Mission 10 - Second trip to Christina Kiddie Children’s Home Kimberley.

18th June 2005 Saturday morning saw Francessco Masselli leaving Grand Central at a respectable 07.45 in his Cessna 182 and heading out for Kimberley under fine flying weather, carrying a load of foodstuff comprising of cereals and staple foodstuff as well as toiletries. Myself and Stephen Bowden left Grand Central a little later at approximately 09.00 in a PA28, a little slower, but trusty, we carried blankets, scarves and about 50Kg’s of rice and cereal. Once out of the TMA clouds began to gather above and we requested our level from ATC. About 20 minutes into the leg and the clouds began to gather below us, but these never amounted to much and cleared totally the further west we flew.

The trip was uneventful besides ATC not picking up our transponder, so we cancelled our flight plan, descended to 1500 feet above ground level and continued on our merry way. The airfield was unmanned when we arrived, with little traffic besides one pilot heading in from the south and Francessco leaving the field having offloaded already. He elected not to stay and greet us. We were a little hurt but not for too long, tea and eats awaited us. On arrival we offloaded our aircraft into a waiting bakkie, the boot filled with our blankets, scarves and supplies, and were invited for tea. Now I have experienced Tannie Freda’s treats and accepted on the spot before Stephen could or would protest. A smart move on his part because true to my suspicion a veritable feast awaited. There weren’t too many children in the home.

It being school holidays, the children are accommodated by families and in holiday camps at this time. There were some children who tried on the scarves and blankets. They must have felt like celebrities as a result of the number of photographs which ensued, flash bubs flashing and all. (See Gallery) Thanks to our pilots, Stephen and Francessco, as well as new donors in Sesli Textiles, for the blankets and the X Church who supplied the scarves, to Air BP for fuel and funds to purchase product. Thanks to Freda from Christina Kiddie for her usual warm welcome.

Mike Ehrman