Flying for Life Sept 2011 Magazine

September 2011

Focus on women in Africa

The quarterly magazine of Mission Aviation Fellowship

Vital link in the chain 10 12A day in

my life

‘Women in Africa put up with a lot’‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40, Today’s NIV). Emma Stewart reportsPhotos Layton Thompson

All across the vast continent of Africa and in many other parts of the developing world, women are struggling for a voice, for equality

and for basic medical care.Canadian nurse Angela Deane made that

statement about women. Angela is working in Angola with Dr Steve Foster (featured in Flying for Life, December 2010) at CEML hospital in Lubango. MAF supports Dr Steve’s work, flying him to Kalukembe mission hospital and bush clinics, and often flying emergency referral patients to Lubango hospital.

No midwifeThe UN Millennium Development Goals aim to see change and improvement in eight areas by 2015, two of which are directly related to women – to improve maternal health and to bring gender equality. But just four years off the deadline, how much progress has been made? A snapshot of the reality of life for women in Angola shows substantial work remains to be done.

Across the developing world, the statistics are shocking. Fewer than six in ten women give birth with any trained professional

AFRICA: action for downtrodden women

2 Flying for Life September 2011 www.maf-uk.org

‘The fistula girls group together because no one really bothers with them’

Deaths of women per 100,000 live births (source: UNDP)

>500

367-500

234-367

101-234

<101

No data

September 2011 Flying for Life 3

present, such as a midwife or a doctor. When complications arise, as they do in 15% of all births, there is no one available to treat the woman. Many of them die in childbirth. Others are left with disabling injuries like fistula. The United Nations Population Fund estimates the world’s population of fistula sufferers at more than 2 million.

No lifeAngola has the highest overall death rate in the world. One of the first questions asked after a mother has given birth is not what sex the baby is but, ‘Is the baby alive?’

Dr Steve Foster spends much of his surgical time helping women suffering from fistulas. A fistula is a hole in the birth canal. There are two primary causes of fistula: childbirth causing obstetric fistula, and sexual violence causing traumatic fistula.

Women are often left infertile, abandoned by their husbands and also rejected by their communities. They are incontinent. They smell. Many have seizures, often curled up in pain. They are forced to live an isolated existence.

No friendsAngela joins Dr Steve on his monthly visits to Kalukembe hospital. She has devoted a great deal of her time to treating ‘the fistula girls’, as she calls them.

I saw a ward of ladies – most of them in their late teens – who had faced traumatic labours, leaving them damaged and ostracised by their husbands and families. In most cases, their babies were born dead.

‘The fistula girls group together because nobody really bothers with them or wants to

know them,’ Angela explains.Fernandho Louisa is 19 years old, and has

been undergoing treatment for nearly a year. Fistulas take a long time to repair and the operations must be done in stages. Like the other girls, Fernandho has a colostomy bag. In spite of all she has gone through, including losing her baby after three days in labour, she still smiles and says she isn’t in pain.

No schoolingBecause most of these girls smell, they have no one to look after them. Many of the other

Main: Fistula patient Fernandho LouisaTop left: Waiting outside the pediatric ward in Kalukembe hospitalAbove middle: Angela Deane working with the young women recovering from fistula operationsAbove: Cessna 206 aircraft coming in to landLeft: Nurse and midwife Angela Deane

An obstetric fistula develops when the blood supply to the tissues of the bladder, vagina and rectum is cut off during prolonged obstructed labour. These tissues die and a hole forms through which urine and faeces pass uncontrollably.

Medical description

Worldwide maternal mortality

hospital staff members can’t understand why Angela spends so much time with these girls. She and her husband Kevin teach the girls in the afternoon. Many of them have never had the opportunity to go to school. In addition, Angela has been helping them with sewing, making covers for their colostomy bags which help give dignity to the girls.

They’re a bunch of chatty, vibrant women. All now given hope of a better life.

In Lubango and at Kalukembe, Dr Steve sees a lot of injustice. He deals with problems that could be prevented with the right resources, education and a change in attitudes.

Every month, the MAF plane takes him to Kalukembe in just 45 minutes, opposed to a bumpy journey of several hours by road. Dr Steve begins his rounds straightaway, sorting out priorities for surgery, as he only has three days. The wards are packed with people, all waiting for further treatment or on the long road to recovery.


No healthcareInacia is lying on a mattress, looking heavily pregnant. Steve examines her while she explains that she has come to the hospital as she can’t understand why her baby hasn’t arrived. He confirms what he suspects. Inacia is not pregnant. She has a cyst that has grown at the rate of pregnancy.

Inacia has travelled more than 40 miles to get to the hospital. She has been having antenatal consultations in her home village. Although she had some bleeding, no one there picked up on the fact that she isn’t pregnant.

Unfortunately, Inacia’s case is really quite common. With little or no healthcare in rural areas, many problems which would be picked up in the west often go unnoticed and become extreme.

Later in the operating room, Steve sets about removing the cyst. Cutting Inacia open reveals a mass the size of a basketball. Fluid and blood have been diverted from the liver

AFRICA: action for downtrodden women


which has made it grow so large. Once it is detached, one of the student doctors lifts the cyst and it thuds into a basin. It weighs 10kg. Life for Inacia will be a whole lot better now without this mass.

No rightsIn one of the female wards, a young woman with two young children sits on her bed just staring into space. Domingos Francisco was beaten by her husband when he was drunk, hitting her so hard that he broke both her legs. Now she is bedridden. Her husband showed up after he had sobered up, but the judge did nothing other than send him home to look after his wife.

Domingos doesn’t have the money or the capability to press charges, and has no one else to look after her. Her situation is dire.

Madalena was raped. She is fragile and bruised. The man who raped her damaged her, beating her to a pulp. But she won’t testify against him.

Steve explains, ‘There is a pressure to stay zipped. You become the person who is being

investigated rather than the person who did the crime. Women’s health is bottom of the priority list. Women have no rights. Until nurses start getting angry about what is happening to fellow women, rape is treated with a shrug of the shoulders.’

Sadly, cases of rape and domestic abuse are not uncommon.

Giving women a voiceKalukembe is a teaching hospital. The nurses who train there also have to go to Bible school where they learn the biblical principles of compassion, love and justice.

‘In the last 25 years, women have started coming to nursing school,’ Steve tells me. ‘Previously, classes were all men. The ongoing challenge is that of transmitting to the next generation what they need to know to reflect Jesus. We need to unpack the Gospel. We talk to men about loving their wives as Christ loves the Church. What does this look like? What does the Gospel look like?’

This snapshot of daily life in a small part of Angola is a sad reality for many other women across the developing world. The reality of empowering women, of giving them equality and choice, hasn’t yet happened. A change here and across the developing world will take time.

As a woman with rights and a voice, it makes me sad, angry. But I’m hopeful as I see the desire of godly men and women living out biblical principles and helping bring a change to the next generation.

What is our part? In Micah 6:8 (NIV), we read: ‘What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ We can be a voice for those without one.

Main: Dr Steve Foster removes Inacia’ s ovarian cyst Left: Dr Foster with his students Below left: Nurse and midwife Angela with fistula patient Fernandho LouisaBelow: Angela and Dr Foster in the operating theatreBottom: Healthy mother and baby

‘In the last 25 years, women have started coming to nursing school’


UGANDA: caring for destitute people

Down a dirt road in the town of Soroti, the gates swing open to the Teso Safe Motherhood Project (TSMP) clinic.

The covered cement platform is teeming. For this is the only place providing IDPs with free antenatal care, family planning, 24-hour birth services, HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, food supplements and also child

vaccinations. The team of 18, including a doctor and 8 midwives and nurses, works tirelessly to treat each person who has come.

And come they do – in their droves. At times, the noise is deafening – babies wailing, children playing. Yet people wait patiently for their turn. During the day, those waiting spill out across the yard to find shade. Over 100

Displaced but not desertedNot far from internally displaced peoples (IDP) camps in Uganda’s Teso region, International Midwife Assistance (IMA) runs a clinic offering free comprehensive medical care. A typical day reveals its bustling activityStory Claire Musters Photos LuAnne Cadd

‘These people are helping us. We don’t pay anything’

supplies.We fly these volunteers to Soroti, as well as

transporting essential medicines. Executive Director of IMA Jennifer Braun enthuses about this contribution: ‘MAF assists in my work enormously! It is my favourite airline, far and away. We believe MAF keeps the volunteers

safe, allowing them safe passage in Uganda.’

Each patient has their own, often harrowing, story to tell about how they ended up in an IDP camp. Most of the personal stories involve Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks in 2003, which

led to many homes being burned and family members raped, mutilated, abducted or killed.

First choiceConditions in the camps are far from perfect, and people are living in shabby-looking mud structures. Latrines are often closed because they are too full. At times, there is not enough water or food. But although the government urges them to go home, these men and women choose to stay together in squalid camps rather than return to desolated villages and the possible threat of Karamojong cattle raiders.

What’s more, they do all they can to come to the IMA clinic rather than go to hospital, particularly women about to give birth. Some even choose to arrive so close to giving birth they simply can’t be moved.

It’s easy to see why people want to come to the clinic. Even when 5pm passes, rather than closing until the next day, the staff continue giving the same level of personal attention until they have seen everyone.

The clinic is just one of so many services our aircraft are helping to make possible in Uganda.


impoverished people are seen.Even though waiting at the clinic means

that women can’t be out trying to earn what little they can to feed their families, they know it is the best place for them to be. As 47-year-old Ajiko Mary Margaret explains, ‘If you go to another clinic, they will charge you 70,000 shillings. Where can you get all of that? But these people are helping us. We don’t pay anything. Nothing. The medicines are free.’

Family planningThe staff take only a short break for lunch. Although the surroundings are basic and cramped, compared with local hospitals, the clinic is remarkably clean and well-equipped with medical supplies. Each patient is moved efficiently through the whole treatment process. Some need a blood test for malaria. Pregnant women have at least two HIV tests during pregnancy. They are weighed, seen by a midwife, and given beans to supplement their diet and a mosquito net.

Elsewhere in the clinic, two nurses are conducting family planning sessions, while

another two staff members and a volunteer hand out medicines. Midwives and nurses are also on 24-hour standby to help to deliver babies. They are certainly kept on their toes. Today, midwife Petua Akello has not only led family planning

but also delivered a baby!

Favourite airlineThere are always short-term volunteers from the USA or Canada who come to provide further education for the staff, mentoring and immunisations. They also audit the medical

Some of the staff bear emotional scars from LRA violence. Midwife Petua is an IDP herself. ‘The LRA attacked us, shooting, cutting people, killing them. We came 40 miles on foot. They took my three children and one is not seen up to now – the ten-year-old. I don’t know if he is alive.’ Still obviously affected by traumatic memories, Petua feels IMA has given her her life back. And while she is able to help others in dire need through her skills, IMA has also enabled her to offer her children and grandchildren a future.

Once a week, the doctor and a few nurses travel to outlying villages to provide ‘outreach’ medical care. Villagers have learnt their schedule, and turn up in massive numbers. The team treats about 160 people in a day, but often many more arrive and they simply run out of time. Clinic Manager Martin Oteger elaborates: ‘If you had an opportunity to go to the “Outreach”, you would just break down. People have come 30 miles. Can you imagine? They come and sleep overnight. By the time we arrive, it’s like another camp! One time, we had over 1,000 people waiting for us!’

Petua Echodu Akello

Outreach

Main: IMA outreach clinic Far left/above left: Waiting to see the doctorLeft: Weighing babies Top left: Testing for malariaTop right: Nursing assistants Becky and Esther register patientsAbove right: IDP camp outside Soroti

In 1968, Maud Kells left her life as a nurse in rural Northern Ireland and sailed to Africa to work with WEC International in what was then Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)Story Emma Stewart Photos Geoff Crawford


Today, more than 40 years later, Maud divides her time between her home in Mulita, eastern DRC, and her home in Cookstown, County Tyrone.

No longer needing to travel by boat, she flies to Uganda, then onwards with MAF to her base at Mulita. Before reaching Uganda, she orders medicines, filling our Caravan aircraft to restock the hospital. ‘I couldn’t do what I do without MAF!’ she exclaims.

As I listen to Maud’s story of joy, hardship, trauma and drama, I am totally inspired by her. Despite evacuation several times during the long and messy civil war, Maud remains steadfast. She is a courageous woman with a huge heart for the people and country of her adopted home.

Building bricksYears of hardship and conflict have left the DRC more in need today than ever before. It is one of the world’s most volatile areas, fraught with corruption and unrest. Despite the war ‘officially’ ending in 2003, there is still a great

An inspirational woman

deal of insecurity, violence and a long road ahead to development.

Maud has worked in Mulita since 1986, having previously worked in Nebobongo. When she arrived, the mission centre was basic with the small hospital built from mud. Faced with rats living in the roof and rats’ droppings, she began a project to create a brick hospital, with washable concrete floors and a tin roof with proper ceilings to keep rats out.

It was a slow job – the brick machine only made two bricks at a time. But over the years, a maternity unit, surgical ward, extended outpatients and doctor’s housing were all built.

Rebels destroyed the mission base in 1998, holding the missionaries hostage and denying them any form of communication. As Maud tells her story, she has tears in her eyes.

Eventually able to radio for help, the missionaries waited on the airstrip where they were taunted by rebel supporters who had tried to prevent planes from landing. Maud recalls, ‘It was very traumatic. We couldn’t speak for ages.’

THE DRC: hardship, trauma, drama

‘As soon as I came back, they came back’


Bible schoolMaud returned to Northern Ireland. But in 2000, she was able to return to the DRC, first to Nebobongo, then going home to Mulita in 2004. She shares, ‘Everything was gone, stripped. It was basically starting from scratch again. A lot

Main: The brick hospital at MulitaInset/above left: Maud KellsFar left: Studying at the Bible schoolLeft: Pilot Jon Cadd loading supplies for the hospitalAbove: Impassable road in the DRC

n The civil war killed 5.4 million men, women and children and displaced a million more

n Peace accords were signed in 2003, but fighting continues in the east of the country. Rape has become a common weapon of war

n According to the UN, 200,000 women have been raped since the beginning of the war. More than 1,000 women are raped every day

n Many women die or are damaged in childbirth due to lack of adequate health facilities.

Women in the DRCof our people had been killed. Others had been hiding in the forest for months, years. As soon as I came back, they came back.’

They set about fixing up homes, filling in bullet holes, rebuilding everything that had been destroyed – and adding a medical ward which opened in February last year.

The hospital can take 80 patients. There is now one doctor and several trained nurses. Maud is never idle, concentrating on the maternity ward, helping with complicated deliveries, sharing the Gospel with mothers and giving them basic hygiene training.

As well as medical work, she teaches in the Bible school which has around 50 students, and often preaches in the church. On special occasions, Maud is always asked to preach as she is now the only missionary.

Bike rideOur regular flights bring supplies for Maud, the hospital and ongoing building works. Road travel is not an option – roads are still too dangerous and most of the bridges were destroyed in the war.

About MAF, Maud says, ‘They have been absolutely tremendous. Without them, I couldn’t have carried on the work.’

Pilot Jon Cadd sums Maud up: ‘She is really remarkable. Even though we fly in a lot of her supplies, sometimes she has an urgent need for something at the hospital. So she rides her bike for a whole day to get to the nearest small town, gets what she needs, stays the night and then rides back all the next day.’

I’ve grown up knowing of Maud Kells. What a privilege to meet her. I’m challenged by her life. She is a woman on a mission, a true inspiration to the next generation, and a testament of God’s goodness and provision.


SOUTH SUDAN: ministering to people with HIV

Vital link in the chainContracting HIV brings family rejection in South Sudan as well as physical suffering. MAF is working with the Tombura-Yambio Diocese to bring hope, love, security and healingStory Liz Jennings Photos LuAnne Cadd

Every Tuesday and Thursday, an MAF aircraft lands on the dusty dirt-track airstrip at Yambio. In a small office, polite officials welcome you to this

town of 42,000 people lying just north of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Roadsides are plastered with signs from the many agencies working here. The dust of their vehicles fills the dry air amid the tall trees and patchy vegetation of this isolated town.

Three vital projects bringing God’s love to this community led the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio to request MAF’s assistance in 2004.

Caring constantlyNzara hospital, run by Comboni Sisters, sees about 60 outpatients each day. There are also 60 patients in the HIV clinic, 30 others staying

in the general ward and 20 in the TB ward. With around 30 nurses, as well as other

assistants and counsellors, Sister Sarah Antonini is the only doctor. ‘We are few, but can give a good service,’ she maintains. ‘There is always somebody who is taking care of the patients, and they feel it. They know they can come here at any time and there’s somebody to care for them.’

MAF delivers all medical supplies.

Healing mindsAt Rainbow Community Counselling and Care Centre, also a Comboni Sisters project, Sister Giovanni stands in front of a sea of expectant faces. Wearing a modest biscuit-coloured uniform and nun’s white headdress, Giovanni displays strength and dignity that outweigh

Main/top left: Sister Giovanni oversees an HIV support groupTop centre: Unloading medical supplies at Nzara hospitalTop right: Preparing medicinesAbove: YambioLeft: Sister Sarah Antonini

‘We are few, but can give a good service’

her slight frame. An HIV/AIDS support group meets every

Wednesday. Around 40 women and a few men and children talk and listen. Ideas, concerns and complaints are shared.

‘It is like a family relationship,’ Giovanni explains, her Italian accent still strong despite 8 years in Sudan following 13 in Uganda. ‘They have many, many problems. We see if we can help them. Talking is not enough when you are in need.’

Esterina Bisoso, who thinks she’s about 30, has first-hand experience of care from Sisters at the centre. ‘Before I joined the group, I was

planning to kill myself because all my relatives don’t love me,’ Esterina recalls. ‘I’m HIV positive. I thought that I wouldn’t live for very long anyway. But when I joined the group, everything is OK. My mind changed from what I was meaning to do.’

Delivering medicineCornel Mwiru is Director of The HIV Star Support Group, run by the Christian Brothers,

and is the third project here. ‘The medicine is not here – it is in Kampala,’ Cornel points out. ‘If we didn’t have MAF to bring our medicines, I don’t think we would be able to survive here.’

He tells of the difference Christ’s love is making to

those with HIV:‘We had a man whose family rejected him

and said, “You are going to die.” They knew he had HIV. So they pushed him out and made him a small house of grass. To go inside, you bend down and struggle to get in or out. The only one taking care of him there was his daughter. They would put the food under the door but would not go inside. We didn’t want this man to suffer, so we took him to Nzara hospital. The man just came back to life. He’s a big man now, and he has energy. His family is treating him OK now.’

Carlo Philip testifies of the group: ‘My wife and my baby Estella and I all have HIV. We are just thanking God for giving us this medicine and for their help. A lot of people could have died without their help.’

God really loves teamwork, and aircraft are vital in this chain. Diocesan Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro speaks warmly about the partnership between MAF and the Diocese:

‘I want to say a sincere thank-you to MAF for intervening and disrupting our isolation. Tremendous relief has been brought upon Yambio.’


06:00

My alarm goes off. I like spending the early morning reading the news, having breakfast and some quiet time. Most days in the hangar are definitely not ‘quiet times’, so the early morning is a valuable time of day.

The phone rings. A pilot reports a nasty nick in a propeller blade and that his radio is not working. The pilots arrive at the airfield much earlier than the engineers to start their pre-flight checks, and have to wait for us to come in and carry out the repairs if they find a problem.


A day in my lifeThere is never a quiet day in the life of an MAF aircraft maintenance engineer in Uganda. Even a day with no scheduled work can quickly turn into a hectic time of fixing broken aircraft. Chief Engineer Kees Barendse shares a typical day

UGANDA: teamwork in the hangar

07:15

I walk up the hill to pick up the Land Rover at the MAF office in Kampala.

08:00

We arrive at Kajjansi airfield. Along the way, we have picked up several other staff members. By the time we get to the hangar, the Land Rover is full. We are surely the most environmentally friendly hangar team in this part of the world – ten of us in one vehicle!

We open up the hangar, start up the

computers and, while the team begins with Bible reading and prayer, I walk up to where the pilot is waiting. I file out the nick in the propeller blade, and install a new component in the radio system. All checks out well now and I sign off the repairs. The amount of paperwork is sometimes staggering – every little detail has to be recorded and filed.

16:00

A pilot comes into the hangar to report another fault. It’s a minor one and we record it on our noticeboard, so that we can fix it properly later when we have more time.

13:30

After a short lunch of locally prepared rice and beans, the phone rings – a pilot wants my advice. He is inbound with a slightly rough running engine. I tell him to follow his standard checklists, which should cover all eventualities. I ask a few more questions, but it’s soon clear the problem was temporary. When the

aircraft lands, I ask Martijn to look into the issue.

While Martijn is troubleshooting the engine, I look over our monthly aircraft spares stock reports annotating them for our Finance Manager.

16:30

We pack up our tools, close the hangar and all get into the Land Rover to go home. We make stops to let people out and, by the time we get to the office, there are only three of us left.

I talk through the day with Steve Forsyth, the Country Director, and then walk home. Another pilot calls to tell me one of his radios is not transmitting properly. I promise him we will look into it tomorrow.

When I get home, there is time for a shower, a meal, some family time and a night of, hopefully, some good rest.

It is a joy to be able to serve in God’s Kingdom, using our knowledge and skills for His glory.


08:30

I get back to the hangar. The staff have already gone to work. One of the Cessna Caravans is due for a major inspection. Hangar Foreman Martijn Verboom taxies the aircraft over from the apron. We all push the heavy plane into the hangar. The engineers immediately start working through their inspection checklists, each focusing on one area of the aircraft.

The rest of the morning I spend working through emails, writing to our local civil aviation authority, assisting with computer entries, reading new service information from the engine and aircraft manufacturers, and then invoicing various other operators for spare parts we have sold to them. I also spend time advising and coaching the engineers on the hangar floor.

This is MAF

Backseat heroRoger Clark’s already unusual day took a further unexpected twist.

The aircraft maintenance engineer was riding in the back seat of our Cessna 206 aircraft to help pilot Danny Hulls deliver a VSAT satellite system. Their destination was a remote medical clinic in Lesotho’s rugged mountains.

‘I was heading for one of the remotest places on earth,’ recalls Roger. ‘The VSAT would connect doctors with the Internet to allow access to medical diagnostics and even lab analysis information, bringing healing to isolated people.’

Their flight took just 30 minutes. Within hours, their work was complete – the overland trip alone would have taken a whole day.

But as Roger and Danny returned to the plane, the radio crackled with a Code One emergency – a call came from a village only 12 minutes away by air. They responded immediately, finding a young mother bleeding badly after having just given birth.

The local doctor managed to stop her blood loss temporarily. But she needed

an operation – fast. A bone-jarring, daylong journey by road to hospital was out of the question. MAF was her best option.

Again in the back seat, Roger was handed the sleeping newborn, wrapped in a blanket. Pointing to the IV drip, the doctor instructed, ‘You must keep the bag high, so it keeps dripping.’

After a 25-minute flight to Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, Danny discovered the ambulance was unavailable. But Roger’s Land Rover was there. The two men gently loaded mother and child aboard. Five minutes later, they were at the well-equipped mission hospital where the young woman received immediate surgery.

Days later, while working at the hangar, Roger looked up and saw the mother and baby boarding one of our aircraft. Roger ran to greet her, giving her a photo that he had taken of their live-saving journey. Now she is healthier and smiling.

That day, Roger Clark became one of thousands of backseat heroes MAF flies every year, transforming lives in many forgotten places.

WOMEN IN NEED: help for the earth’s remotest places


Whole and healthy lives

There was a real sense of urgency surrounding the signing of the Millennium Declaration in 2000; an urgency to help to free

men, women and children from the degrading and disabling conditions of extreme poverty.

The Millennium goals highlight the particular problem of reaching remote and isolated communities. MAF is privileged to contribute daily towards achieving these goals, partnering missions and aid and development organisations, reaching those who are living behind formidable geographical barriers to deliver healthcare, education, food, clean water and sanitation so desperately needed.

While progress is being made, there remain many people still to reach – many of whom are women. In the developing world, women often hold multiple roles – child-bearer, breadwinner, farmer – and are often targets of persecution and violence. Their harsh reality is our focus in this magazine.

So there remains within MAF an urgency to reach those who are in need, so they can live whole and healthy lives.

The Lord asks that our highest goal be that of love (1 Corinthians 14:1, NLT) and, as MAF seeks to bring help and hope to some of the world’s poorest people, God’s love is being spread and shared in both word and deed.

Thank you for your support – may love remain our highest goal!

Ruth WhitakerChief Executive, MAF UK

Mission Aviation Fellowship is a worldwide Christian organisation operating over 135 light aircraft in more than 30 countries. Around 280 flights every day transport patients, relief teams, medical supplies and Christian workers in the world’s remotest regions and places of deepest human need. Places where flying is not a luxury but a lifeline.

Normally, passengers contribute a highly-subsidised fare towards the true cost. The balance comes from people concerned that others should have a better life spiritually and physically.

In the UK, MAF is a registered charity funded by voluntary gifts which help finance MAF’s operational work and support services.

Mission Aviation FellowshipCastle Hill Avenue, Folkestone CT20 2TN29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0ADFREEPOST ADM4164, PORTRUSH BT56 8ZYDept AA1818, PO Box 4214, FREEPOST Dublin 2Telephone: 0845 850 9505Email: [email protected]: www.maf-uk.org

Registered charity in England and Wales (1064598) and in Scotland (SC039107)

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10,000 spectacles!by Wendy Dick

Planes have always fascinated me. In my childhood, my Dad regaled me with wartime stories of servicing and repairing RAF aircraft.

I am an optometrist in independent practice in Eastbourne. In 1991, I heard God’s call to use my professional skills in Africa. Joining Vision Aid Overseas, I conducted eye clinics in rural towns and villages in Malawi, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia.

In 1994, ten of the team members flew from Entebbe to Arua, north-western Uganda. However, as an ‘experienced’ volunteer, I had to take equipment and 10,000 spectacles by road. On a gruelling ten-hour journey, keeping cool meant open windows and clouds of red dust – but little to drink.

My return was in an MAF Cessna – comfort, speed and unmissable views. I can vouch for the difference MAF makes!

With three young grandchildren, David and I have updated our Wills, but it was important to arrange a legacy to MAF to help ensure continuity in flying.

Legacies totalled £326,878 in the second quarter of 2011, for which we thank the Lord. To learn more about supporting MAF in this way, contact our Legacy Co-ordinator on 0845 850 9505 or email [email protected].

Pilgrims’ supportOn Easter Monday, hundreds of young people from churches all over Kent flooded into Canterbury Cathedral for the annual youth pilgrimage services. Many had walked into the city from outlying villages.

Youth Representative Miriam Oliver joined Allyson Edwards and Theresa McAuley from the Folkestone office on the colourful MAF display stand in the Cathedral’s Chapter House, which also housed the cafeteria – an excellent place to be!

The flight simulator proved to be very popular, with many of the young people having a go at flying a plane. One young lady was so keen she had to be chased into the services!

MAF UK was chosen as beneficiary of the retiring collection this year, and received more than £430 as a result of

the pilgrims’ generosity.If your church is holding an event

and would like MAF to benefit, please do contact our Supporter Relations team on 0845 850 9505 or you can email [email protected] to order our church pack.

Praying togetherThis year’s MAF Day of Prayer, planned for Sunday 16 October, will be our fifth. It is a wonderful opportunity for Supporters across the UK to praise God for everything that He is doing through our operations, and to bring before Him our most pressing needs.

Our Co-founder Stuart King maintains, ‘When the name MAF was first coined, the word “Fellowship” had a particular meaning in our minds. It referred to the wider fellowship of those who would stand with us and

support in prayer.’So prayer and fellowship are at the

heart of MAF. We continually need to know God’s will for the organisation, both where and how He wants to lead us.

Over the last few years, we have been greatly encouraged by all those churches and individual Supporters who have taken part in our Day of Prayer.

The 2011 theme is ‘To the ends of the earth’. The resource pack contains a poster, leader’s notes, an audiovisual presentation, prayers, suggestions for hymns and songs, ideas for children’s activities, plus leaflets and bookmarks for all present. To take part this year, please call our Supporter Relations team on 0845 850 9505, send an email to [email protected] or visit www.maf-uk.org

To the ends of the earth...

Mission Aviation Fellowship Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone CT20 2TN 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD Telephone: 0845 850 9505 Email: [email protected] Website: www.maf-uk.org

Registered charity in England and Wales (1064598) and in Scotland (SC039107)

Share in a special dayof prayer for MAF on 16 October

Mission Aviation Fellowship

MAF UK NEWS

Lifeline beyond your lifetime

PleaSe uSe Block caPitalS

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www.maf-uk.org

Order copies for yourself and for others now by telephoning our Supporter Relations team on 0845 850 9505 or visit www.maf-uk.org/calendar Please allow 21 days for delivery.

A wonderful collection of images showing the range of ministry that MAF enables around the world

Documents

Flying for Life Sept 2011 Magazine