P.O. Box 1214,
Mogadishu,
Somali Democratic Republic.
March 25th 1975.
Dear Folks,
Above, my address until further notice. I’m writing this from the field here in Somalia, of which a little more later. You should by now have got my film and letter from Karachi. I can’t remember what I told you about Pakistan; probably not much, as I wasn’t really there long enough, and I was extremely busy. I’ll probably be back there for a few weeks after I get through here, though.
Anyway, I had a pretty good flight to Mog. Kuwait Air to Abu Dhabi, then Somali Airlines to Mog. There were two beautiful stewardesses on the Kuwait Air flight, and the plane was full of Arabs who kept pushing all the wrong buttons and scrambling over the seats like it was a bus in Cairo. I caught Somali Airlines’ only jet the same day and landed at Mog at 8 p.m. local time. I was met with the words, “Hello Dave, plane leaves for the field in the morning, crew’s down.” Sounds about normal, I thought.
I went out with the blokes from the office here that evening, though. Saw a movie at the American Embassy, then had a meal and some drinks. Booze is hard to come by here (it’s an Islamic country, more-or-less), and expensive. There’s no booze on the crews here, and won’t be for a while.
Mogadishu seems slightly cleaner than I remember it. There were fewer bugs in my room at the staff house, and the air-conditioning actually worked. Out here in the field (north-west of Mog), the country is exactly the same as Ethiopia. About as hot, too, just under 1000F every day.
I’ve been out here over a week, I’ll be going back to Mog on Wednesday. Tawassul Khan (World Technical Supervisor) came out from Egypt, where he’d gone from London, and we’ve spent the last few days installing and troubleshooting a new set of equipment for the second crew that will start up here in about a months’ time. I’ll come back out here for that. Loads to do, as always, both here and in town, but I feel fine. So, let me know how you’re all doing, and I’ll add some more in the next couple of days if I get time. No time now, see you,
Love David.
