At the risk of sounding monotonous, let me repeat something I've said many times before. Nothing is simple in Africa. For instance, try buying roofing sheets. First I tried to get a tax exemption because the sheets will be used for churches. I ended up driving to Dar es Salaam once, Iringa once and Mafinga about five times. Eventually I decided that it is too complicated. They told me it would take at least a couple more months to get the exemption (which by the way would save about $3000) if it was even granted. So back to Dar again to purchase the sheets. They told me my order would be ready in about a week. A week later they told me "one more week." Finally they told me that the sheets would be ready middle of this week. Ok, now I need a truck. My right hand man, Ezekiel, went off looking for a truck that had a load going to Dar so that we would only pay the return leg. He found one expected to leave Tuesday night. They finally left Wednesday morning but a few hours later the truck chassis broke. Ezekiel went on to Dar by bus. This morning he found another truck in Dar. All they needed to do was go load up. First off there was a piece of farm equipment that needed to get on. It was too heavy to lift so they needed a fork lift. Eventually they found one but the police promtly impounded it. Lots of money later they finally got the equipment loaded. Then off to load roofing sheets. Eventually it was quitting time so they just loaded all the sheets randomly on the truck with the forklift (25 tons worth) and sent them out the gate. I just called and they are out the gate rearranging the load by hand so they can get through the scales. They'll be driving all night. Hopefully they'll get here at a decent hour so we can get all unloaded and packed away before Sabbath. Then I'll need another truck for Sunday to take a bunch of material to Makete so we put up some buildings there next week.
On another note, the engine, exhaust system, propellor and a few odds and ends for the airplane are ready for shipping from Kamloops, in Canada. Eric and I are busy finishing up with the bracing and skins around the firewall and cabin sides and also the installation of the instrument panel.
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