Flying for Life (January-March 2021)

JAN-MAR 2021

JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 1

Our winter front cover illustrates MAF’s work in Kenya with an image of Barako, whose life we helped to save (see page 4 for the full story)

‘Blessings upon you all!’

When I think of Stuart King, these are the words that always come to mind As I’ve remarked in my tribute to him (page 3), this was the phrase Stuart used most often to convey his love for everyone.

God’s many blessings are evident in this issue as MAF continues to fly its partners to where the need for His love remains immense.

The Hero’s Journey radio show is helping traumatised refugees in Uganda (page 9), while the Kuron Peace Village remains a living, breathing vision for a peaceful future in South Sudan (page 12).

And missionary Sara Sheppard’s heartfelt praise for MAF (page 10) is a timely reminder of why we took to the skies in the first place. The heart of our vision remains a commitment to the Gospel and to those who commit their lives to sharing the Good News with isolated people.

In Kenya (page 4) and Chad (page 8) respectively, our fleet has been crucial in saving the lives of both sick babies and endangered species.

Your loyal support and gracious generosity are the reasons why we can share with you these stories of help, hope and healing.

Blessings upon you all, as Stuart would have said.

Editor’s choice Each month, we receive dozens of wonderful comments from our supporters, for which we are deeply grateful.

The following was sent in

by Kay: ‘Thank you so much for sending me your MAF magazines enabling me to keep up to date with all that you are able to do.

It’s wonderful that, in spite of COVID-19, and all its rules and regulations, you’ve been able to keep up the work, continuing to fly to so many places and reaching many people — and often in remote areas.

I continue to pray that the Lord will bless you all, in your work for Him.’ Please send your comments to editor@maf-uk.org

Ruth Whitaker Chief Executive, MAF UK 2 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

Richard Chambers Editor, Flying for Life www.maf-uk.org

Stuart King MAF UK Chief Executive Ruth Whitaker reflects on the passing of a dear friend and the end of an era Photos MAF Archive and Olly Nunn

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nly three months ago, I wrote to tell you that our living legend had gone to glory.

I will be honest with you. More than three months after Stuart left us, I’m still quite emotional just thinking about my friend.

He loved the MAF family deeply — ‘blessings upon you all!’ was Stuart’s favourite benediction.

A tenacious and determined pioneer and devoted family man, Stuart was dedicated to helping others with the many skills and gifts the Lord had given him.

Adventurous and humble, mischievous and inspirational — he laid a very strong foundation for MAF, and his legacy will change lives long into the future.

The day before he passed, Stuart was keen to talk to me about all things MAF. Enthusiastic to the end, he was always interested about our new developments.

Since then — with the blessing of his family — we have launched the Stuart King Fund to generate income that will help train future generations of MAF staff.

In a matter of a few days, many supporters responded with gifts enabling the Fund to launch a new chapter in the extraordinary MAF story.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and gifts that will continue the work the founders began 75 years ago.

At his funeral service on a gloriously sunny day in the Kent countryside, I was privileged to honour him with a few words.

I quoted from Winnie the Pooh — the part where Pooh asks Piglet, ‘What day is it?’ Piglet replies, ‘Why, it’s today’, to which Pooh responds with gusto, ‘My favourite day!’

Stuart embodied that same attitude of excitement and expectation, reminding us that each day is a gift from God — a day to rejoice.

We all miss him greatly.

But we can rejoice in a life lived in all its fullness, to the glory of the Lord. I hope like me, you will find comfort and joy in the words from Matthew 25:23, ‘Well done good and faithful servant... enter into the joy of your master.’

MAIN Stuart’s return to RAF Duxford, 2018 ABOVE Stuart, Jack Hemmings and the Pathfinder, 1948 JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 3

Lives in the balance Story Jenny Davies

Photos Eddie and Rachel Andersen and Daniel Loewen-Rudgers

In May 2020, MAF flew a medevac for two babies with heart conditions. It took the actions of many Christians working together for them to reach hospital

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ou go to bed knowing you actually touched a life!’ exclaims MAF Kenya’s Operations Manager Caleb Likhanga from his office in Nairobi.

Hundreds of miles to the north in Dukana, Missionary Eddie Andersen agrees. ‘It was so beautiful! Just seeing all these Christians working together — everyone has given their love to these beautiful babies and their families.

‘Thank you so much,’ Eddie says warmly, ‘it was awesome to be working all together seamlessly.

The arid north ‘Both children were in a critical condition,’ continues Eddie. ‘One was the baby son of a church member — the other patient, a baby of a destitute woman from Dukana.

‘Without that flight from Dukana to a major facility with a heart unit like Kijabe Hospital, they would certainly have died within days.’

Eddie and his wife Rachel have been working in Dukana with Africa Inland Church for the past 11 years, ministering to first generation Christians from the Gabra people.

In addition to the church, they run a radio station and a vehicle workshop.

Their home there in the arid north 4 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

is as far from advanced hospital care as you can get. It’s a three-day drive to the capital Nairobi — a journey costing them time and money they can ill afford.

In the balance ‘Rachel is a midwife and shares Christ’s love with women at the clinic who’ve never heard of Jesus,’ Eddie explains. ‘She’s made a great impact, but nothing speaks more than helping people in time of desperation.’

Rachel had felt in her heart she should visit a family from the church for whom she’d delivered a healthy baby the day before.

When she arrived at the hut, Rachel saw that the baby was not as colourful as she’d expected.

Checking the baby’s vital signs, she saw its oxygen levels were dropping quickly! Rachel ran home to get the car, and then drove mother and baby to the local clinic where the tiny child was given oxygen.

God had already gone before them to save the life. ‘We praised Him,’ says Eddie, ‘because the machine had only been donated a few days before!’

But the baby’s life still hung in the balance.

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ETHIOPIA Dukana

Loglogo

UGANDA

K E N Y A Lake Victoria

Nairobi

TANZANIA Indian Ocean 100 miles

God’s plan ‘Rachel called me and I phoned in a medevac,’ Eddie continues, ‘not knowing how we’d pay for it. A tenmonth-old baby then arrived at the clinic, almost comatose. We included him and his mother in the medevac log and — by the grace of God — both babies were approved for travel.’

MAF Pilot Daniel Loewen-Rudgers and his Cessna 206 aircraft formed the vital link between Rachel’s initial diagnosis and life-saving hospital treatment — arriving at Dukana with an AIM AIR nurse.

‘We’d already got stuck in Dukana twice because of the soft runway,’ Daniel recalls. ‘This time it was dry enough. The father sat in the front with me, while the mother and their two-day-old baby were in the middle row with the nurse.

Destination

‘In the back, we had a translator and the mother with the ten-month-old baby. I’ve never had that many people in a Cessna 206 before!’ Daniel smiles.

Young survivor Thirty miles outside Nairobi, Kijabe has its own little airstrip.

‘Because it’s right on the edge of the Rift Valley,’ says Daniel, ‘we get strange winds.’ He overflew the strip three times to check it was safe to land.

‘The approach was fine,’ Daniel continues. ‘We were able to land safely, and I simply taxied up to the airstrip where two waiting missionary families drove my passengers straight to hospital.

‘It was a miracle that we could fly them straight to a very good hospital like Kijabe during this coronavirus pandemic.’

Tragically, the ten-month-old baby Isako died. His heart infected with TB, he passed away before open heart surgery could be performed.

However, little Barako, the newborn Rachel had visited initially, underwent a successful operation that only a couple of surgeons in the whole of Kenya have the skills to perform.

He is the youngest baby to survive such a heart operation in Kenya.

Capital/MAF base

KENYA POPULATION

48 million

CAPITAL Nairobi

LANGUAGES

English, Swahili + numerous indigenous languages

ROADS

110,479 miles, mostly unpaved (245,000 in the UK)

CLIMATE

Tropical coasts and arid interior

LIFE EXPECTANCY

69 years

MAF DESTINATIONS 64

MAF PARTNERS

211 organisations

FLEET

1 x Cessna 206 2 x Cessna 208B

MAIN Sunset at MAF’s Loglogo base TOP LEFT Barako BOTTOM LEFT Relief for anxious parents ABOVE Daniel Loewen-Rudgers JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 5

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n 2019, Oksapmin Secondary School in Tekin — a rural school in the West Sepik Province – topped the list of best performing schools in PNG. This is all the more remarkable as the only way outsiders can reach the village is by plane.

However, due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, the school was forced to close for several weeks last spring. Like tens of thousands of other schools across the globe, Oksapmin Secondary School had to find different ways to educate its young students.

Knowing the unique problems the school faced, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer Mandy Glass started thinking about possible solutions.

Special assignment

Flying lessons For 13 years, MAF has partnered with Oksapmin Secondary School in the remote Papua New Guinea (PNG) village of Tekin. Now we’ve found our way on to the school’s curriculum!

Story Claire Gilderson Photos Glenda Giles and Harriette Knigge 6 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

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Her solution was in the form of a special assignment. What if the students at Oksapmin School were to write about the work of MAF, she mused, and how the world’s largest humanitarian airline has supported their community during the pandemic?

Mandy approached the school’s Founder and Headteacher Glenda Giles with the novel idea.

Glenda loved it!

She asked her Year 11 students to think about who or what MAF had been transporting to and from Tekin Airport during the pandemic.

Students were also encouraged to write how they felt about MAF’s many years of support for the surrounding communities, and how that’s been vital to their development.

‘I hear a plane!’

Showing tremendous imagination, Glenda’s students recreated many scenarios from their past and recent experience of MAF. One of her pupils Winsen Welsim created a dialogue which included practically every aspect of support that our PNG fleet provides for remote communities.

Maro: ‘I hear a plane overhead!’

Jackson: ‘Oh yes! That sounds like an MAF Caravan! I wonder why it’s coming this time?’

Maro: ‘Perhaps they’re bringing textbooks, stationery, encyclopaedias, Bibles, dictionaries, furniture, desks, rice, flour, noodles, tinned fish, soap, cooking oil, kettles or tools?’

Jackson: ‘Or perhaps they’re dropping off or picking up people. Who do you think might be coming or going?’

Maro: ‘M a y b e t h e y ’ r e c a r r y i n g teachers. Rumour has it that three secondary school teachers from Wewak are arriving on Monday. Or perhaps it’s an emergency. Do you remember when MAF has helped in an emergency?’

Jackson: ‘Yes, my mother had an accident. She cut her left foot with an axe when she was breaking firewood.

She lost a lot of blood, but the health workers from the clinic at Tekin were unable to help and didn’t have enough anaesthetics. MAF flew her to Telefomin Hospital.’

MAIN People in Tekin gather at the sound of an MAF plane TOP FAR LEFT Headteacher Glenda Giles greets her students LEFT Winsen Welsim BOTTOM LEFT ‘That sounds like an MAF Caravan!’

BELOW Hand washing before school

Far away from home

Somebody special

If you’re a regular reader of Flying for Life, you’ll know that Oksapmin Secondary School opened in 2007.

Its Founder Glenda Giles is a teacher and missionary from New Zealand.

Prior to Oksapmin, she established Green River Christian High School in PNG’s West Sepik Province and two other schools.

For many years, in order to continue their education after primary school, the children of Tekin had been forced to leave their remote valley for towns like Wewak, Aitape, Vanimo or Telefomin.

This meant children were leaving home at a very young age to attend boarding school or stay with relatives who lived in closer proximity to the schools. The logistics, school fees and intermittent communication had a severe psychological and financial impact on families.

The children from Tekin often struggled at school because they were so far away from home.

Glenda heard God’s call to help these children and partnered with MAF to build a secondary school in one of the remotest places on earth.

Since that beginning, MAF has continuously flown building materials, school supplies, teachers and food into Tekin.

D u r i n g t h e 2 0 14 g r a d u a t i o n ceremony, the school’s Head Boy summed up what the partnership between Oksapmin Secondary School and MAF has done for hundreds of students.

‘The most important thing you have taught us is how to become good men and women for the future.

‘It’s not just about learning. You have moulded and shaped us to become somebody special. You gave us advice, correction and care. We thank you very much.’

JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 7

A rare passenger Story Claire Gilderson

Photos Phil Henderson

In January 2020, MAF Chad was approached by The Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) to help rescue a highly endangered species of antelope

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MAIN MAF and SCF worked tirelessly to locate the elusive antelopes TOP A dama gazelle ABOVE Phil Henderson, Justin Chuven and a rare passenger!

8 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

he dama gazelle (Nanger dama) is a symbol of beauty and elegance. However, due to rampant poaching, it is extremely rare — fewer than 100 animals survive in the wilds of Chad, Niger and Mali.

In recent years, the gazelle’s habitat has become increasingly occupied by humans, bringing with them livestock that use the land for grazing. As a result, the dama population has dwindled and the possibility of the species’ extinction has increased alarmingly.

SCF monitors these tiny remaining populations and leads the efforts to keep these beautiful animals alive.

SCF asked MAF Chad to participate in a vital mission to track and capture some dama gazelle, and move them to a reserve where they could breed in safety.

MAF Pilot Phil Henderson spent two days at a makeshift camp in Chad’s western desert as part of a team that worked tirelessly over several days to achieve a remarkable goal.

However, being so few in number, the dama gazelle are extremely difficult to locate!

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Thanks to Phil’s Cessna 182 aircraft, the team was able to cover the extensive area where the rare antelopes were thought to live — successfully tracking and tranquillising four of them.

Three of the gazelles were transferred by SCF’s helicopter to Base Camp Oryx — a secure breeding area where their valuable genetic material can be used to ensure the longevity of the species.

One of the animals, named Becki after MAF Chad’s Pilot and Operations Manager Becki Dillingham, was flown in the 182. This was exciting for Phil as, prior to that, the only live cargo he had ever carried was two small rabbits!

With tubing secured around its horns to avoid damage to the upholstery, the gazelle was accompanied on the journey by a vet.

Phil recalls that, ‘Everyone was very happy to have the gazelles in their recovery enclosure, looking healthy.’

SCF Senior Adviser John Newby adds ‘It was great working with MAF and we hope to do so again.’

Across the airwaves Story Candice Lassey

Photos Kelly and Mark Hewes and Candice Lassey

When coronavirus first reared its ugly head in eastern Africa, MAF partner Tutapona turned to radio to improve the way it supports child refugees

A

djumani Refugee Camp in northern Uganda is home to 200,000 refugees from South Sudan. More than half of its residents are children.

Tutapona’s mission is to provide trauma counselling to people affected by war and displacement. Given the interactive nature of this type of therapy, Tutapona had to rethink its programme because of coronavirus.

This was how the Hero’s Journey radio show was born. Dennis Okot from Tutapona recalls how it all began.

‘When coronavirus started to spread rapidly worldwide, we stopped our in-person operations because an outbreak in a refugee settlement would have been devastating. A situation like this is filled with so much anxiety and uncertainty that it can become a trigger for an already vulnerable and traumatised population.

‘These extraordinary times pushed us into a quick, creative solution to continue to reach these kids in a safe way. And that’s how Hero’s Journey hit the airwaves!

‘Our original two-week, playbased trauma care and mental health

MAIN Tutapona means ‘We will be healed’ in Swahili INSET Hero’s Journey radio show TOP Tutapona’s Patricia and an Adjumani child MIDDLE Trauma counselling is vital to the refugees’ future BOTTOM Tutapona’s Issa and an Adjumani child

programme has since been adapted into half-hour radio shows. They are being aired on community radio to support both young refugees and the local youth, with an additional focus on addressing the adversity caused by coronavirus.

‘The radio series includes relaxation techniques and stories, which help to instil courage, resilience and hope during these challenging times. The episodes are broadcast in English every Thursday evening so that — as soon as the curfew starts — people can tune in and listen with their children. ‘ We ’ re c u r re n t l y w o r k i n g o n recordings in other languages and our hope is that, once we’re well established in Adjumani, we will expand our broadcasting to other settlements in Uganda and eastern Africa.

‘We’re thankful for the support MAF is providing, including transporting the materials to get this programme up and running.

‘Not only have our staff had the amazing opportunity to fly across Uganda in an MAF plane, but they’ve also had the opportunity to be heard across the airwaves!’

JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 9

‘Thank God for MAF’ Missionaries John Mark and Sara Sheppard work with SIM to serve an unreached people group. Sara explains just how important MAF is to a family that has lived for more than seven years in Liberia’s bush Story Sara Sheppard

Photos LuAnne Cadd and John Mark and Sara Sheppard

J

ohn Mark is a Bible translator and literacy trainer. I work with the women and children in our community, assist with trauma counselling, and home-school our kids Audrey, Noah and James.

Our remote home town of Voinjama has no supermarket, convenience store or bank. There is a market where we can buy local foods, a few small shops which sell flour, oil and sugar, and one poorly-equipped ‘hospital’.

Every few months, we need to travel to the capital Monrovia for supplies, groceries and fellowship.

Why we fly Before we flew with MAF, we had to drive the long dirt road to Monrovia.

On our best day, we could make it there in about ten hours.

But the heavy downpours during the long rainy season often left us with roads that were completely impassable.

We’ve been stuck in mud for ages.

One journey saw us drive about 25

TOP LEFT The Sheppard family with MAF Pilot Steven Biggs ABOVE LEFT Audrey and friend!

TOP RIGHT Audrey and Steven flying high ABOVE RIGHT Travel by road can be perilous MAIN The ‘trusty’ MAF Liberia Caravan 10 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

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miles in 5 hours! Last year, we tipped over on a sloped roadside smashing one of the car’s windows.

Needless to say, these conditions are very hard on vehicles. More than once, we’ve ended up on the side of the road for several hours — either having to be towed or waiting until the next day for help.

We’d arrive in Monrovia feeling totally battered by the long, bumpy ‘roads’. Our week-long break from work would be spent feeling painfully sore and totally exhausted — then we’d have to repeat the journey to get home again!

A sight for sore eyes Even when using MAF, conditions can be so terrible that we aren’t able to drive on the road that usually gets us to the airfield in about half an hour.

On days like these, we must use the bypass which takes us several hours to reach the plane. This narrow, muddy

road is surrounded by steep hills.

Streams of water flow down them due to almost constant rainfall.

Some parts are extremely risky for the family, so we get out of the vehicle and step gingerly through the deep mud as John Mark carefully manoeuvres his way around the worst parts.

Several times, we’ve met stranded passengers whose sunken cars proved to be no match for a Liberian road at the height of the rainy season.

After a trip like that, to see the trusty MAF plane and its pilot standing there feels like coming home.

There’s a sudden rush of not feeling alone anymore — the blessed relief of knowing that these people really care about us.

They are a sight for sore eyes. And we feel as though we can never thank them enough.

Peace of mind Before MAF came into our lives, we had no specific evacuation plan, should an emergency occur.

Was it wise to raise toddlers in an area where we couldn’t access decent healthcare? If medical treatment became necessary, would they make it through the gruelling drive to Monrovia?

Now we live with the knowledge that, within hours, an MAF plane will be within a 30-minute

drive of our house. That peace of mind is invaluable!

I know all the MAF Liberia ground staff work hard ‘behind the scenes’ to make this possible for us. And the Newnham and Mumford families have been especially kind to us.

Noah had pretty significant speech issues when he was younger. Can you believe my relief when I heard there was actually a speech therapist in Monrovia?

Sarah Newnham — wife of Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Mark — evaluated Noah and gave me the tools, lessons and encouragement I needed to help him talk properly. And now he does!

Hannah Mumford — wife of Pilot Andrew — has also given us tremendous support. Their kids Zack, Jacob and Esther have been great friends to ours, as have Abby, Amy and Josh Newnham.

So you can see why I thank God for the people at MAF each time I get on and off your plane. May He bless you all and continue to provide for you in every way.

JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 11

The peace of the Lord MAF Pilot Wim Hobo has been flying to the award-winning Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron for the past four years Story and Photos Jenny Davies

L

ocated near the border with Ethiopia, the remote Holy Trinity Peace Village — also known as Kuron Peace Village — is home to more than 3,000 people.

To date, the South Sudanese community has avoided coronavirus.

Founder 84-year-old Bishop Paride Taban wants to keep it that way. ‘We have no coronavirus here,’ the Bishop proclaims. ‘It is safe! We have people who want to come here for meetings but we say, “no!” We keep people out and don’t even allow them to come to our guesthouse.’

the best airstrips. Women did most of the work — they are the best!’

Students at Kuron Vocational Training Centre are taught carpentry, tailoring, brick production and welding.

The Bishop hopes that these new skills will give their young people more opportunities and an alternative lifestyle to cattle raiding, which so often fuels intercommunal violence in South Sudan.

This groundbreaking work has achieved global recognition. Bishop Paride has received the Sergio Vieira de Mello United Nations Peace Prize, and the Roosevelt Award for Peace and Reconciliation — a ceremony that MAF Pilot Wim Hobo attended.

New cargo

An oasis of calm Kuron Peace Village was created in 2005 to be an oasis of calm in the midst of war-torn South Sudan. It was the Bishop’s dream to establish a community comprising different tribes, ethnicities and faiths.

He’s since proved to the world that peaceful cohabitation in South Sudan — regardless of ethnic background — is possible.

The village has three nurseries, St Thomas Primary School, Kuron Vocational Training Centre and Kuron Primary Health Centre. There are also teak trees, banana plantations and an airstrip.

When he speaks of the latter, the Bishop’s warm eyes twinkle proudly above his face mask. ‘We have one of 12 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

Bishop Paride has chartered MAF’s small Cessna 182 aircraft many times, often piloted by Wim, to take him to meetings in the capital Juba and beyond.

Back in June 2020, Wim began transporting cargo with a difference.

Alongside the everyday items of food, cooking oil, fertiliser, washing powder and new tyres were face masks, buckets and banners bearing crucial information for the Bishop’s coronavirus awareness programme.

www.maf-uk.org

In the light of the pandemic, the usually hospitable Peace Village has been forced to close its guesthouse, postpone meetings, shut schools and keep people away from the airstrip as much as possible.

Plans on hold Before coronavirus turned the world upside down, Bishop Paride hoped to open a secondary school in the village. This was part of a strategy to encourage young people to stop migrating to larger towns.

However, the completion of the intended ‘Peace Academy’ has been put on hold.

Despite the setback, the Bishop marvels at how far the village has come, especially in terms of providing safe educational spaces for its children.

‘We started under a tree,’ he recalls, ‘before we even had any buildings!’

Navigating danger The people of Kuron Peace Village have also built their own road. They hope that one day it will be a swift, safe route all the way to Juba.

At present, the journey to the capital takes two days by car, with an overnight stay in Kapoeta. There is a high risk of encountering bandits en route, or getting stuck in the mud during the rainy season.

Poor roads make it harder to transport produce to market and limit the cash crops that the people of Kuron can grow in their fertile soil.

Watermelons, for example, rot by the time they reach customers in Juba.

For now, an 80-minute MAF flight is by far the safest, quickest way to navigate danger by avoiding getting stranded when dirt roads get wet.

Bishop Paride hopes that the Holy

LEFT Wim Hobo is greeted at Kuron BOTTOM LEFT ‘We have one of the best airstrips’ BELOW ‘Everyday’ tyres now share cargo space with face masks BOTTOM MAF Pilot Wim Hobo RIGHT Bishop Paride Taban

Trinity Peace Village’s astonishing achievements will be replicated in other parts of South Sudan one day, to create lasting peace across the whole country.

Please pray for South Sudan and the continuation of the unity government’s fragile peace agreement despite sporadic, intercommunal violence.

Pray, too, for an end to the suffering of millions of South Sudanese people driven from their homes by years of violence.

JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 13

MAF school partnerships We are very excited to be launching a brand new interactive educational experience for primary schools across the UK If you are connected to a school in any way — as a family member, teacher, governor, trustee, PTA member — we need your help.

What is an MAF school partnership?

It’s a relationship for an agreed period of time where we provide each school with a variety of FREE educational and interactive resources tailored to meet that school’s needs and values.

The aim is to inspire pupils with the amazing work of MAF. There is no expectation for schools to fundraise for us — our desire is to raise our profile by engaging with young people and their parents.

Examples of what we can offer: • A launch assembly — COVID-compliant — introducing MAF to your school • Interactive lessons covering key RE curriculum themes for Christianity • Events such as: • An interactive Rescue Challenge • The creation of a prayer/reflection space • A ‘Meet a pilot’ session.

Thank you for the MAF school resources. It’s our first time using them and the children absolutely love them — they’re all super excited. They hit so many different subjects without the children even realising. They can’t wait for the rest of the days ahead with MAF, and neither can I — fantastic resources!

Lisa Teacher at Somerville Primary School

Please email youth@maf-uk.org or phone 01303 852819 if you would like your school to partner with us, or if you require further information about this new educational experience.

This is Mission Aviation Fellowship

MAF UK Castle House, Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone Kent CT20 2TQ

Mission Aviation Fellowship is a Christian organisation operating 26 programmes in developing countries to reach the world’s forgotten people — those living out of sight, out of mind and out of hope. With land access denied by inaccessible terrain — due to natural disaster, war or economic crisis — thousands of communities are completely isolated.

Operating 138 light aircraft, MAF’s pilots fly into more than 1,400 remote destinations.

Whether landing in deserts or jungles, on lakes, rivers, tracks or roads, MAF planes transport essential medical care, food, water, relief teams and church workers to those in desperate need. Each flight carries practical help, spiritual hope and physical healing to thousands of men, women and children for whom flying is not a luxury but a lifeline.

MAF is flying for life.

29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD

14 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

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FREEPOST ADM4164, PORTRUSH BT56 8ZY Dept AA1818, PO Box 4214, FREEPOST Dublin 2 T 01303 852819 E supporter.relations@maf-uk.org W www.maf-uk.org Registered charity in England and Wales (1064598) and in Scotland (SC039107) ® Registered trademark 3026860, 3026908, 3026915

Flying for Life Editor: Richard Chambers Email: editor@maf-uk.org Copy Editor: Gary Clayton Designer: Ben Dyer Printer: Fretwell Print and Design Ltd Printed on sustainable paper produced from a managed forest © MAF UK JAN-MAR 2021 ffnb It costs us no more than 75p to produce and send you this magazine and prayer diary

Challenge accepted?

Help us celebrate our 75th anniversary by taking part in the 7&5 Challenge!

We know that MAF supporters are always ready for a challenge and, with the 7&5 Challenge, we’ve given you two simple options.

Go to www.maf-uk.org/7and5 to pick your challenge — one of them is as simple as telling your friends about MAF! By taking part in the 7&5 Challenge, you are enabling us to continue flying help, hope and healing to isolated people in remote communities.

For further information or support with your challenge, please email: community.fundraising @maf-uk.org

The hum of the engine Evacuated from Belfast during World War II, Nancy Williams became a Christian at the age of 15 Nancy (pictured right) graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast, and managed a children’s home in Northern Ireland before training as a missionary.

Moving to Karamoja, Uganda, in the late 1950s, she became Headteacher at a local school until another missionary, Derek Williams, arrived to take over Nancy’s role. The two of them were soon courting and, on 10 August 1963, they were married!

Two children, Mike and Carol, were born in quick succession. In 1975, Derek was asked to reopen the teacher training college in Maridi, South Sudan, which had been closed for 17 years due to civil war.

‘My sister and I were regular

passengers on those exciting flights back home to Maridi,’ says Mike. ‘The day MAF’s plane came was always a highlight for us — we’d listen out for the hum of the engine before jumping on our bikes to get to the dusty airfield. The only way to get any post or presents was via the MAF plane.’

Forced to leave Maridi during an early Ebola outbreak, the family eventually relocated to Turi, Kenya, where Derek taught science at St Andrew’s School. The couple retired to Exmouth in 1997, and became heavily involved with their church.

Nancy was a devoted grandmother to five grandchildren and it’s thanks to people like her, who leave us a gift in their Will, that we’re still flying for life.

If you would like to find out more about leaving a gift in your Will, please email miriam.wheeler@maf-uk.org or phone 01303 851958 JAN-MAR 2021 Flying for Life 15

Thank you!

For 75 years, we’ve been so very grateful for the most amazing prayerful and financial support from the men and women of the MAF family.

But your response during the coronavirus crisis of 2020 was phenomenal.

You’ve ensured that the MAF fleet remains operational — we are still flying for life!

Your commitment to the Gospel continues to be proof of a loving God to people in towns and villages that were cut off from the outside world before MAF planes landed there.

In 2021, we will be able to book more passengers, deliver more cargo and answer more emergency cries for help.

God bless you!

www.maf-uk.org 16 Flying for Life JAN-MAR 2021

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