Flying for Kosovo

Dear supporters of the mission, thank you from the depth of my heart for the attention you have shown during the entire mission, especially in my most difficult moments.

As you know, I had an emergency landing in the deserts of Sudan and thank God I’m alive.

The accident happened on Sunday afternoon. Due to the impossibility of communication, information was transmitted in pieces . After the event with which you are already informed, I’ve spent several hours in the mine “Hassai Mine” under the care of the mine staff. Sunday at 23:00 o’clock Sudan police service came and took me from the mine to the nearest village, which was about 2 hours away. Police kept me until Monday evening and released me only after the intervention of Mr. Denis Baillargeon, who is the director of that mine.
While in the police custody, I have gone through investigative interviews, signing of multiple documents, procedures and maltreatment during the entire day, with little food and water. At night they sent me to a house covered with metal roof where temperatures were too high. I am very grateful to Mr. Baillargeon who saved me from that place.

The plane is still in the dessert, at the crash site and is under police custody. A group of investigators from the Sudan Civil Aviation are coming from Khartoum, and they will asses the accident and will decide how to proceed further.
Mr. Denis Baillargeon has provided considerable number of mining equipment and means of transportation, so that we can bring the plane to the mine. The mine possesses a runway for their planes and I hope I will be able to use this runway for departure, after the reparation of the plane.
I will try to give you information whenever I can. Thank you again!

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Të dashur përkrahës të misionin, ju falënderoj nga zemra për vëmendjen që keni treguar gjatë tërë misionit, e sidomos në momentet e mija më të vështira.Siç e dini, kam pasur një aterrim urgjent të detyrueshëm në shkretëtirat e Sudanit dhe falënderoj Zotin që jam gjallë.
Aksidenti ka ndodhur në ditën e Diele pasdite. Për shkak të pamundësisë së komunikimit, informatat janë përcjellur pjesë-pjesë. Pas ngjarjes për me të cilën ju tani jeni të njoftuar, unë kam qëndruar për disa orë në minierën “Hassai Mine” nën përkujdesjen e stafit të minierës. Ditën e Diele, rreth orës 23:00 erdhi shërbimi policor i Sudanit dhe më mori nga miniera, më dërgoi në fshatin më të afërt, që ishte rreth 2 orë larg. Policia më mbajti deri ditën e Hëne në mbrëmje, dhe më lëshuan vetëm pas intervenimit të z.Denis Baillargeon që është drejtori i asaj miniere.
Gjatë mbajtjes në polici, kam kaluar nëpër intervista hetimore, nënshkrime të shumta, procedura e maltretime gjatë tërë ditës, me shumë pak ushqim dhe ujë. Natën më dërguan në një shtëpi të mbuluar me llastër ku temperaturat ishin shumë shumë të larta. I jam shumë mirënjohës z.Baillargeon që më shpëtoi nga ai vend.
Aeroplani është ende në shkretëtirë, në vendin e aksidentin dhe është nën përkujdesjen e policisë. Grupi hetues nga Aviacionit Civil i Sudanit janë duke ardhur prej Khartoum-it, dhe ata do ta bëjnë analizën e aksidentit dhe do të marrin vendim se si do të vazhdojmë më tutje.

z. Denis Baillargeon ka ofruar numër të konsiderueshëm të pajisjeve të minierës dhe mjete të transportit, në mënyrë që të mund ta sjellim aeroplanin deri afër minierës. Miniere posedon një pistë për aeroplanët e tyre dhe shpresoj që do të mund të nisem nga kjo pistë pas rregullimit të aeroplanit.

Do të mundohem të ju përcjell informacione sa herë që të mundem. Ju falënderoj përsëri!

Kapiteni juaj,
James Berisha

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Chers Supporters de la Mission,

Je vous remercie de tout cœur pour l’intérêt que vous avez montré durant toute la mission, et surtout, dans mes moments les plus difficiles.

Comme vous le savez, j’ai eu un atterrissage urgent dans les déserts du Soudan et je remercie Dieu je suis en vie.

L’accident s’est produit l’après-midi du Dimanche. Dû à l’impossibilité de communiquer, les informations ont transitées très partiellement. Après cet événement pour lequel vous êtes déjà informés, j’ai passé plusieurs heures dans la Minière «Hassai Mine» sous les soins du Staff de cette société. Le Dimanche vers 23:00, est arrivé le service de police du Soudan, m’a pris de la Mine et m’a conduit jusqu’au village le plus proche qui se situait à environ 2 heures plus loin. La police m’a retenu jusqu’au Lundi soir et m’a libéré seulement après l’intervention de M. Denis Baillargeon qui est le Directeur de la mine. Durant l’interrogatoire de la police, j’ai subi des interviews et investigations cruelles toute la journée, m’obligeant à signer divers documents. Le tout avec très peu de nourriture et l’eau. Pendant la nuit, la police m’a amené dans une maison couverte par un toit métallique où les températures étaient très élevées. Je suis très reconnaissant de M. Baillargeon qui m’a sauvé de cet endroit.

L’avion est encore dans le désert à l’endroit de l’accident qui est sous le contrôle de la Police. Les Experts de l’Aviation Civile Soudanaise vont être envoyés du Khartoum sur le lieu de l’accident pour analyses de l’accident et se prononceront sur la suite.

M. Denis Baillargeon a fourni des moyens et équipements de transports considérables afin d’amener mon Avion du lieu d’accident jusqu’à la mine (40km env.) La Mine possède sa piste d’atterrissage pour ses propres avions et j’espère pouvoir utiliser cette piste pour décollage après la réparation de l’avion.

Je vais essayer de vous donner des nouvelles là où c’est possible.

Merci encore,
James Berisha

During his flight from Port Sudan to Khartoum, Sudan, James had an accident with the plane.  After leaving Port Sudan around 2:00pm local time, he started having problems with the plane about one hour and twenty minutes into his journey.  At 8500 feet, he suddenly heard a very loud explosion and a few seconds later began to experience all kinds of shaking, noises, vibrations, etc.  As it turns out, the first cylinder on the right side of the airplane engine broke in two places, which prevented the supply AVGAS to the engine. For the next 15 minutes James flew the plane without engine, trying to coast like a bird towards the nearest flatland.   He managed to find a heaven-sent road nearby to land on as he used his radio to call out for help to any other pilot in the nearby sky.  Luckily James was able to contact a pilot of an aircraft  flying at 37,000 feet altitude.  That pilot graciously relayed the news to Khartoum air traffic controllers, along with the exact coordinates of his whereabouts, time on the ground, etc. so that a search and rescue team could be formed to go and search for him.

James had many difficulties landing in the middle of the desert, and the plane is badly damaged. For nearly an hour and a half,  James did not know whether he would survive the in the desert or if he would be found.  Luckily he was not injured in the crash, however he had been without water since leaving the previous airport.  In the heat of the desert, dehydration can set in very quickly.   Thanks to god that a local family eventually drove by and spotted him.  The first thing he asked for was water to drink.  The family graciously offered him water and contacted the managers of the local Hassai goldmine.

In less than an hour, a team of thirty people arrived to help James.  One of those people was a very honorable man, Mr. Denis Baillargeon (see our post ‘acknowledgements and pictures from Sudan’ for more information on the generosity of this very kind man).  Along with the group of managers from Hassai, there were security people, mine workers and police who accompanied them.  With a team that large, the plane was able to be secured fairly quickly and the police began their investigation immediately.  Three security personnel offered to guard our baby plane for the next three days during the police investigation.  During the heat and desert conditions, our plane was safe and secure as Mr. Baillargeon took James under his care, brought him back to Hassai mine and offered him food, water, a place to stay, etc.  Please see our future posts about the further hospitality that this esteemed man offered our dear James.

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James is currently in Sudan.

Flying for Kosovo – James Berisha in Sudan part 1

Flying for Kosovo – James Berisha in Sudan part 2

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James is currently in Somaliland.

Qaran News

Berbera News

MagudheNews

Waaheen

Waaheen PDF

Somaliland Info

James has arrived in Djibouti.

This morning I am on my way from Addis Ababa to Abibjan, Ivory Coast.  The flight is over seven hours in length and we have to stop in Ouagadougo, Burkina Faso for a technical layover.  Since there is such a long distance to cover, it is more efficient for me to take a commercial flight with Ethiopian Airlines, rather than fly our baby plane across the continent again.  If I did that, it would have taken me approximately a week of flying each way (not to mention all of the airport fees, fuel costs, hotel, food, etc.).

It felt good to be able to stop in Burkina-Faso again.  Just remembering the great friends and people that I have met along the way in this mission brings a sense of warmth to my heart.  I am sad to see that our stop here in Ouagadougo is too short to be able to say hello to everyone here one more time, but in the end, our mission must go on.  If you all remember, the reason that I have to go back to the Ivory Coast is that I was unable to visit there back in December, when I passed it early on in our mission.  In fact, I had to avoid it all togther and change my travel plans because things in that country were getting very heated and tense, eventually leading the country into an outright civil war.  Folks, I have risked my life enough times on this mission, but I am definitely not one to go into harms way on purpose.  Right now, it looks like the instability has calmed down some (though only within the past few weeks), so I want to take this visit their before I finish the African continent.  A promise is a promise and I want to share our country with their people.

*  In Novemeber 2010, Cote D’Ivoire held their first elections in over ten years and the opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara won against the sitting President Laurent Gbago (in office since 2000).  While the world recognized the newly elected official, the former ruling party contested the results.  The instability escalated until March 2011, when United Nation and French forces stepped in with military action in order to arrest former President Gbagbo (April 2011) and formalize the newly elected Ouattara administration.
It is only now (in a few days actually), that the new President will have his official inauguration ceremonies (May 6, 2011).  In between November 2010 and March 2011, it is estimated that nearly 100,000 fled the country as refugees and many human rights violations were reported as coming from both sides.

As we approach Abidjan, it looks very humid and hazy down there.  Just a few weeks ago, this country was still in the midst of a full-blown war, with thousands of people dying as a result.  All that I can hope for is that no one will shoot me while I am visiting this nearly lawless state and that I am able to return safely back to Ethiopia soon.  In fact, since the official Presidential inauguration is only a few days away, I’d like to hurry up and complete my mission work here before all of the public activities begin, since sometimes those can also be dangerous.

As soon as I got off of the airplane, I could tell that things were tense, but that’s okay because I was already expecting this type of thing.  All of the passengers from our flight are immediately greeted by the airport police and asked to show our visas, passports and vaccine records before we even encounter the border guards.  Of course, I have had a visa for this country since I obtained it a while ago back in Washington DC (so they have no excuses for kicking me out of here), but my vaccine card was a little bit of a surprise and is safely tucked away in my luggage, which has traveled all of this way in the belly of the plane.  So, the first thing that I needed to do was to get my luggage, pull out my vaccine card and then travel back to this side of the border in order to go through the ‘official’ entry process.  Most of the time, they want you to pass through activities like this so that they can try to make some more money off of you or make your life miserable and slow you down – you know, in order to show that they are the ones who are in charge now.  Just as an example, the authorities needed to keep my passport hostage until I completed all of their local demands.  Luckily, my bag had made it safely to the dis-embarquement area so that I could finally start this time-consuming process.  After speaking with many commanders, chiefs, bosses, etc., they finally let me through the border gates.

Now that I have cleared this first hurdle and made it into the actual country, I have to be very careful as to where I go, where I stay, who to trust, etc.  Things here are still very tense and dangerous, so you can’t just go anywhere you want.  I took extra caution to choose a taxi driver that looked halfway decent (not too young, not too strange, etc.) and asked him to take me to a decent hotel in one of the more secure areas of town.  As we drive through town, it is a hot and humid day.  Things still seem tense and there are security personnel all over the place.  It looks like I won’t be engaging in my normal routine of walking around in order to get a feel for my new country.

I should have been more prepared before coming here because I had no idea yet that my Kosovar friends here would be so worried about me.  Over my travels, I have learned that there are many Kosovars here in the African continent.  Most of them work for various United Nations missions and I have met some of them in countries like Congo, Brazzaville, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Chad, Sudan, etc.  Though I had been given some contact information about the Kosovars here in this country, I thought that I would just make my way to the hotel today and call them tomorrow, as I really did not want to bother anyone, knowing that they all have their normal lives to live, work to do, etc.

So I owe all of my friends here in the Ivory Coast a big apology, since I didn’t call them before leaving Addis Ababa to let them know that I was coming into town.  Little did I know at the time that they were all very worried about me and my overall safety.  They even drove to the airport a few times and called each other, asking about my whereabouts and if anyone had seen me.  Here I was worried about bothering them and they were all worried making sure I was safe in their country.

Instead of spending the evening with these friends (whom I had no idea were even looking for me), I had the taxi driver take me to a safe, clean hotel in the most secure part of town.  I was comforted to know that there was a security gate with lots of safety personnel around.  Like I mentioned before, I really needed to be careful here about where I went and how freely I could roam, so instead of dinner, I bought a few pre-packaged snack foods and went up to my room for the evening.  On top of having to worry about security here, you always have to be careful of the food that you eat here in Africa, especially as a foreigner.

In places like this (where it is not only unsafe, but the hygiene is not the best), it is often safer to go with packaged foods instead of local cuisine.  There have been many times during my travels down here that I have attempted to eat the local food, but have ended up regretting it later in the night, getting sick and/or having stomach problems.  Before visiting Africa, I considered myself to be a man with an iron stomach, but nothing can prepare you for food that has been sitting out in the sun all day and already half-eaten by the local insects.  I don’t mind having to share my food, but not with a million flies all at once.

Even when they are selling ‘fresh’ meats, fish, chicken, etc., my stomach could never get used to the fact that the food had collected all of the heat and dust and flies from the day before getting to my plate.  And it is not much better in the sophisticated restaurants where the meals were between $10-30USD – my stomach still could not get used to the local food preparation.  So you can imagine how much worse the local street vendor food is – you are likely to kill yourself trying to live off of that.

So I decided many countries ago to only drink bottled water and when in doubt, eat only pre-packaged food.  Even then, you were not guaranteed food safety.  I ended up always having to check the expiration dates, trying to get a product that did not have layers of dust collected on it already and always, always, going with a brand name that was manufactured in a reputable country.  I can see now why Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc. are so popular down here.  At least you know that they are safe and prepared in a factory that tried to practice good hygiene.  So tonight, my dinner is a safe, reputable can of sardines manufactured in South Africa and bottle of name-brand water.

After eating my high-class dinner, I wanted to get a full nights rest.  I only have two full days here in the Ivory Coast in order to get our mission work done, so I want to get an early start tomorrow.   After a fair breakfast, I found a taxi with the help of the hotel staff.  Usually, local workers tend to be knowledgeable in regards to which cab companies are reliable, etc.  Sometimes they even know certain cab drivers, which saves me from having to deal with strange and/or unsavory characters all day.  But you still have to be careful with them too sometimes.

One thing that I have found here in Africa is that at some hotels, you have to negotiate your price with them – being very specific about what will be included with the price and what will not.  Sometimes though, even your careful negotiations don’t mean much.  For instance, most of the time I make sure that the hotel includes some kind of breakfast, but despite this pre-arranged service, there have been many times that they still try to bring me a receipt for breakfast.  For a small container of jelly and a piece of bread or a croissant with juice, they have tried to charge me anywhere from $7-20USD.  It surprises me everytime and, of course, I have to argue with them that this service was included.  The worst part is that the staff will look at you all innocent like nothing has happened.  But I caught on to these little tricks early on in my travels, so they all know by now that I will not tolerate their nonsense.

You have to be careful and aware of everything down here when you are traveling –the food, the hotel, exchanging money, etc. and especially with your taxi drivers.  They are a different crowd of people indeed and since they are all trying to make as much cash as possible in the least amount of time, you have to be very careful with how you deal with them and be very direct about your requests.  There have been many times that I have had to argue with them about some exhorbetent, unnecessary charge.  I’m actually pretty lucky that I haven’t had more trouble with this matter.

In no time this morning I am off and running.  My mission work routine is always the same: get a taxi, run like crazy all day from media house to media house and plead our cause.  My taxi driver today seems like a decent person and we spend all day driving through town.  I am making good progress too: things are fairly organized and I am getting some good interviews done, thanks to the very dedicated journlists, editors, reports and managers in the media here.

I am amazed and shocked with all of the stories that they are telling me.  They have truly been through hell during the last six months or so.  Their lives have been in danger constantly, even being forced to hide in many different locations (basements, houses, offices, etc.) in order to try and keep their newspapers up to date and publishing the latest news.  The media here explain that they were threatened many times by the police, paramilitary, security agents, etc. who were all trying to eliminate any evidence or truth of the local atrocities.  Of course, those in power never want the outside world to have knowledge of local conditions, especially in times of war.  They tell me here that the outgoing President did not want to give up his seat to the newly elected leader, which is when all of the fighting began.

All of my new friends here showed great interest in hearing more about Kosovo and our mission.  I think that we offered them a sense of hope for what they might become after their recent war has settled down.  Many of them told me that during the recent crisis, they often thought about the our past struggles with Serbia and that they gained a new perspective after having war come so close to their own homes.  Though Kosovo was known to them before, they found a new respect for us during the recent atrocities in their own nation.  They told me that their experiences brought them closer to the struggles of other populations around the world also.  There is something very familiar about war in that it forces us all to open our eyes to the world and feel the overwhelming sorrow of others who have faced the same brutality.

My friends, I have said it over and over in my writings that if we could just leave people alone and not bother each other, then we would all be much better off I’m sure.  I have learned over time that the best judges of a nation are usually its average citizens.  Being amongst the ‘locals’ (who have to exist within a nation’s circumstances) gives you a tremendous feel for how a country is functioning.  At the civilian level, you learn about the real issues that people are facing – not just what you hear reported on headline news across the world.  If you ask, many times people will be very honest with you about the real problems of a nation, what is going well and what is definitely not working.  In fact, the more local people you are able to speak with the better, because you eventually start hearing the same perspective over and over and it gives you a solid perspective of their land.

After traveling so much, experiencing so many different conditions and talking to so many people around the world, I have gotten so tired of the political games that I see: governments reporting only superficial nonsense to the world; the people in power trying to gloss over and hide the real facts and inequalities of their countries; etc.  I always prefer to learn the perspective of the more innocent and humble average citizen because they have no stake in trying to manipulate you or try to fill your brain with all kinds of misleading information.

I am sure that some people might not agree with my opinion on this, but I would simply ask them then to prove to me otherwise.  From what I can see of our world, there are injustices being done all over that are far beyond our wildest imaginations.  From what I have seen, most of this cruelty is the result of one person or group trying to dominate another, so that someone can feel superior to the other, can control the poorer and less fortunate among them.  This has been going on for centuries and, sad to say, it will likely continue for eternity based on our own flawed human logic and self-centered nature.

I mention all of these things with sadness, but it seems like these tragedies are part of our human genetics and no amount of therapy can cure this evil virus.  The only thing that each of us can do is to control it as much as we can so that we ourselves don’t let it get out of hand.  Each of us does have an opportunity to make change in our own life.  We all have the opportunity to help another, to be a good neighbor, to offer care and comfort in times of need.  If we focus on things that each of us can contribute, then we are all working towards a more safe and humane world.

I understand that this description is not really part of our mission work, but the observations that I have made during this mission have become part of my life, part of who I am and my understanding of the human race.  Learning about these things seems to be the only way that I can try to make sense of the fact that we are all from the same basic set of genes, yet we continue to cause harm and destruction wherever we go.

A simple example of my point above is this: many times down here in Africa you see leaders that will do everything that they can to maintain their power, even long after their usefulness has warn off.  No matter if it is their 90th birthday or they are no longer able to fulfill their duty (that is assuming that ever did fulfill their duty), they would rather keep their seat in power and pass it on to a family member, their kids, their friends, etc. and continue to keep destroying the lives of their people.  Instead of offering an ounce of help to the people, I have seen many times where it is more important for some leaders to continue to pad their Swiss bank accounts (thanks to the wealth of their nations, which the local people never see): building palaces all over the world, using their private jets, etc.  All the while their own people are left starving without even the basic necessities like clean, potable water.

So here in Africa, it is usually no surprise to see two temporary, parallel government systems: two presidents, double ministries, etc.  In some nations, there is no government at all, so you are left with a lawless country.  Here in the Ivory Coast, they have had two governments for nearly six months and the resulting conflict left thousands dead and thousands more fleeing as refugees.  But I can’t keep going on here folks because I could fill an entire encyclopedia with facts like this.  So I encourage you all to learn about all of these countries that I’ve been to: their history, their conflict, their culture, etc.  For now, let’s get back to our mission.

Driving around town, I can see the devastation from recent events: there are gunshot holes everywhere; the national television station has been mostly burned down and looks like hell and, like I mentioned before, the atmosphere is still very tense, with military personnel on every corner.  One thing that always surprises me in places like this that have experienced a lot of conflict is the fact that the people always seem so friendly.  Despite their own struggles, many of them offer a kind gesture or a simple smile and I have to wonder sometimes how they can have that sort of stamina, when I know that they have been living through hell.  Here in Abidjan, they were pretty friendly to the outside world – especially to the French since France and the United Nations had just intervened with military in order to stop the bloodshed.

I am very hopeful for the people of this country, now that they have a new government in place.  With some tender loving care, Abidjan could be a fairly beautiful capital city and the entire country could prosper.  In addition to being a world leader in the exportation of coffee, the Ivory Coast also has things like cotton and tropical fruit production in its favor.  There is no doubt that if the new leaders choose to, the Ivory Coast and its people could indeed make economic progress at a fairly fast pace.

I myself was very productive as far as our mission work is concerned.  I completed several interviews during the first day, thanks to all of my new media friends here who showed us great interest in learning more about our country (remember that many of them had just started back to work after being forced to stop for a while under very dangerous conditions).  Thank you to my print media friends: Mr. Rodrigue Konan with Le Patriote; Mr. Hamandou Ziao and Mr. Bertrand Gueu with L’Inter; Mr. Jonas Baikeh with Le Soir Info, who was very knowledgeable about the Balkans; Mr. Benjamin Soro with Mandat; and Mr. Alain Tieffi with Fraternite Matin; and thank you to the great people at Radio Nostalgie: Mr. Luise Martin and Mr. Koe Ri Tra Omer – both of them were excellent to work with.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs here was also excellent.  Vlora Citaku’s letter was hand delivered to the Minister’s Secretary and I was able to speak with several of the team members there in order to bring Kosovo’s issue into their awareness.

After spending the first night at my hotel, I was able to reach my Kosovar friends, who were all extremely happy to hear that I was in their country and that I was safe and sound.  Thank you to Mr. Milot Bujupi, brother to mission team member Fidan Bujupi.  Fidan has offered many hours of volunteer work to our cause over the last eight months.  Milot also was gracious enough to contribute financially to our mission as well.  Thank you to the rest of my new friends for sharing their time, their homes and the comforts of home.  It was a wonderful feeling to experience Kosovar hospitality such a long ways from home.

Finally, I was really lucky to be able to attend a party organized by the United Nations,which was something to be remembered – getting to spend some time with people from around the world, eat some great food and get to know many wonderful personalities.  Being with friends from home really recharged my battery and gave me some much needed moral support to continue on our journey.

Being in the Ivory Coast was a great experience for me and I met many brave and wonderful people who have gone through hell in the past several months due to the political unrest that was outside of their control.  This country will be one of those nations that can recover quickly based on my opinion and there is great economic potential since they have a tremendous wealth of resources from which to utilize.  All that is needed now is strong political stability so that they can have good governance and be able to prosper in life.  Let’s hope that this dark chapter, brought to them by power hungry leaders, will not repeat itself and that the future will allow these hard-working, goal-oriented people to prosper and live in peace, joy and security.

I have lots of good memories of this beautiful country, thanks to all of the people who became a part of me and our mission.  I was even able to visit a hotel that is part of history in the making: the Golf Hotel – where the newly elected President and his government were based until the defeat of the outgoing regime.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I am scheduled to go back to Ethiopia.  I am so glad that I don’t have to fly our baby Cessna for thirty hours in order to ge there, even though my commercial airline ticket cost and arm and a leg.  As my Kosovar friends drive me to the airport, we say our farewells.  Upon our arrival, we see all kinds of official looking planes: Presidents from around the world (including France) are all arriving in order to be here for the historic inauguration of President Alassane Ouattara.  I wish the beautiful people of this country a future full of much peace and prosperity.

Another very influential country in Africa is Ethiopia, which is nearly 100 times larger than our Kosovo and has nearly 80 million people. Their capital, Addis Ababa is home to the African Union and for that reason, Ethiopia is sometimes considered the political capital of Africa. This country also has the most stable economy within East Africa. I am looking forward to getting our message out in a country as influential as this one. Hopefully we can share our story here and gain some political momentum in this part of the world. If we were to gain recognition from a place as strong as Ethiopia, than it is likely that several smaller countries in this region may follow the lead. Let’s hope we can make a difference here.

I have also been looking forward to visiting this country for many other reason. Since I am in love with the different cultures of the world, I can’t wait to learn about the ones here in Ethiopia. Since this place is very important to all three major religions of the world, I’m excited to know more about that, not to mention the fact that there are many indigenous cultures here too. That usually means that there are fascinating traditions, languages, dances, foods, to experience, etc.

Flying over this great land from Uganda and Kenya from the southwest, I had to fly over many different terrains during my flight to Addis Ababa – from dry areas to wetlands, valleys, to high hills and mountains (remember that I mentioned in my Kenya description that Ethiopia is sometimes called ‘the roof’ of Africa), etc. I was able to see some of the fascinating, picturesque landscapes of this historic place as I had to fly to elevations over 12,000 ft. at times.

At an altitude of that level, our baby plane doesn’t really want to work hard like it should. At one point, I was near the hilltops of the Ethiopian Highlands and thought I would have to pay a visit to some of the farmers below who, as it turns out, are members of the indigenous Gurag culture. That is the population that resides up here where it is very isolated from other places. They are historicaly farmers and/or tend to raise cattle in order to survive and some of their housing even looked liked huts made with a grass roof. It would have been nice to learn more about their culture someday, but I was not looking forward to landing in their yard because our plane did not want to fly any higher. Luckily, just when I thought I would have to make a surprise visit to some poor, unexpecting family, I approached a valley and was able to start my 4,000 ft. descent into Addis Ababa.

I’m also interested in visiting this country to learn more about it’s history. Ethiopia is known throughout the world as one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today. Further, it has strong ties to all three major world religions. In addition to this being home to the Ethiopian Orthodox community, Ethiopia is considered one of the first Christian countries in the world, the site of the first hijra in Islamic history (when a group of Muslims were counseled by Muhammad to escape travel here in order to escape persecution in Mecca in 615) and has also had a substantial Jewish population (also known as the Beta Israel). One other religion that Ethiopia has ties to is the Rastafari religious moement, which has popularized the Ethiopian flag and helped to spread reggae music across the world.

It is late afternoon when I finally touch down in Addis Ababa. I quickly find a decent hotel within my budget (at least this one has breakfast in the morning) and I go to bed early. Even though you just sit in the airplane all day when you are flying, you have to maintain a lot of focus and concentration when flying an airplane -so believe it or not, a long day of flying like this can be physically and mentally exhausting.

While I am here in Ethiopia, I am going to see about getting back over to the Ivory Coast, which is on the West side of Africa. Since I had to skip that country back in December due to political unrest, I want to make sure that I visit them now that they are more stable. Our airplane will be staying here in Addis Ababa though, because it would take me more than a week of flying to get all the way over there – not to mention all of the brutal logistical hell that I would have to go through. I also have to get a few visas for some upcoming countries, so that will take some running around and more money for sure. My three days here will probably be as hectic as hell and very busy, but I am used to that by now and I like to start seeing progress immediately, so I am willing to put in those long 18 hour days. The first thing I need to do tomorrow is get a feel for the environment.

After traveling to so many countries, you never know what to expect from the media, government, people, etc.. I have learned to be prepared for anything and to be very cautious initially in regards to security and such. After a few years, I have just learned to expect the unexpected and ‘go with the flow’ of the surrounding environment. I have no idea how I will be received here in Ethiopia, so I guess I will just have to wait and see.

It is not long before I start chatting with the local people and find out that this country has a recent history of being under military control. Until 1974, Ethiopia was ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie I, who was overthrown when the country destabilized due to the people’s unrest regarding many of their living conditions. In 1974, a Marxist-Lenin group established a one-party communist state called the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. During that time, especially in the 1980’s, a series of famines affected this great nation and nearly 8 million people faced food insecurity, with one million of them dying from starvation. Once stabilized in the 1990’s, a constitution was finally developed and multi-party elections were held. But stability wouldn’t last long because 1998 a border dispute led to the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, which would last until June 2000, with an estimated 70,000-100,000 people dying as a result. Even today, relations between the two countries remain tense and there remains tight control within the realm of local media. Freedom of speech is still very limited.

So I spend the next two days running to over ten media houses trying to get our cause covered without a lot of progress to show for it. Either the ‘editor isn’t here’ or they say that they are too busy to meet with me. What this means is that a sensitive subject like ours will likely create a lot of tension, which they are trying to avoid out of fear that it could get them into trouble with their government. Ethiopia and Serbia have been trying to build closer trade relations with each other and I can tell that the media people are trying very carefully not to rock the boat.

In two full working days, I have a very hard time trying to convince the media here that our story is important. In my experiences, if you are not able to obtain an interview within two days, then you might as well stop your begging because they aren’t going to give in to you. The more that they can avoid you, the easier it gets for them, so if you don’t get their attention within the first few days, then there isn’t much of a difference that you’re going to make if you keep bothering them.

I did, at least, get two newspapers who were willing to take a risk and cover our story. Thank you very much to Mr. Dejene Tesemma, Editor-in-Chief of the Ethiopian Herald (a government owned agency to my surprise)*. Mr. Tesemma is a great gentleman with lots of field experience who is striving hard for a positive change. He assigned his journalist Mr. Eyob Fitwi to our story, who was very knowledgeable about Kosovo and asked me several questions during the interview. Thank you so much to Mr. Tesemma for his risk-taking and delicate care that he showed to our story.

*Note: On 1 June 2011, we received notice from Mr. Tesemma that Z. Dragan Momcilovic, Serbian Ambassador to Ethiopia, contacted the The Ethiopian Herald to express his anger about the publication of our story. Please take time to thank those brave media sources who are willing to risk their professinal credibility in order to cover our story.

The other newspaper that I would like to thank is the Capital newspaper. Managing Director, Mrs. Teguest Yilma, was an excellent lady with a geat personality. She showed great interested in helping our country. She was very professional and stood behind her words, promising that someone would be calling me for an in-depth interview. The next day, the Editor himself called me. Mr. Groum Abate showed great attention and dedication toward our interview. A few days later I was able to see the article being published which made me even happier. Thank you again to both newspaper teams who took a risk in covering our cause.

Ethiopia only has one television station, which I contacted to no avail. There leadership was very upfront with me and admitted that Kosovo was too sensitive of a subject to be presenting to the public and that he was worried about the consequences that it might produce. He stated that his country was trying hard to improve it’s economy and could not jeopardize the international relations that they had with other nations. Basically this means that Ethiopia and Serbia are trying to build stronger relations in which Ethiopia will benefit from in some way. It’s too bad that our government won’t lobby harder, because if Kosovo were recognized, we could be the ones building these relationships instead.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I thought that they were quite receptive for being such a huge nation and knowing their political situation. Though the Minister himself was not there, the Chief of Cabinet, Mr. Tsegab Kebebew was there to greet me. He was gracious enough to spend some time with me and said that our letter from Vlora Citaku will get into the Minister’s hands as soon as he meets with him again. Thank you also to the Minister’s Secretary, whom I presented with a copy of the letter to give to her boss. Despite not getting any solid answers, I was well received within the Ministry and though the Chief of Cabinet did not want to elaborate, he did mention that I could rest assured that there will be further discussion about Kosovo within their office. He also showed me a book about our country which was laying on his coffee table and had been published during war times. It is good to know that we are at least on the minds of local government and that our name is known here.

No matter how hard I tried those two days, these few accomplishments were all I could manage to gain in this country. One thing that I did not like about all of my activities here is that all of the buildings (not just the government ones) required a security screening in order to enter. Not only did this take up a lot of time, but during one of my many visits into these types of offices, I managed to leave my camera behind and lost more than 1000 photographs of my travels. Though I could care less about my camera, I am very disappointed that I lost all of those pictures. Since I like to travel lightly and don’t waste our money on things like souvenirs, those photos were all that I had to show for the countries that I have visited. I went back the next day to try and find it, but it was nowhere to be found (no doubt taken by an eager security guard I’m sure). The worst part of the whole thing is that I had to file a police report and had to waste more time dealing with that type of nonsense.

After those two long days of work with only little progress being made, I refocused my efforts and bought a ticket to Ivory Coast. I am looking forward to going there and finally finishing the West African portion of our mission. That country has been on my mind every since I had to avoid it back in December. Since then, I have been paying close attention to their political situation and looking for an opportunity to go back there. But it certainly won’t be cheap. Ethiopian Airlines is the major airline in this part of the world, so they pretty much set the local prices. But I guess when you consider that the flight will be nearly seven hours from here to there, $1300 ends up being a lot less to pay than all of the money and time it would take to fly my plane there and back.

On the night before I left for the Ivory Coast, I was able to enjoy some authentic Ethopian cuisine, listen to local music and experience some of the traditional dancing of this country. What makes each nation unique is it’s people, traditions, culture, geography, etc. and I could easily spend more time here learning more about this subject, but of course, we are on a mission my friends and I must keep going.

One other thing that I must tell you all now is that the ladies here are absolutely enchanting. I’m not joking when I tell you that walking down the street in Addis Ababa felt like I was walking down a runway full of models. What an invigorating moment to enjoy for sure. Another thing that I keep forgetting to tell you is the Lada is a very popular mode of transporation down here in Africa (which is also the case here in Ethiopia). I am guessing that its because those cars are so cheap and must be more accessible.

As I was traveling all around in my Lada taxi, I was able to see that the economy of Addis Ababa is picking up pretty fast. There was a lot of construction everywhere, with roads being built, infrastructure increasing, etc., which is always a good sign of progress. My time in this town has also shown me that Ethiopia is very much a country that respects outsiders and is trying to build stronger relationships with the world in order to benefit the people of this beautiful land.

Capital Ethiopia

Capital Ethiopia PDF

Society Ethiopia PDF

I am finally visiting the land of Kenya. For years I have dreamt about this moment. As a child, this was one of those places that I learned about through books and television and could only imagine what it would be like. I am looking forward to seeing some of the notorious wildlife here in this beautiful country.

Remember our airplane is back in Uganda getting some maintenance done to it so I decided to take ground transporation to this country in the mean time. It was only a few hours to the Kenyan border, so after checking on the progress of our airplane, I took a local bus company. Welcome to Africa my friends. Remember that I keep telling you a few things about this continent – like the fact that time means nothing here, things are not always the cleanest and equipment and/or supplies are not in the best of quality…

My bus ride is expected to take seven to eight hours in total and we are already getting off to a late start. The bus is very old, very uncomfortable and has a suspension system in as bad of shape as the roads seem to be. It was quite an adventurous ‘outback’ type ride that I had to take and my bones will never forget all of the pounding that they got on this jarring ride. The only thing we were missing was a view of any animals that you might see on a real safari.

We reached Nairobi around 4:00am, so I quickly found a hotel downtown next to the bus station to catch a few hours of sleep. This hotel wasn’t half bad, there were great people working there and it was right within my budget. It was so nice to lay down in a bed after all of those hours riding in a bus that felt more like a horse’s chariot bouncing you around.

After a few hours of sleep, I was up and ready to attack another full day of mission work. I quickly showered and ate a small breakfast and went to work on finding a taxi driver who was willing to cooperate with my budget and my price. The next few days I spent running around like a madman, going from media house to media house in order to get some good coverage for our Kosovo cause. I need to stop here and thank all of the media personnel here in Nairobi for their excellent work.

I was very impressed with the determination and assertiveness that I saw in the people that I met here. They were really hard workers, strong characters and real go-getters. It looks like Kenya is one of those successful nations that not only has great people, but has great leaders as well.

Thank you to everyone at the Nation newspaper, especially Mr. Eric Shimoli (news editor) who was excited to have me there and offered his support and hard work to help out our country. He has such an awesome personality – very persistent in nature, hard working, very professional, etc. He assigned Mr. Walter Menya to my story right away. Mr. Menya was very helpful and knowledgeable about Kosovo too.

The Nation newspaper is very influential and respected here in Kenya and also has a television and radio station. Teams as dedicated, honest and hard working as this one make a big difference in their world and their communities. Thank you to all of my journalists, editors and their bosses who have helped me in our mission work.

While I was at the headquarters of the Nation (and thanks to the team who introduced me), I met with the head of their national station, NTV, Mr. Emmanuel Juma, who was interested right away in getting me an interview with his sation. Mr. Juma authorized his very determined and intellectual journalist, Mr. James Smart, to do the interview. Mr. Smart was very precise and dedicated and had an awesome personality.

Mr. Smart not only did great work covering our story with his own employer, he also called in one of his colleagues at another television station. Thank you to the television host Mr. Jasiel Njau at Good News Broadcasting or GBS TV, who graciously gave me nearly thirty minutes of airtime to speak about our country’s cause. Not only that, but he called me many times before I left his country to make sure that we could get everything accomplished. Thank you to the rest of the GBS team who were all excellent people to work with: Mr. Michael Onsaga, James Mambo, Ms. Jacquelin Gule (editor); Lilian Kabura; Mercy Munagi, Mambo Nduati and finally, Ms. Winnie Adisa, who helped out a lot.

Another great person was Mr. Charles Kyalo from Citizen TV. He was very helpful in getting Kosovo exposed to his nation. I want to also thank Mr. William Okoth with The Citizen newspaper. He was an excellent journalist who offered his time and attention to our cause.

Finally, thank you to the team at Kenya Broadcasting Company (KBC), whom I got to spend some good time talking with about our country. This station actually belongs to the government, which normally would be a little harder to deal with and to get fair coverage from. However, this great team was convinced right away that something needed to go on the local airwaves about Kosovo so that we could hurry up and get recognized by their country. People like this team make a big differnce in the world – they strive for fairness and justice no matter if they might face repurcussions from their bureaucratic bosses or not. Their broadcast was transmitted the nationwide the very next day and I was able to see it on the evening news. Thank you Mr. Danie Waitere, a political editors who, along with his coworker Ms. Wangari Kanyongo (the journalist who interviewed me) and Mr. Moses Waweru (who recorded the interview). Ms. Kanyongo is a great journalist who is very detailed, humble and knowledgeable. Each person played an excellent part in building a bridge from our nation to the people of Kenya.

Back in the print media, I enjoyed working with The Star newspaper, thanks to their editor Mr. Wycliffe Muga. He had a great character with remarkable leadership skills and gave his time, attention and dedication to making sure that Kosovo would be shared with his people. He expressed a lot of respect and admiration for what I was doing and even brought in his journalist Grace Kerongo to help with the interview. He wanted to make sure that it was collected in both written format and audiotape. People like Grace and Wycliffe are important leaders for their generation and will be remembered for a long time to come.

Over at People Newspaper, I want to thank the editor, Mr. Erick Nyakagwi and his journalist Ms. Ann Wairimu. Ann wrote an excellent article, which I was pleased to see in their newspaper the next morning. Working with great people like that makes my mission work easier and much more productive.

Thanks to Mr. Peter Orengo with The Standard. He knew a lot of information about our nation and was willing to get our intentions out there to the rest of his country.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was pleased to find a very accomodating and professional staff as well. Thank you to First Secretary, Mr. Fredrick L. Matwang’a; Deputy Chief of Protocol, David K. Musyoka and Samson K. Koech, Personal Assistant to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. They all offered to help us and promised that they would bring Kosovo’s independence to the attention of their bosses.

I was able to get a lot of our mission work accomplished here in Kenya rather quickly, thanks to my taxi driver Mr. Godfrey. He knew the city very well and really helped make my time more productive. It also helped to have amazing and talented media personnel working hard on quality articles, interviews, etc. I know that our issue is certainly safe in their hands and that the people of Kenya now know about our little country Kosovo, all the way on the other side of the world.

Another amazing thing happened to me in this country was that, while grabbing a bite to eat in a restaurant after such a hectic pace of work, I was approached by a small group of people. My friends, would you believe that it was a small group of friends from back home. I was able to spend about an hour with Kadri Abazi, Fitore Hajrullahu and Orman Gogo who all work for the United Nations here in Kenya. The world feels like it just keeps getting smaller to me by the second.

I am very pleased with my visit here in Kenya. It is one of those nations that is successful and where you can see the determination to keep this country moving forward. I have met so many talented and hard working people here in Nairobi. Even the city itself is taken care of. There is lots of great architecture, good roads that are well-organized, nice green parks, etc. You can really tell that this country is a role model for Africa in many respects. It is really possible to see here what can happen when a government reduces some of the barriers to local talent and allows its own people to shine. And let’s not forget another important fact about Kenya – that it is the birthplace of Barack Obama’s father.

After working very hard on our mission here in Africa for seven months now, I wanted to finally take a small opportunity to act like a tourist. There are only a few things that I have wanted to do here in Africa that are once in a lifetime opportunities. One very important wish that I have had all along is to actually get to see some of the African wildlife. Since Kenya is my last chance to see the beautiful creatures before heading any farther north, I wanted to make sure that I would actually get to experience the many animals that this continent is famous for.

It is a Saturday here in Kenya and my mission work is completed. I have found a taxi driver who is willing to take me into the wild and experience the animals of Africa. Though the wildlife park is not far from the city, this taxi driver is a very brave man. Usually tourists rent sturdy vehicles like Land Rovers or Land Cruisers, but my budget is of course, limited, so we will see how well we can get through all of those dirt roads that are filled with potholes as tall as I am. Let’s hope that the animals don’t find us stranded on the side of the road and eat us for lunch.

We arrived to the park around noon on Saturday and my main objective for the day is to get to see a lion in real life. I have never actually seen one in this lifetime, not even in a zoo setting, so you can imagine my excitement today! As soon as we enter the park we start to encounter wildlife. Usually, animals tend to run away from us humans, but these animals must have been already used to all of the tourists. We were able to see creatures like gazelles, buffalos, ostriches, giraffes, zibras, etc… but alas, no lions yet.

My friends, it feels so good to be out here in this open land. Though I love flying more than anything in the world, it is so nice when I get to be on the ground and in the middle of nature. It is where I feel most at home and it helps to recharge my battery from time to time. I’m sure that this has to do with my being raised in the countryside, but this is part of who I am now and is truly a place where I can find true joy. Plus, it helps me get away from the routine things in life and if I didn’t connect with it every now and then I’m afraid that I would start to loose it.

So today is an amazing day for me. I am eating roasted corn and tuna fruit that I bought just before entering the park, the birds are singing, wildlife viewing is great and all of god’s creatures are running free out here. They look as though they don’t have a care in the world and I’m so happy that I get to enjoy them in their natural habitat and not in a zoo where they would be stuck in tiny little cages.

From time to time we stop the car and I am able to get out in the fresh air and feel this place. It is so beautiful; there is a nice breeze blowing and small ponds nearby where you can see the animals stop to take a drink. I am in nothing less than paradise on earth right here and I feel like I could not be happier than this moment.

After a few hours, I see many beautiful animals, but no lions. Some of them are very familiar with us humans and are not afraid to get up close to us. The zibras and giraffes stay close by and pretty much ignore us. They are more interested in grazing and feeding themselves instead. I even spot a bunch of giraffes a few meters from us who are walking one by one behind each other. I could spend days here in this environment, but it’s time for us to start heading back to Nairobi. I am kind of sad that I have not seen one lion all day long, but what can you do? At least I have seen most of the other animals.

On our way out, I spot a beautiful owl with very bright colors. He is sitting right next to the road that we are driving on. It is kind of strange to me to see him so close and to see that he is not even scared of us. He doesn’t even move at all. I even start to take pictures and he still doesn’t seem bothered by our presence. It doesn’t look like he is sick or injured or anything, but he just sits there staring at us and not moving. I go even closer to him and take more photos and that owl still doesn’t move. I at least wanted a picture of this him flying, so I had to scare him off in order to make that darn bird fly.

After chasing him away, I finally see what was really on his mind. He had been guarding his lunch from me. Underneath where he was sitting laid a dead rabbit. That owl was being stubborn and wanted to make sure that I would not take his lunch from him. So, I stopped taking pictures and left him alone to enjoy his lunch. As we drove away, I could see him flying back to his catch.

A few hundred meters later a miracle begins to happen. My friends, an animal that I have wanted to encounter for my entire lifetime is suddenly within my eyesight. Wow! A real-life lion! My heart is beating so fast and I am so excited to be having this experience. My taxi driver quickly pulls over to the side of the road, along with about five other vehicles. Soon, we start to see two more of them. I was both nervous and excited to be near them, but they did not seem to be bothered by having an audience – they were interested in more important things.

We had a front row seat to two lions fighting it out for one lioness. They were fighting and growling and things were getting very intense. The other observers and I were getting all excited. A few times we were scared though, because the lions started getting only a few meters away from us. And there I was in a taxi and all of these other people were sitting around in their sophisticated, sturdy Land Rovers and such. But by that time it didn’t matter much because the lions were more interested in fighting over this lioness thank god.

As we watched, the lioness started fighting back one of the lions while he was trying to chase away the other male lion. It looked like she had made her pick already of which lion was going to win her over. We watched this magnificent site for about an hour before we had to head back towards Nairobi. My dear friends, this was one of the most exciting experiences of my life and I will remember this moment forever.

As we were leaving the park, we got to see another set of monkeys on the way out, just running around free in nature. On my way back into town I start to feel a strong sense of accomplishment in this country – both in our mission work and in my personal dream of experiencing African wildlife. Tomorrow is Sunday, so it will be back to work as I travel to Jinja to pick up our airplane and fly to Ethiopia.

On Sunday morning I wake up and check the prices for a flight back to Jinja, Uganda. That option was quickly out of the question when I realized that last minute ticket prices are very expensive. So I decided to take a chance and check bus prices again. During the last few years, I have had to use many different types of transportation (planes, trains, boats, buses, you name it), but it seems like when you take a bus, you end up finding a lot of shady characters. This is especially the case in the U.S. with the Greyhound busline. But what can you do? When you are broke and trying to save money, you have no other options.

I find a bus that will leave at 8:00pm and it is a different company than the one that brought me out here. As I board the bus, I can already see that it is much nicer than the one that brought me out here. Thank god. Now, I can feel comfortable trying to catch some sleep. That way, I can be ready bright and early in Jinja when I have to deal with our plane. Plus, I will save money since I don’t have to pay for a hotel room.

At 5:00am, we reach our destination, but it is too early to get any business done. Thank the lord that gas stations in Africa (like most businesses) have security guards with machine guns to protect their valuables because I end up having to wait at one for two whole hours before it is finally daylight. I am hoping that today I can get our airplane, head to Entebbe to get our AVGAS (they don’t have any at the airport where our plane is being maintenanced) and start my seven-hour journey to Ethiopia.

Of course, things never go according to my schedule and when I arrive at the airport, I learn that they are still working on the plane. I am dissappointed, but hey, this is aviation and things are never as fast as the speed of the aircrafts themselves. So I try to make the most of my time by cleaning and preparing the plane while the maintenance workers are finishing up.

I was finally ready to go and that is when the big surprise hit me. Being in Africa, you never know what is going to happen, especially when you start to pay your service fees. The bill was close to $5000USD. Holy freaking hell I said. I definitely was not prepared for that as I had budgeted for the bill to be a third of that. At this point I was boiling, but I tried to stay calm.

It turns out that the company was trying to make some extra cash off of my business, but I am the wrong person to try that with folks. As we went over the bill together, part of the problem was that the careless, supposed accountants overcharged me for several things (this is a common experience down here). So the owner of TPSC of South Africa and I had to have a nice little chat about all of the nonsense charges on my bill. After finding the mistakes and negotiating the hours of labor that they charged me for, the bill was still nowhere near what I had planned for it to be and was still around $3500 USD.

I was really upset, but I told the owner that I could not pay the total bill and that my expectations had been a lot different. I told him that I would have to wait for more cash to come in from Europe and that I was totally broke in our bank account. I was very frustrated at this point, but calm as I emptied the aircraft again and left it knowing that I would have to postpone my trip to Entebbe.

Now, our mission was at the mercy of the Kosovo government. Though they had promised me some funding (which was nowhere near my requested amount) a while ago, it took them a full two months to make the decision. Even now, they were still ‘finalizing’ everything and did not have the money ready for us. I ended up waiting another six days in Jinja, wasting time and awaiting someone to execute the order and deposit the money into our bank account. Even still, this was only after intense pressure on our part.

For those six days, I waited as patiently as I could, all the while wasting the money that my brother Nazim had recently sent me. My brother works very hard, struggling to earn his own money. Yet he has always made sure not to let his brother starve down here in Africa. Folks, I get so frustrated when our government has promised us only a small amount of funds and then takes over two months to deliver it while my brother has spent several thousands of dollars on this mission.

Further, I know firsthand that Flying for Kosovo is very well-respected in Kosovo and with Albanians in general, so I can’t understand for the life of me why our government will not help our efforts out more. Our mission is so much cheaper than most other types of lobbying. Not to mention that by me being an average citizen of Kosovo, the governments and media tend to listen to me and our story more than if a government official were to do the same thing. Instead, I see so much money wasted in our government for things that are much less important than this mission. What could be more important than funding lobbying efforts around the world? Especially if it is an effort that is well respected by our country’s citizens? I shake my head at this dilemma quite often.

On Saturday, I finally get word from our assitant Lumnije Gashi that the money is being wired today via MoneyGram. There are only a few hours before the banks close here, so I must hurry to get this transaction completed. And remember, it takes forever to exchange money down here, not to mention the fact that each time that you do, you always end up losing some on both ends of the deal (services fees for the transaction, exchange rates, etc.).

Once I arrived at the airport, I was able to pay our fees in no time and TPSC was very happy to hear the news. I might mention here that I avoided taking a taxi to the airport this time and chose a MotoBike instead. I have taken them lots of times down here, but they are so much cheaper than a taxi, though they do take a lot longer to get you where you are going. At least I can use this money for something more important, like AVGAS.

After I paid TPSC for their overpriced services, I had filed our flight plans, had the plane cranked up and was ready to fly in no time. After a forty-minute flight I was landing in Entebbe at an airport that I can fuel up with AVGAS. It’s late afternoon now and too late to fly all the way to Ethiopia today, so now I have to spend more money on another hotel and wait until morning to take off – more money being wasted. At least now I am out of Jinja and some of the financial pressure is off.

After enjoying a cold coca-cola near Lake Victoria, I headed to bed early in order to get a headstart in the morning. I arrived at the airport by 7:00am, filed flight plans, paid the airport fees and fueled my plane within two hours time. Here in Entebbe, they tried to charge me 2.71 for a liter of AVGAS, but luckily I was able to negotiate it down to 2.51. Since I will need 305 liters in order to fly all the way to Addis Ababa, .20 cents off is not much of a deal. But, what choice do I have? We only have a few countries left to visit with this portion of the mission and I need to get them finished before our money runs out again.

The weather is nice today as I take off for our flight. During the next seven hours, I already know that I will need to cross many different terrains. From water to countryside to mountains, when you have a flight this long you are bound to see a lot of different landscapes. Even the weather patterns will be different – going from dry, hot weather to wet and tropical and back again.

During the last two hours of my flight, I needed to fly our baby plane as high as 12,000 feet above sea level in order to fly over the high mountain peaks. Ethiopia is home to 80% of Africa’s tallest mountains and is sometimes called ‘the roof of Africa’. For a plane our size, this is a very difficult task and I was very nervous that our small plane would not be able to make it that high. Though it was a struggle, it was also an amazing experience to fly that high and to clear those peaks for sure. I was able to see the many beautiful landscapes of Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Just south of Addis Ababa, when I was flying at those very high altitudes, it was amazing to see that people actually lived all the way up here. I was very worried that I was flying too close to them. There they were down there with their crops, farmland, cattle, etc. and because we were already at a high altitude, my baby plane had to fly very low to them. A few times I thought I would be ending up landing in their farmland because the plane couldn’t go any higher.

Thank god I finally spotted a shallow valley before hitting the rooftop of these farmer’s homes. After that, I didn’t have much time to get the plane down a 4,000 ft. descent to be able to land in Addis Ababa. Though it was a struggle to get our plane up to 12,000 ft., it also wasn’t easy to have to descend 4,000 ft. in such a short amount of time. I soon touched down in Ethiopia after sundown and cleared customs in no time. Tomorrow is another busy day of mission work, but I am looking forward to making progress again.

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