hand for more! None of the kids spoke any English so it was hard to communicate with them but they knew what stickers were.

We walked to the clinic where the pole was to be set up. The clinic was not very far from the village. Four men came and helped us dig the pole. They lived in the village and they came with shovels and big sticks to break up the rock. It didn't take them too long to dig the hole and it was really deep!

For lunch we had chicken, papa, and marojo. I tried it all but I didn't like it so I ate the lunch that my mom packed for me. My dad ate it all-he loves it! They serve the same food at all the clinics. Then we went back to dig up the hole more. We just got into the hole and picked out the rocks at the bottom.

We went to the clinic and gave them baby clothes. I gave one sleeper and a pair of shoes to a baby boy. Thursday is the day that babies come to the clinic so they are going to save the rest of the clothes to give out next week.

We walked back up to the runway to wait for the plane. There was a small stream there that we went and found rocks at. Then we heard the plane coming so we got ready to go. We had to hurry to get in the plane because there was a bad accident in another village and the plane we were on had to get them to the hospital in Maseru. So we got dropped off in Bobete and we thought we were going to have to spend the night there at the doctors housing! Then another plane came and picked us up just before the sun was going to set. If the sun had set, we couldn't have left because the runways are not lit so there is no way to see them. The plane that got us in Bobete had three other people in it, a nurse, a doctor and another man who needed to go back to Maseru.

When we landed, we had to help our pilot fill the plane back up with gas so it would be ready to fly on Saturday.

I had a good day in Thlanyaku!

2 comments:

Amy said...

That sounds awesome Hannah!
Thank you for writing about
your adventure. The pictures
are really good too. I am
glad you had a fun time.
Amy

Jim said...

hey
Hannah - that was another adventure you will not forget. flying above it all had to be truly spectacular.
It is great to know that your dad can take you with and the MAF lets you be co-piolt. like I told Thomas my grand daughter Rachel would love to talk flying to you.
yes the food is something to get used to.
Jim