Flying For Life - April 2017

Flying for Life APRIL 2017

The magazine

of MAF New Zealand

Bill Harding on New Developments in MAF The Plight of a Lost Generation A Day in the Life of a Twin Otter Finding Your Place...as the “Other Half”

The Plight

of a Lost Generation Story by Glen Sim Photos opposite page Glen Sim, Godfrey Sim, J. Suki and T. Brunegard Photo this page LuAnne Cadd

If you would like to donate towards helping MAF get educational resources to the “lost generation” please head to our website.

MAF is an international Christian aviation organisation serving over 30 developing countries to reach people living in some of the world’s most isolated communities.

Operating more than 135 light aircraft, MAF flies into 2,500 remote destinations, transporting essential medical care, food and water supplies, relief teams and church workers enabling physical and spiritual care to reach countless thousands of people cut off due to geographical barriers, natural disasters and political unrest.

Flying for Life is the official magazine of Mission Aviation Fellowship NZ. Articles may be reprinted with acknowledgment.

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MAF New Zealand PO Box 76502 Manukau City Auckland 2241 Phone 0800 87 85 88 Email info@maf.org.nz Web maf.org.nz Editor Tim Houghton Layout & design Tim Houghton Printing Roe Printing

For our latest news or to give a gift, visit maf.org.nz or call us (toll free) 0800 87 85 88

Left to right: Primary school Principal, Elsie Puli; The hand built airstrip at Lapalama; The Lapalama Health Centre; The newly built schoolrooms.

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s the villagers mixed concrete and buried a gun, a symbol of their pact, MAF staff Kambowa and Godfrey Sim watched while women renewed relationships with tears, gifts, and dancing. This peace ceremony would prove to be a turning point in Lapalama’s journey.

Lapalama airstrip is an old hand-built airstrip, situated in isolated jungle, surrounded by high jagged mountains of the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea. At the time of the peace ceremony, it supported more than 3000 people in eight local tribes.

Missionaries moved there in 1952 to plant churches, then local pastors ministered to their own people and the churches grew.

However, when tribal fighting broke out, scared Christian villagers returned to their old ways. Houses were burned down, schools, gardens and properties destroyed and even some pastors were involved in retributive killing.

During the tribal fighting MAF pilots and planes were threatened and attacked, so Lapalama airstrip was closed for 14 years until March 2010. The negative impact of this isolation on the community, particularly women and children, was immense.

According to James Suki, Manager of Baptist Education Services, before the fighting the eight tribes enrolled an average of 35 new students each year in the primary school, each attending for six years. During the 14 years of fighting, plus the additional two years until the school was re-established, approximately 560 students missed out on an education. Some died later in the fighting, some moved away, but the majority stayed in their villages, got married and had children.

Even though years have passed Lapalama villagers still struggle to restore relationships and trust each other.

Now six years later, the MAF Ministry Team is invited to share in a youth-focused weekend at Lapalama, so they fly out with two Baptist Union of PNG (BUPNG) men, Benjamin Mano and Pastor Dickson Polawa. These two are key contributors in addressing many underlying pressures and issues. In MAF-run workshops the youth reveal their feelings of shame. “How can we face the challenge of becoming leaders? We are too embarrassed to join our children at school.” The MAF team offers the encouragement that often only outsiders can.

Godfrey arranges to meet the primary school Principal, Elsie Puli to look over the “bush school” near the end of the airstrip. He hears her story of struggling to provide education in an ill-equipped environment and sees the

tiny rooms where 26-30 students sit five abreast on rough planks. The floor is dirt with walls of split bamboo matting and the roof is kunai grass. A chalk board is the only equipment in each class.

The Principal’s office has axe-hewn shelves which are mostly empty and Godfrey is surprised how few resources the school has for its 280 pupils. Elsie needs a computer and some professional development training in phonics and early childhood. They talk about the lost youth, now adults, and the need to find an Adult Literacy teacher.

Milestones in Reconciliation In 2009 a guest pastor spoke to the Lapalama PNG Bible Church from 2 Chronicles 7:14. Many humbly confessed, while others were sceptical. In late 2009 tribal leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for MAF to return to Lapalama and the Health Centre was re-opened. In 2010 planes started serving the community again. In 2012 the school returned to the end of the airstrip and a few bush classrooms were built. In February 2017 the first new permanent school classrooms opened and the school became a symbol of hope for the community— that God is with them once again.

Some from the lost generations have mobilised, determined to ensure that their children receive an education.

A group from the three closest clans has banded together as volunteers. They spend hours walking to the site where the hardwood trees grow, then carry the cut timbers back along bush tracks to the new school building site.

Recently, the BUPNG has been advertising for an Adult Literacy Coordinator to train Literacy teachers to work in communities where literacy is a need. Sadly, to date, no qualified person has applied, although the Lapalama list of student “enrolments” has passed 100.

The Baptist Union, MAF and the Kompiam Health team all played a part in transporting solar panels, a vaccine fridge for the Health Centre and a sawmill and building materials for the school—activities that represent change for the better.

These developments are inspiring many of the lost generations to pursue peace, co-operation and self-empowerment, recognising the wisdom in talking through problems rather than accepting the hotheads who want to stir up trouble. Increasingly, when problems arise between clans, there is a strong intervention from the younger men to stop the need for fighting, signs that the Lapalama people are heading in the right direction to slowly recover from the wasted years.

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A Day in the Life of a Twin Otter Story and photos by LuAnne Cadd

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The two propellers dissolve into a blur as the Twin Otter begins to rapidly move down the grassy airstrip, lifting off the ground in a steep climb. Suddenly the girl sitting next to me on the back row doubles over. I look at her brother with an expression of concern. “Is she sick? What’s wrong?” He leans over and shouts above the noise of the engines. “It’s her first time. I’ve flown before,” Hitton explains with an obvious bit of pride. It’s his second flight with MAF. As the plane jerks in a pocket of turbulence, Galcie grabs her brother’s wrist in a death-grip, squeezes her eyes as tight as she can and cries, “Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” I can tell it’s a prayer, not a swear. For 19 year old Galcie, it’s not only her first time to fly...it’s the first time to leave her village.

t’s my first time flying in a Twin Otter and I will confess right here: I’m a nervous small plane passenger. I just hide it better than Galcie (photo above).

There are dangers inherent to these particular mountains of PNG, and MAF goes to extreme lengths to make sure that the pilots are experienced and able to make the right decisions each step of the way. It must be a safe flight or there is no flight. I would not be doing this with anyone else.

My “day” actually begins the night before when the two pilots, Jason Marsh and Brad Venter, plus Caravan pilot Mike DuPuis and I, stay overnight in Telefomin, a mediumsized community in an isolated valley where MAF has a base they call an ‘outstation’. Jason and Brad live with their families on the opposite side of the country, but this area has a huge demand for Twin Otter flights. MAF has since placed two to three permanent pilots and their families here, which should reduce the need for long-distance commutes or overnights for Jason and Brad.

We leave early the following morning. Knowing it’s my first time on a Twin Otter, Brad informs me that at takeoff it will look like he and Jason are holding hands but assures me

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they are not. Many jokes follow.

The first flight takes cargo from Telefomin to the larger town of Tabubil. It is connected by a road, thanks to nearby gold and copper mining, and is a main stop for picking up building supplies to take to remote communities. As the plane is loaded with heavy corrugated roofing sheets and metal pipes for Wobagen, Francis, MAF’s traffic officer based in Tabubil, tells me Wobagen is his home. The community raised the money to buy these materials to build a church as the current one is old and made from bush materials. “There’s no road to Wobagen. The only way is by airplane,” he tells me. “To walk to Wobagen from Tabubil takes one week, depending on how fast you walk or how heavy your load is.” I look again at the heavy pipes being loaded onto the plane and imagine how many people it would take to carry this load for a week through the mountains.

Jason flies above the clouds and mountain tops until Wobagen is below us then makes a sharp turn and dives through a hole in the clouds. At least that’s what it feels like. Several loops toward the ground and we land at the grassy Wobagen airstrip where a crowd of men and women converge on the plane to help unload the heavy materi-

als and replace them with bags of produce to sell in the town.

At Wobagen Galcie and brother Hitton join me. It’s not only Galcie’s first time to fly. It’s her first time, at 19, to leave her village. She’s not enjoying the experience.

We fly back to Tabubil, load the plane up once again with building materials, and fly to Tekin, an airstrip tucked up against a mountain in a long stunning valley. The materials are again unloaded and Brad begins folding seats down for the next full flight—20 passengers including me.

In fluent Tok Pisin, he speaks to the group about safety procedures, making jokes and getting laughs.

As we take to the skies once again, it’s clear there are some terrified first-timers. One girl leans forward the entire journey, gripping the back of the seat in front of her but one delighted couple point out the sights to their fouryear old son sitting on dad’s lap.

We fly to Telefomin with another load, then back to Mt Hagen where I say goodbye. Jason and Brad barely have enough time to make it to their home, Goroka, before dark.

Captains Jason Marsh and Brad Venter at Telefomin

Sometimes flying the Twin Otter you can forget about the impact that our work has. In the business of the day and the need to keep the programme going while making decisions about weather and airstrip conditions amongst others, it is easy to just treat each flight and its load as exactly that, just a load. But if we take the time to speak with the passengers and find out the details of the story behind the flight, often we are amazed at what it has meant to the people involved and their communities in the bush. How these simple flights are showing people the love of Christ, bringing help to many people and spreading the word of God to the far reaches of the world. So, even a load of building materials has a story, and what a privilege to be part of these stories!

Brad Venter

The Twin Otter www.maf.org.nz

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Photos clockwise: Kim and Deb; Families on their first trip to an airport;

Finding your Place ...as the“Other half”

Story by Kim Job

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or a pilot or an engineer, the job description they receive when they begin working for MAF is pretty straightforward. They are to fly the plane or maintain the aircraft to the best of their abilities. Of course, their days in reality are filled up with many more tasks than that, but they have a starting point to fulfilling their role.

For a spouse, the task of deciding what to do is often not so straight forward. Sometimes the options are so numerous it’s hard to decide the best use of time and energy. In other places, the opportunities are much more limited, or perhaps the stage of family life with small children limits what can be done outside the home.

a Brazilian missionary who had started a clinic, a church and this centre for families with a disabled child. Each Wednesday, the centre’s mini bus collects students and their carers, bringing them to the centre for a morning of activities, breakfast, songs and lunch. A doctor is usually around to help out with medical issues.

Deborah says, “On my very first visit at the centre I met a group of kids with no chance of getting some education because of their disabilities, but with a hunger to learn and to embrace life. My heart went out to them and I knew this was God’s place for me to be a blessing”.

Deborah Moser and Kim Job have been serving in TimorLeste for just over a year. Both educators by training, they both wondered how they could use their skills, passions and interests in their new home. As they settled into life in a new country, there had many new people to meet, homes to set up, a new language to learn, a hot and humid climate to adjust to. Even simple tasks like grocery shopping are so much more complicated. As they adjusted to life in Dili, Timor-Leste, they happened to meet a missionary lady who had assisted at Liman Hamutuk (Hands Together), a centre for disabled people in Hera, a town just east of Dili.

Meanwhile Kim was in Australia, visiting supporters and family, wondering what God’s plans for her in Timor-Leste would be. When her son went off to school for the first time, Kim was able to visit the centre at Hera with Deborah.

Although Kim had been a school teacher and had taught students with special needs, visiting Hera was a new experience. The students she met were so happy, they loved any game or activity done with them, but they had so little support, except for what they received from their families and the staff at Liman Hamutuk. Kim knew that if these same students lived in Australia, the support and resources they would have access to would be so much greater.

With a sense of this injustice and a growing love for these new friends, she returned each week with Deborah.

Deborah, who worked with disabled children in her home country of Switzerland, was very eager to hear more and so went to visit and began volunteering there each Wednesday morning. Liman Hamutuk was established by

Over the past six months, Deborah and Kim have been volunteering each week at the centre and dreaming about the best way to support these young people and their families. Working in a country where resources are limit-

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When God calls a pilot or an engineer to serve Him by working with MAF that often means He is calling a spouse or even a family too. Deborah once remarked that she was living in Timor-Leste because that’s where God and MAF had led her and Daniel as a couple. Although it was Daniel’s role as a pilot that had brought them there, how exciting it is to know that God’s plan for them included a role for Deborah that perfectly matched her skills, passions and qualifications. He uses each person for His purposes in the places they live in.

Trying on a headset; MAF pilot Daniel Moser with one of the older boys.

ed meant they had to be creative and make lots of things themselves. Pretend play with old kitchen utensils, baby dolls with clothes and a blanket, and dressing up are now part of the program at Liman Hamutuk. Deborah and Kim can sing, “The wheels on the bus go round and round” in both Tetun and sign language, so that the whole group can join in.

Every activity needs to “work” for those who can hear as well as those who can’t, those that can write or draw and those who can’t, those that sign and those that can speak.

There is so much diversity that every activity has to be carefully planned for the group.

A trip to the airport Several of the young boys were particularly interested in planes but none had never seen one up close and certainly never been on one. So Kim and Deborah began to plan a trip for the families of Liman Hamutuk to visit the MAF Hangar at Dili International Airport.

When the day arrived, two mini buses of students and carers arrived at the airport—with smiles on everyone’s faces.

MAF pilot Daniel Moser explained to the group where the airports are in Timor-Leste and how they use the planes to evacuate sick people from the remote areas. Children, young adults, parents and grandparents took their turn at exploring the planes. Smiles of joy were seen on the faces of many, even as they just sat in the plane seats. As people who are around aeroplanes often, we forget what a novelty it is to see a plane up close. The looks of awe and even fear on these family’s faces when a large plane took off was a special moment to watch.

After a picnic lunch in the hangar watching the planes come and go, excitement levels rose again when Daniel Moser took the MAF plane out of the hangar to do his preflight checks. Watching the lights turn on and the propeller begin to turn had many students spell bound.

All too soon it was time for us all to return home to Hera after our first visit to the airport!

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To the Ends of the Earth The face of a young boy expresses the amazement of seeing the “Jesus” film for the first time. In October 2016, MAF pilot Paul Woodington spent the weekend on the second outreach trip to the western Sepik area to show the film to two villages–Anguganak and Wulukum–that had not seen the film in 30-40 years. The weekend started with the film being shown at Anguganak on Friday evening. The following day Paul spent time with a local pastor going over scripture, visiting a nearby village and then walked to Wulukum, wading across a river on the way. The film drew a large crowd sitting on the ground, even though it had rained just an hour or so earlier.

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Bill Harding discusses new developments in MAF

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hen he was in our Manukau office recently, we took the opportunity to sit down with Bill Harding to ask him for his perspective on some of the new developments taking place in MAF. From New Zealand, Bill has been International Development Director and Legal Counsel since 2012, and is currently MAF International’s interim Chief Executive. We started by asking about some of the challenges and opportunities he sees for MAF. Well, in terms of challenge, we have to be concerned that the church overall is in decline in the countries from which MAF has traditionally drawn its staff, funding and prayer. Our operational ministry and the remote communities we serve, depend upon the ‘three P’s’—people, prayer and pounds, by which we mean missionary staff, prayer support and donations. Although in many places the Western church, our traditional base of support, is shrinking, in other parts of the world its rapidly expanding. We still need the support from our traditional areas, but we also need to engage the areas of growth as we look for our next generation of recruits, pray-ers and financial support.

We see opportunity as we look at the incredible growth of the evangelical church in Asia, along with the growing economic power and aviation activity there. Accordingly, as part of the long-term strategy begun in 2012, MAF International is building bridges into Asia, developing relationships with the church and aviation groups and establishing a presence the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and India with a view to gathering resources for MAF’s worldwide ministry. Each of these places has its own set of challenges and opportunities, but we have seen God at work there in awesome ways.

Continued on next page...

Abdiel David (left) is working alongside Bill as Asia Development Executive in Cairns. He and his wife Neeta are from India.

Jacophin (centre below) is an Indian pilot recruit.

Bill Harding (right) is heading up the effort to connect with the Asian churches.

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One of our strategic aims is to “Become truly International” and this includes learning to adapt to different cultural norms and ways of seeing the world. In the past we drew on Christians primarily from Commonwealth countries and MAF International has traditionally been quite monocultural. It’s a challenge to make the effort to appreciate and accommodate different cultural perspectives and to learn from each other.

Bill with the MAF Singapore board

Why is Asia so important to MAF? There have been a few incidents which brought home to me the difference between what’s happening in the church here and what is happening in Asia.

I was sitting in a large shopping mall restaurant in Manila and asked my host what the queue of people standing three deep along one side of the mall was for—a new shop opening I guessed? “No”, my host said “that’s just the line-up for the 4:30pm church service!” It turns out that one of the local evangelical groups plants an 800-seat church whenever a new mall is built, by leasing a large shop area in it! The mall owners love all the people the church brings in and the congregation loves to hang out in the mall where they go to church.

Then in Singapore, MAF International’s leadership team was meeting in conference centre and one day a huge queue of people snaked past the meeting room door, down the stairs and into the lobby. Intrigued, we asked what these hundreds of people were lining up for and were told they were converts lining up to be baptised in the conference centre swimming pool—and they do this every few months.

And then we once went to a church in Hyderabad, India which is attended by 150,000 people every Sunday—its auditorium feels more like a football stadium than a church!

The Asian church is growing, vibrant and mission-oriented. It’s well documented that the majority of the world’s missionaries are now sent from non-Western countries.

How is MAF responding?

With an eye on the future, MAF’s strategy has been to establish an International Development team to make contact with church and mission leaders in those Asian countries which are easily accessible and have a large evangelical Christian community together with an active aviation industry. We’ve presented MAF’s ministry and se-

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cured the help of volunteers in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and India and in each place have developed a MAF presence through local volunteer structure, promotional activities and social media.

What is MAF doing in the Philippines?

The main focus of the board of MAF Philippines is making MAF’s ministry better known in the Christian community and seeking missionary recruits. MAF Philippines has a developing relationship with a local aviation academy, makes presentations, hosts promotional dinners and has secured local help for social media promotion.

There has been a rapid expansion of an educated middle class in the Philippines, together with an explosion of evangelical Christianity. Over the last 20 years a unified strategy of evangelism has led to around 20,000 church plants and now between 10% and 20% of the 100 million Filipino population is evangelical Christian. That’s over 10 million people! There is a large aviation industry in the Philippines from which to draw missionary staff and Filipinos are very familiar with the concept of sending family members overseas to work.

How about Singapore?

The church in Singapore is expanding rapidly and now has up to 500,000 Christians. With very high educational levels and economic strength, Singaporeans are a major influence in the region and have a key role in funding and sending missionaries. Now, MAF Singapore has an office, a full-time manager, regular prayer support and promotional and fundraising events. It has an ambitious vision for providing prayer, recruits and financial support for ministry worldwide.

How is MAF doing in Malaysia?

MAF Malaysia has been established and MAF presentations have been made in churches and youth mission conventions.

Tell us about MAF in India The population of India is so staggeringly large, that even the small percentage of it who are Christians number over 100 million. Among these are many with qualifications and experience in aviation, IT, finance and so on. God has miraculously connected us to Christians whose influence has enabled vision-casting events with pastors and Christian leaders. Digital and printed publicity has been used along with face-toface presentations in India, including dozens of presentations made by incoming Indian missionary staff in the course of their Ministry Partnership programmes.

How is this impacting on recruitment?

By the end of 2017 we expect to have about 10 Asian staff and their families serving as missionaries in MAF International. So far we have several Indian pilots operational and one Singaporean pilot preparing for service, along with qualified aircraft engineers and managers. We have a number of applicants in process including a Burmese pilot who came into contact with us at a seminar on Remote Area Operations which MAF staff led at an aviation academy in the Philippines.

Prabhu, now a missionary pilot with MAF, comes from a rural area of India

What are the challenges for these Asian churches?

They vary from place to place. For example, in India one of the issues is that many churches are unfamiliar with being mission senders rather than mission recipients. Consequently these churches need help to develop a vision for ministry in remote parts of the world and to see that—whilst there is much need in India itself—someone in their congregation may have been specifically equipped by God and called by Him to serve overseas.

What challenges do missionaries from Asia face?

India and the Philippines are still developing economically, so missionaries from those countries cannot be expected to raise as much financial support as others raising funding in rich countries. For example, Prabhu, now a missionary pilot with MAF comes from a rural area of India where the average annual salary is about $1000. He won a government grant to fund the cost of gaining his Commercial Pilots Licence and his service with MAF reflects his determination to give back to God what he believes God has graciously granted him.

A team of volunteers from Singapore helped the MAF team in Myanmar with airstrip surveys

Can you explain what “enabling rather than doing” means?

MAF International’s strategic shift “from doing to enabling” means emphasising enabling or enhancing others’ ministry, rather than always trying to do everything ourselves.

Continuing the rebuilding work begun after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal is consistent with this. MAF is working with local air operators there to enhance Nepalese safety and effectiveness and to build rapport with local authorities.

This approach is reflected in recent research into provision of help for medical missions in the remotest parts of India and in the initiatives in Myanmar which have begun with airstrip development work. A team of volunteers from Singapore recently helped the MAF team in Myanmar with airstrip surveys. It was great to see an Asian operational initiative benefit from Asian resourcing! We hope this is just the beginning.

Abdiel presenting the vision and goals of MAF at a meeting in India

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We asked Rick and Lauryn to reflect on their 28 years with MAF–19 years in PNG, seven with MAF NZ and the last two at Mareeba.

Rick & Lauryn Velvin Lauryn Speech, communication—even understanding what is happening around you—everything is so elusive in a new country! Learning to thrive in that country is an enormous thrill…even while discovering at the same time that the more you know, the more you know you don’t know!

It was so easy to think I knew lots in the first year, but by the 20th year I knew I only understood a little bit. And I didn’t even know how to ask the right questions to find out more! I could talk with lovely friends in Tok Pisin for hours, but when it gets deep, they switched into Tok Ples, the local language. It’s wonderful!!

Giving birth overseas was a miracle of God’s grace. I’ll never forget the dog wandering through the delivery room, the ankle-deep water in the bathroom, and the nurse refusing to enter the delivery room! Beautiful living babies at the end felt truly like a miracle. And how I honour the women for whom such conditions are normal (and much better than in the village).

Watching our children function in two cultures was amazing. Adopting a PNG baby from friends is a wonderful story of its own, especially finding out five years later that he would have died from kidney failure had God not opened that door. We learned cooking from Asians, Dutch, English, Americans and staff from many other nations. We learned to make amazing fire bombs around a fire with Swiss friends, using wax and water. Truly spectacular!

Memories of killing pigs the PNG way will never be erased!

Revival spreading around villages, and many baptisms and church openings was a spiritual feast in our first years.

How God loves all people! Education, wealth and beauty matter nothing to a God who is only concerned with the heart. How strong their faith can be!

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Opportunities for ministry changed with every location— and over the years we were in seven main locations and several other short term ones. Teaching, preaching, encouraging, visiting, praying, sharing stories and just being friends on a beach, at a BBQ or a mumu in the ground with a plate of sweet potato or a pot of soup and rice, have been priceless privileges.

By the last few years I understood that changing people is God’s job, and I needed to relax and let Him tell them what needed their attention. My task was to journey alongside, understand, listen and pray, while accepting and loving.

Sounds easy enough, but I had to choose how I would see people, as it was often easier to look at the tough stuff on the outside than at the heart. I learned more from these amazing people than I ever taught them.

Rick

Some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned have come in situations that have caught me by surprise. I recall being invited to preach at a village church in the Highlands and had an experience I’ll never forget. It was a typical kunai house, grass roof and bark walls. It was small and dark inside. There were about 20 locals, mostly women and children sitting on the ground. The four musicians were on a low wooden stage with uneven boards that flexed and creaked as the worship leader danced around. He was 110% enthusiasm and didn’t really need the microphone.

A strong voice, often in the wrong key and a beat or two ahead or behind the guitars. None of the three guitars had a full set of strings and all were badly out of tune. By our standards, it was all wrong, everything was wrong—except for the overwhelming presence of God that filled the church for an hour or two with songs, praise and adoration in at least three languages. Beautiful. Excellence of hearts after God, hungry for God.

Before AFTER

“Thank you MAF!”–from Liberia

We were overjoyed when we learned that MAF was going to establish a base in Monrovia.

Innovative Education Liberia (IEL) has made dozens of trips from Monrovia to Sinoe County over the past 18 months. When the road is “good” it takes seven hours to cover the 200 miles. During the rainy season the road becomes nearly impassable. When we have been able to make the trip, it has taken up to 14 hours.

Flying with MAF reduces the trip to under one hour! We save a day in travel, the expense of renting 4x4 vehicles and arrive rested for our engagements in the schools.

After

In May 2016, IEL hosted a 35-member delegation, which included TU president Eugene Habecker, the first lady, and several prominent university officials and patrons. Without MAF this would not have been possible.

Again in September 2016, the IEL team used MAF’s services to fly to Sinoe. This time of the year the roads are in a particularly bad condition. Even our flight was delayed due to heavy rainfall.

Fortunately MAF was able to bring us the next day to a very muddy airstrip in Sinoe. Thank you MAF!

Photos: Gary Friesen

ZK MAF Does It Again!

Story and photos by John Neal, MAF NZ’s Chief pilot MAF NZ’s Cessna 206 has spent all its life working for missions, first with Medecins sans Frontieres in Cambodia then with MAF in Arnhem Land and other parts of Australia. Brought into this country two years ago to raise awareness of MAF and for assessing pilot candidates, it once again returned to its former role of flying mercy missions, this time in New Zealand.

The November earthquake centred in North Canterbury not only isolated Kaikoura but also many farms in the area, in particular a large slip blocked the narrow road up the Awatere Valley in Southern Marlborough, isolating the large stations in the upper valley. Given the nearness of Christmas, the Reverend Dawn Daunauda of the Awatere Cooperating Parish gathered supplies of presents and food, packed them into some 18 large cartons then labelled each one, “Gifts given in love by the Awatere Cooperating Parish”.

ZK-MAF was pressed into service to deliver them. The plane first landed at a farmer’s strip near Seddon to be loaded with the cartons—which practically filled the cabin—within 30 minutes the first half-dozen were being unloaded for the families at Mt Gladstone Station. Then within another 30 minutes, it landed on the hilltop strip at the Muller Station where the remaining cartons were loaded onto a truck for the families there and further up the valley at the huge Molesworth Station.

The Lord God be praised that the foresight of the MAF Board and the generosity of the people of New Zealand enabled this plane, after spending its life bringing relief to isolated places in far away lands, should now continue doing so here.

Left: Mt Gladstone farmer Alan Pitts with Chief Pilot John Neal. Below: The Cessna 206 unloading supplies

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By LuAnne Cadd

Jamie & James

Story and photo by Peter Higham

Two Special Men in Arnhem Land They are two special men, each with different stories and are the only Yolngu who currently work for MAF. Jamie (Buralatjpi) Wanambi and James (Ngulpurr) Marawilli are local men who come from the Aboriginal homelands of Yilpara and Barratjpi. They bring a freshness and extra smile to the MAF workplace and through them MAF staff have grown in their understanding of how to work with and serve the Yolngu people.

Jamie

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n artist, a hunter and a bushman at heart. From the city to the remote homeland; Jamie has spent time in living in Melbourne, Batchelor, the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala and the small homeland of Barratjpi. For him the most special times have been in the homelands, where he finds he is able to live a healthy lifestyle by hunting, fishing, working the land and spending quality time with family. Community life in the larger communities such as Yirrkala presents many struggles and challenges.

Jamie came to know the Lord in the early days of his life and is quick to say that he owes his life to the Lord because numerous times He has saved him from deep troubles. Jamie is committed to growing his relationship with the Lord and is often heard round the community singing gospel songs.

Jamie came to MAF in 2016 and has been part of the Building and Maintenance team. Jamie has been very busy with his hands, helping to make sure that the MAF buildings/houses are safe and liveable. In talking to Jamie it is evident that he is very happy to be part of the MAF team because he is able to find love and acceptance that he hasn’t found elsewhere.

Y

James

ou might find him down at the beach using a spear to catch a fish or in the homelands sitting under a tree having fellowship with residents and MAF staff. You might find him in Yirrkala sharing over the loud speaker about the Good News of the Gospel or walking down the road with his grandchildren and a smile on his face.

His name is James (Ngulpurr) Marawilli and he was born in the homeland of Garrthalala but spent many years in the coastal homeland of Yilpara. He has clear memories of going to Sunday school and recalls when many more Pacific Island missionaries were in Yirrkala and the church was regularly attended by the Yirrkala community. James came to know the Lord at an early age but later struggled to remain strong, until some MAF staff came alongside and encouraged him.

He currently works at the booking office in Gove and is responsible for arranging flights and talking to Yolngu people in their local language. He has been instrumental in supporting MAF outreach trips. MAF Operations Manager, Roland VanDerVelde says, “James is a real benefit to MAF as he brings knowledge of language, culture and geography to the operations office that many of us don’t have”.

In late 2015 an event took place in the homeland of Gurrumurru. Kiwi MAFI staff Brett Nel had gone there on outreach and while he was there a small number of men sat down with him and began to talk casually. The conversation turned to spiritual matters and the fellowship grew between them. At that point God clearly spoke to Brett and said, “This is the future church”. Since this time these men have remained in contact with each other and MAF. They have actively looked to increase their understanding of the ways of God. James was present at that small gathering and ever since this event it has been on his mind to gather together those who have a serious passion and desire to follow God. 14

Flying for Life

April 2017

www.maf.org.nz

Change your career...

Change people’s lives!

Story and photo by LuAnne Cadd

Are you a builder? A goat farmer? A teacher, butcher...or even a clown? The people in this photo all had careers unrelated to aviation. Now they work for MAF in PNG. Chad Miller

Company Manager

Now serving as

Development Manager

Gordon Bland

Farmer and Builder

“

Building and Maintenance Manager

Sharlene Coker

Teacher

“

Flight Operations Coordinator

Glen Sim

Angora Goat Farmer

“

Communications Officer

Godfrey Sim

Head of Circus/Physical Theatre School

Church & Community Partnership Manager

Michael Duncalfe Veterinarian

“

Chief Pilot

Jason Marsh

“

Pilot and Safety Manager

Butcher

probably already know that MAF NZ needs pilots and aviation engineers. But we are *alsoYoualways on the look out for IT professionals, operations managers, finance managers and others. We would love it if you would “shoulder tap” anyone you know who might fit with some of these roles, even if they are currently a goat farmer...or even a clown! A full list of current vacancies is on our website. www.maf.org.nz

April 2017

Flying for Life

15

NEW WEBSITE MAF NZ’s new website went “live” at the beginning of April. It is designed to work well on all mobile devices; iPads, iPhones, Android phones etc. We are really excited about the new look and layout of the website. Go to maf.org.nz to see the new site.

DO WE HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? If you would like the convenience of having some of your MAF publications and updates delivered electronically, just let us know at: info@maf.org.nz.

(You will also help MAF save money).

GREAT NEWS! From April 1, 2017 MAF New Zealand has been approval as an Overseas Tax Donee organisation through the newly formed Flying for Life Charitable Trust. Donations gifted for overseas—including donations for staff sponsorship—will be sent through this Trust enabling the donor to receive tax deductibility for the gift. Donors are able to claim back through Inland Revenue, via a tax return, up to 33% of that gift.

7 1 0 2 e n O l a v i t Fes For the second year we were at Festival One, a three day event held at Mystery Creek, Hamilton described as a celebration of art, music, creativity and community centred around the Christian faith.

Once again we ran our “Challenge”, a timed competition designed to help people understand the kinds of situations faced by MAF pilots and those they work with.

After forming a team of five members, contestants had to complete two assignments. The first was to construct a stretcher from the materials provided, put one of the team on it and carry him or her around the short course. Assignment two involved loading cargo into the cargo “pod” under the plane. Each box or item had to be weighed on a set of scales and the total weight could not exceed 81 kgs.

Apart from being lots of fun, it was a great way for our fantastic team of volunteers to open up conversations about MAF and the work we do.