MAF Youth Magazine #8

A V I AT I O N MISSION ADVENTURE

ABC

ABC

E-MAGAZINE E D I T I O N // 8

Being a

ref ug e e

For many of us, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like if our lives were turned upside down by war and violence.

MAF Pilot Dave Forney reflects on what he saw in Adjumani refugee camp in Uganda, where he spent time with a group of trauma counsellors.

Budget toys ‘These are the feet of a young child, who walked countless miles through the bush, fleeing war and violence in South Sudan to reach Adjumani refugee camp.

‘In the foreground, a simple toy car, made from discarded cardboard, pieces of rice sack, old flip-flops, and a piece of wire.

‘I watched as the children carefully crafted their toy vehicles with pride from the garbage they found near their refugee hut.

Joy? ‘Perhaps what struck me most was the laughter and singing I heard nearby, as other children happily pulled their toy cars through the hot dust.

‘Many of these children fled the war with nothing but their lives.

Almost all have lost family and friends.

‘They’ve seen and experienced horrific violence and pain. Yet,

through the help of a translator, the women and children explained to us that many of them have found true joy here!

Something we don’t often get ‘How is that possible in light of the pain and suffering they’ve experienced? They have nothing that we in the West often think give us joy – no money, no possessions, no titles or status.

‘But the ones we talked to had found Jesus – or, more accurately, Christ had found them. In their awful situations, they had what many of us fail to find in our lives; they had found forgiveness and the true joy and peace of knowing God!

We’re helping and so can you!

‘Almost every day MAF is flying people up to northern Uganda – people who are working in the overflowing refugee camps.

‘On behalf of all of our friends in South Sudan, please don’t forget to pray for this young country, and the millions of dear people suffering there. Through the ministry of MAF and the people we fly, you have a direct connection to the people of South Sudan.’

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e B u t t h e on e s w tal k e d t o had f ou n d J e s u s

PULLING THROUGH WHEN HOPE SEEMS LOST The Democratic Republic of Congo has been a land ravaged by civil war since 1996 and the violence still goes on today. Alili’s story is one that finds itself surrounded by the present unrest.

Much of what follows comes from a blog written by Dr Warren Cooper, a surgeon working with Samaritan’s Purse – a charity that regularly flies with MAF.

‘So, how did you get shot?’

It was the question Dr Cooper asked 12 year-old Alili. ‘I had heard what had happened, but I wanted to get his account.

‘Alili’s family had lived in a village called Niania. At about three in the morning, they were awakened by shouting and gunfire. His father went to the door and was shot and killed.

His mother was also murdered. ’12-year-old Alili tried to hide but he was struck by a stray bullet which passed through his shoulder. He fled into the bush, bleeding and terrified,

and stayed hidden for a week where he ate only cassava and sweet potatoes.’

One limb less After being found by his uncle, Alili, whose arm had become infected, was brought home. A little more than a week later, Alili’s arm had to be amputated in Nyankunde.

‘It was a close brush with death, but an even closer one was ahead,’ Dr Cooper said.

Part of Alili’s shoulder still needed surgery, but it wasn’t quite that simple because operations in the busy hospitals are often delayed.

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having trouble breathing.

The infection caused by the bullet had damaged part of Alili’s lung. Dr Cooper began to operate, but it was clear that Alili had lost a lot of blood and his body was beginning to show signs of shock. Hope for his recovery began to dwindle.

‘He’s a tough kid’ ‘I decided I’d come that far, so I might as well continue,’ said Dr Cooper, having just filled a bag with his own blood so Alili might stand a chance of surviving. Incredibly, Alili pulled through!

‘Alili came back to life. There’s no other way to put it. He started breathing again, his pulse came back, and he opened his eyes… after all he’s been through, I’ve concluded that he’s a tough kid. He is still missing part of one lung and he still has a large infected wound, but he’s alive!’

It gets more complicated It would take several days before Alili was likely to find his way to the operating table. However, when Dr Cooper sent for him, he found out that Alili had been rushed to the Intensive Care Unit because he was

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WHEN MAF Y O U T H M E T //

g n i l e b E k Mic

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Who are you, then?

Where do you work?

My name is Mick Ebeling and I have a company called Not Impossible Labs.

Our focus area is any place! It’s wherever there’s a need. Three years ago, we launched the world’s first 3D printing prosthetic laboratory in South Sudan. We flew into Yida, we travelled up to the Nuba Mountains, and we worked with Dr Tom Catena and trained about ten young men in the village on how to make prosthetics with 3D printers that we gave to them.

Then they started to make them on their own.

What’s Not Impossible Labs all about?

Our mission statement is: ‘Change the world through technology and story’.

We’ll look for things that people need – especially things that will slant towards where technology can help.

We’ll come up with low-cost, affordable solutions, and then we’ll make those available to people.

Not just making prosthetic limbs then?

Exactly. Prosthetics is one thing that we did. We’re working on a wide array of different things right now – from things that help the deaf, to things that help people with cerebral palsy.

Let’s hear about the arm!

We’ve now refined the arm and made it better in terms of its functionality, but the most important thing is that we’ve created a way for it to go from nothing to a fully wearable arm in less than four hours. Before that, it took between 16 to 20 hours if the electricity was consistent and if you didn’t lose any prints.

How do you get the arms to fit properly?

We cut the sheets of plastic in the USA and then we have different sizes. Then, depending on the person, you use the appropriate size. It’s formed to shape around the person.

What are you looking to do on this trip?

We’re here for five days and then we head back. We’re going to deploy five arms and we’re going to be training two guys from the Nuba Mountains and sending them back with a bunch of arms that they’ll deploy up there.

Our goal is to be deploying these in different places around the world, going into refugee camps because there’s a great need there, and a yearning for people to be trained in learning how to make the prosthetics on their own.

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