A Christmas tale.

We wish everyone on Hive a Happy Christmas and a great New Year.

We visited the base camp of our heroes on Christmas Eve, as the firefighting planes were taking a rest, until the next fire callout.

But the story did not start here at the camp, as I will take you a bit deeper in the tale. Papillon runs a project called Mercy Flight, and it is based on bringing relief to the poor by handing out food parcels every Christmas day. The question was what we would do for the needy this Christmas day. The answer came to us as a call for emergency assistance appeared in the media. A devastating fire broke out in a local township, and the residents lost everything that they had.

A helicopter pilot took a woman and her boyfriend to inspect the helicopter.

So, we jumped in and gathered a heap of clothing for the people. My wife googled the contact details of the emergency relief agency to request where we would go to hand in the clothing. The answer was to take it to our local fire station, as then they would collect the clothing from there. So, I called the fire station manager, a very friendly guy, and he said that we were welcome to drop it off.

Two more shots below of the helicopter inspection. I just wanted to show you the lovely landscape.

A line of three helicopters behind that big old plane in the front. The old plane is in a process of being restored to its former glory.

The fire station manager entered our details in a collection register, and he told us they gather the donations periodically until there is enough. Then they call the disaster management department to come and collect it, and to distribute it to the fire victims. So, we thought that our part at Papillon was done and we were happy.

A last look at the planes. The two at the left are Fighting Fires planes, and the three at the right are private planes.

As I took the shots of the planes, I heard a loud whistle and as I turned to look at the source of the whistle, can you believe that it was a lady? Any case, she waved us closer and introduced herself to us by inviting us to also go with her for an inspection of the helicopters. I have posted the interior of one of the helicopters some time ago, and we didn't have the heart to walk the distance in the blazing sun. She gave us her phone number and told us to call her anytime if we want to go and have a look at the planes. So, we were meant to meet her.

Finally, just a view at our mountain, as we arrived back home.

Yesterday, we also attended a scheduled meeting at a garden center with the wife's aunt. Of course, like all aunts she wanted to know what we are doing on Christmas day. With some fancy footwork we managed to avoid the question, as we didn't want to be rude in saying that we wanted rather to spend the day at home. We don't do the secular thing of Christmas, and we keep the family events for during the year. This time of year, we use for reflection and for our work with the poor. Sometimes family/people don't understand this.

After the meeting with the aunt, we took a slow drive, and the road led us straight to the airfield. Oh yes, we were surprised at the link as it was all about fire. Now we are considering some kind of a project to get more involved in the fire rescue efforts. Maybe something to do with the human victims or with the wildlife, especially the slower and smaller ones that get damaged by the fire. So, we will see what we will see in the new year.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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