Flying for Life - Spring 2017 edition (MAF UK)

Flying for Life Spring 2017

The quarterly magazine of MAF

6 Arnhem Land The big one

12 Bangladesh

‘I can live a normal life’

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: pray for communication

Emergency – call 899!

MAF Technology Services installs an HF radio in a remote village school in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and shows the Jesus film to the community Story and photos LuAnne Cadd

A ‘

Main Work begins on bringing HF radio to Guasa Above Joey Redhead 2 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

lpha 899, Alpha 899,’ MAF Technology Services’ David Feka calls into the HF radio he has spent the last two days installing in a remote mountain village.

The excitement in his voice is obvious.

‘This is our first call-out from Guasa education radio. Do you copy me? Over.’

The excited group in the small room at Guasa Primary School listens intently while a cluster of children press their faces up against the glass windows to watch the ‘show’.

Suddenly, an answer comes in the shape of Lukas Schadegg, also of MAF Technology Services.

His voice comes through the speaker loud and clear from Goroka, 33 miles to the north-east of the school: ‘Yeah David, I copy you.’

With a delighted grin spreading across his face, David responds, ‘I can hear you crystal clear!’

For MAF Technology Services, these are literally the sounds of success.

Reliable radio And success has been made possible by HF radio – technology that is nearly 100 years old, yet still essential for connecting remote mountain communities in PNG with the outside world.

Despite the rapid rise in mobile phone usage throughout PNG, cellular signals are very hard to come by in the Highlands. This means that phones are either unreliable or entirely useless for reaching someone on the other side of a mountain.

Teachers Felix Mathew and Robert

Kimb work in Guasa because they feel it’s their mission to serve people living in remote places.

‘We came here to develop the community,’ Felix explains. ‘We’re here to serve people who miss out on things – basic services like schools.’

David passes the handset to Robert and explains how it works.

First, push the button to talk. Second, finish what you say with ‘over’. Finally – let go of the button to listen.

Robert struggles with how to hold the handset and exactly when to let go of the button.

‘It’s really hard to teach them this new thing,’ says David. ‘Sometimes, after they talk, they think it’s a mobile phone and they put the handset to their ear.’

He is fully aware of the dichotomy faced by a remote people more familiar with modern mobile phones than ‘old-fashioned’ HF radios.

The most satisfying thing To get to Guasa Primary School, David Feka and his colleague Joey Redhead flew on MAF’s Airvan.

They worked for many hours on a hot tin roof – almost blinded by the constant reflective glare – to set up a solar panel and position the tall radio antenna.

‘I love doing this,’ David says. ‘Once you’ve done all the hard work to finish an installation, and you hear the first radio call that comes in, you get to see the smiles on people’s faces.

‘At that moment, they know they’re connected to the outside world at last.

‘It’s the most satisfying thing to know

that what you’re doing is changing people’s lives.’

Joey, clearly relishing the opportunity to immerse himself in community life, nods in agreement. ‘It’s a huge privilege to get out in the village and be with the people and to work not for them, but with them – that’s beautiful!’

Movie night Combining technology and ministry is central to their mission, particularly in remote places such as Guasa where access to the closest town is a two-day walk across mountains and rivers.

Or just a 20-minute flight with MAF. ‘The important thing is that we get permission to show the Jesus film,’ says MAF Technology Services’ Deputy General Manager Bryan Matthew.

‘We try to make sure that on every remote installation of the radio or VSAT – two-way satellite – we tie in the Jesus film, so that we are doing work and then ministry afterwards. For us, that’s the good part!’

In a mountain village that has no electricity and little in the way of entertainment, watching a movie is a huge event that draws a large crowd even during the poorest weather conditions.

In Guasa, the heavens opened in an epic downpour. But, when the rain stopped, the people came to stand or sit on the wet dirt for the two-hour film.

At the end, David challenged the audience to consider what Jesus did for them, and whether they truly know Christ and are living a life worthy of Him.

Top Applying finishing touches to the village’s ‘new’ technology Middle A delighted David Feka receives the first reply to Guasa education radio Bottom The basic jungle airstrip at Guasa Left The new generation is now connected to the outside world

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 3

SOUTH PAPUASUDAN: NEW GUINEA: pray forpray newfor pilots communication

Lifeline The HF radio at the MAF Technology Services office in Goroka links remote places across the whole of PNG.

MAF flew in all the projection equipment - and a generator - that was vital for the screening of the eagerly awaited evening movie. In a land where storytelling is central to the culture, film is a powerful Gospel medium.

Without radio, flights carrying essential supplies, people and emergency medevac patients would be impossible.

MAF Technology Services continues to receive an average of 200 HF radio calls a year requesting medevacs, to which MAF planes then respond.

‘When you’re out there, there’s no one who’s going to help you unless you know Alpha 899 – our call sign,’ Bryan states. ‘For many, many people in this country, HF radio is a lifeline.’

Top ‘It’s a huge privilege to work not for the people, but with them’ Bottom Every screening of the Jesus movie is a night to remember

4 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

‘People walk from villages many miles away to come and watch the film,’ says Bryan.

‘Sometimes they spend the night with their friends in the nearby village, and go home the next day. It’s a really exciting event for us all!’

UK news: pray for volunteers

Flying for Life Editor Richard Chambers talks with Head of MiC Kevin Crook about the lifeblood of any charity – volunteers

Face to face with MAF Photos Sam Oliver and Stephen Rayner

Kevin, what is the purpose of the MAF in the Community (MiC) team?

Finally, why are church partnerships so important for our work?

The MiC team promotes MAF’s ministry to Christians in a variety of ways. These include building relationships with churches, developing partnerships with other organisations, presenting our work to nearly 1,000 groups across the UK, attending events and encouraging local supporters to pray for, give to or serve with MAF. My vision is to increase our network of local volunteers who will bring this amazing work to more and more people.

Our Country Lifeline partnerships enable churches to focus on a particular country where MAF operates. We supply a volunteer from their local area to engage with them throughout the year – speaking at church meetings and providing regular updates from that country.

And we make sure young people get involved too, so that everyone in the church knows enough about MAF to pray effectively for our work. We’ve discovered that this gives people a more personal insight into mission overseas.

Several churches have committed to one of our Country Lifeline partnerships and we’re really looking forward to growing that part of our community work.

Why is MAF present at Christian events?

Events are a great way to raise MAF’s profile among those who are unaware of us. We also encourage existing supporters to become more involved in our work – overseas and in the UK. We take two exhibition vehicles and a Cessna 150 aircraft to the larger events to help us share our Gospel vision face to face.

What questions crop up most frequently when you’re speaking to the public?

Many supporters want to do more for MAF, so we’re able to explore specific opportunities where they live. For example, our team of UK volunteers is involved as speakers, church representatives or fundraisers in their local area.

What other things does MiC do to promote MAF? The team encourages people to hold Frying for Life breakfast meetings or Bake off to Take off coffee mornings.

We also ask people to send us unwanted postcards that supporter Rev Ken Thom sells to collectors. To date, he’s raised over £180,000 for MAF through donated postcards!

If you’d like information about church partnerships, phone 01303 851955, email supporter.relations@maf-uk.org or visit www.maf-uk.org/partner Spring 2017 Flying for Life 5

ARNHEM LAND: pray for remote communities

The big one Meet MAF Arnhem Land’s Cessna 208 Caravan and an exciting cast of parents, patients, pythons, principals and evangelistic personnel Story and Photos Peter Higham Edited by Gary Clayton

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fter its long journey from Uganda to Australia, our 10-seater Cessna 208 Caravan underwent a major overhaul at our engineering base in Mareeba.

The Yolŋu people in Arnhem Land call the plane the ‘Yindi’ – the big one! Effectively twice the size of the existing 7-seater GA8 Airvans, the Caravan represents a big change in our ministry as it provides regular shuttle flights tailored to the needs of individual passengers.

On 25 April, the aircraft was ferried to our base in Gove, welcomed by MAF staff, and dedicated to the Lord. It’s a huge blessing – as you can see from these flights carried out since it entered service in June last year.

A good sport Main and Top right The Yindi in action Top Banana suckers flown to Gäwa Island will rebuild the plantation there Bottom An olive python is cleared to fly!

Most Yolŋu children love sport, so we’re often ferrying children from place to place to participate in sports events that create a stronger sense of community.

On 14 June, we flew 3 plane loads of children – 27 in all – from Gove to the Elcho Island carnival. A few days later, the plane returned a tired but happy bunch of children back to Gove.

6 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

Happy families and other animals We also carried patients from remote areas that cannot provide a good level of healthcare.

Thanks to the large number of patients the Yindi can carry to the main hospital in Gove, our vital service results in happier, healthier and more resilient families.

On another occasion, we were asked to relocate a family from Darwin to Elcho Island.

The unusual thing about this particular request was the large number of animals that also needed transport.

So, on 15 June, MAF Pilot Rene Don picked up the following: two large olive pythons, two lapdogs, one bearded dragon, one shingleback lizard, one goanna lizard, one galah rosebreasted cockatoo, one baby saltwater crocodile, one woma python, two blackheaded pythons, two carpet pythons, their owner, plus assorted belongings!

Everything and everyone was safely delivered to Elcho Island thanks to the Caravan and the extra space available in the pods that helped secure the animals.

Arafura Sea Timor Sea

Milingimbi Darwin

Elcho Island Gove

Ramingining

A R N H E M

L A N D

Katherine 20 miles

AUSTRALIA

Break time Arnhem Land’s remoteness, humidity and challenging conditions make it especially hard for people living in isolated communities. One of these, on Gäwa Island, has a small Christian school.

We’ve supported the school for many years by providing transport in and out of this remote area. Every so often, staff and teachers need a break. So the call goes out for us to fly them to Gove or Darwin for rest and relaxation.

This is why, on 18 June, ‘the big one’ flew School Principal Karen Fletcher and her excited family from Gäwa to Darwin.

Going bananas But it’s not just people and animals! On 6 September, Pilot Michael Beath flew banana suckers to Gäwa Island which, a few years ago, was hit by a cyclone that wiped out the community’s banana plantation.

The flight was a great way to enable the Yolŋu there to start growing food again. It’s crucial for them to increase sustainability as delivering all their supplies to them is very expensive.

Growing churches The Caravan has also been a vital link in connecting different areas of the Church family, bringing Bible translators together to encourage one another in how to best move forward Scripture translation.

Key to maps

— Capital city /

— MAF base — Location

The plane transports local people to church rallies, dedications and events such as Generation Fire’s youth ministry week on Elcho Island. It also flies key Christian leaders to hard-to-reach homelands to support the churches there, and brings MAF staff to Yolŋu homelands to help build the Church.

Family fun and friendship On another occasion, the Yindi took two MAF families from Milingimbi and Ramingining to Katherine. Because they serve in such remote places, both families home-school their children.

Having little contact with other children, this trip enabled them to connect with other home-schooling families – resulting in a week of fun, learning and friendship!

This Cessna Caravan has already been used for a wide variety of purposes – proving its usefulness time and time again – for which we are very grateful.

Praise God for its ministry and for all those who worked so hard to provide the funds necessary to keep the Yindi flying.

The flight was a great way to enable the Yolŋu there to start growing food again. It’s crucial for them to increase sustainability as delivering all their supplies to them is very expensive

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 7

MADAGASCAR: pray for health

Getting their hands dirty With MAF’s help, a team from Manchester University is working to improve the health of Madagascar’s remote Marolambo district Story LuAnne Cadd Photos Madex team

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nside a dark wooden hut, UK medical student Hannah Russell and several others in white lab coats labour over ‘buckets of poo’. They filter each faecal sample through a mesh collected from 50 Malagasy village children, smear it on to a microscope slide and start counting the eggs.

It’s a smelly job, but incense and Tiger Balm offset the offensive odour. ‘It’s not very glamorous,’ laughs Hannah.

There are 50 samples of urine as well, but these are much easier to test for schistosomiasis – or bilharzia – a parasitic worm that can enter the body via infected water.

If left untreated, it can cause serious organ damage or death.

After testing 399 children from 6 isolated villages in the remote Marolambo district, the team of doctors and medical students from the 2015 Madagascar Medical Expedition (Madex) found an exceptionally high bilharzia prevalence of 94%!

They also recorded extremely high egg count levels – way above the World Health Organization’s threshold for ‘intense’ infection!

8 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

Four brutal days The schistosomiasis research project is the brainchild of Dr Stephen Spencer, a doctor who studied at the University of Manchester (UoM).

The last prevalence study of the disease nearly 30 years ago found that more than 50% of Madagascar’s population was infected.

The aim of Stephen’s expedition was to determine the prevalence of schistosomiasis in Marolambo, provide treatment and initiate a health education programme.

It took over two years of planning to gain the backing of Madagascar’s Ministry of Health, acquire funding and prepare for the trip. The 2015 team travelled from Antananarivo to Marolambo by public transport, spending four brutal days on extremely rough, muddy roads.

‘The road was absolutely terrible,’ groans Hannah. ‘It was like nothing I’d ever seen.’ It was also pitch black on the fourth night when they reached a section where three trucks, stuck in the mud, completely blocked the road.

‘There was no option but to get out and walk the final section of about 12

MOZAMBIQUE Antananarivo

M A D A G A S C A R

TANZANIA

Marolambo

Indian Ocean

200 miles

miles. We’d been travelling all day. We hadn’t eaten. We had all our equipment.

It was raining. We trekked through the darkness with a head torch, just seeing a few feet ahead. It was so muddy! We eventually arrived in Marolambo absolutely exhausted.’

Reaching remote places In June 2016, the UK team returned to Madagascar to continue their work.

This time, having heard about MAF soon after they’d reached Marolambo in 2015, they flew to and from the airstrip we’d built some years ago on a mountain ridge above the Nosivolo River.

‘To be able to fly back to Antananarivo in about 45 minutes was amazing,’ says Hannah. ‘If we had gone by road, it would have completely ruined the expedition. We couldn’t have done it without MAF.’

Digging deeper The 2016 expedition looked at how the disease affects the population’s health.

‘Education on schistosomiasis and hand hygiene preceded the study,’ Dr Stephen Spencer explains. ‘We then divided the school into several “stations” through

which the 50 children (aged 5-14) would rotate.

The team completed questionnaires with each child, measured their height and weight, performed ultrasonography and took blood tests for anaemia and malaria.

‘Our third and last day,’ Stephen continues, ‘involved treating every child in the village for schistosomiasis via “mass drug administration.”’

Approximately 9,000 doses of the appropriate drug were flown in by MAF.

Looking to the future The long-term goal is to reduce drastically the level of schistosomiasis in Marolambo. The parasitic worm is easily killed in the body with just one treatment of the drug Praziquantel, but it’s also extremely easy to become reinfected.

The recommended approach is to treat the entire population every six months until the level of infection is reduced, and to teach people about the need for hygiene and using toilets away from the river.

With MAF’s help, the Madex team will – God willing – eventually defeat the potentially deadly disease in Marolambo.

Main The Madex team arrives at the village Top left MAF flights enable medical equipment to arrive in good condition Bottom left Research – ‘not very glamorous’ Above Every child receives treatment for schistosomiasis

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 9

LIBERIA: pray for schools

Time flies A little over a year ago, we wrote to some of our supporters about the needs of our Liberia programme.

The prayers and gifts we received have helped make possible stories like this Story Richard Chambers Photos Innovative Education Liberia

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raise God – a lifeline in Liberia’ was our headline news in January 2016 when we wrote to you about the opening of our latest lifeline.

After four years of aerial surveys, licensing and registration delays and the horrifying explosion of the Ebola virus, an MAF aircraft was finally in the skies above Liberia.

Your response was amazing – you sent more than £250,000 towards our work worldwide!

We thought there was no better way of thanking you again than by updating you with a report from one of our satisfied partners – Innovative Education Liberia (IEL).

‘Overjoyed’ Main Our latest lifeline is vital for partners like IEL if they are to continue delivering digital technology quickly and safely to eager students Above Many roads become impassable during the rainy season

‘Over the past 18 months, IEL made dozens of trips from the capital Monrovia to Sinoe County in south-eastern Liberia,’ says IEL’s Gary Friesen.

‘It takes 7 hours to cover the 200 miles when the road is “good”.

‘During the rainy season, however, the road becomes nearly impassable. On the rare occasions it is “passable”, it has taken us almost 14 hours to complete the journey.

‘We were overjoyed to learn that MAF was

10 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

establishing a base in Monrovia and we now use the service regularly – reducing the trip to under an hour!

‘We save a whole day of travel, the expense of renting 4x4 vehicles and we also arrive fully rested for our many school engagements.’

’Thank you, MAF!’ ‘In May 2016, we hosted a 35-member delegation to Sinoe representing Taylor University, Sinoe County Association in the Americas, Ambassador Enterprises and Northwest Nazarene University.

‘The delegation included Taylor University President Eugene Habecker and several prominent university officials and patrons.

Without the services of MAF, this engagement simply would not have been possible.

‘And, in September 2016, our team flew with MAF to Sinoe again. The weather is so bad in autumn that the roads are in a particularly bad condition – even our flight was delayed due to heavy rainfall.

‘Fortunately, MAF was able to fly us the next day to a very muddy airstrip in Sinoe.

‘Thank you, MAF!’

UK news: pray for peace

Building a legacy

On 24 October 2016, the MAF UK office was delighted to host a special ceremony for a very special person Story Katie Collis Photos Olly Nunn

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resident Emeritus and one of MAF’s founders Stuart King was presented with France’s highest distinction – the Légion d’honneur – for his courage during the D-Day invasion campaign of June 1944.

By awarding the few surviving veterans of the Normandy landings with the Légion d’honneur, the Government of France officially recognised the selfless acts of heroism and determination displayed on that day, and during the wider campaigns to liberate France between 1944 and 1945.

‘Honour and Fatherland’ is the motto of the Légion d’honneur, which was presented to Stuart on behalf of the French Ambassador by the French Honorary Consul James Ryland.

This proud occasion was also a poignant gathering of Stuart’s family, friends and MAF colleagues.

During the presentation, Stuart joyfully shared stories of ‘surviving the impossible’ during the war – including cannon fire from German fighter planes which missed him by mere inches. Stuart also recalled the incredible camaraderie he shared with his fellow RAF comrades.

On several occasions, he stated that our

heavenly Father clearly had His hand on Stuart’s life during wartime – with each extraordinary story of survival making this increasingly evident.

Stuart’s war experiences inspired him and his fellow MAF founders to set up a charity so that planes could be used for good rather than destruction. It’s from their hearts that the lifeblood of MAF has pumped ever since.

Stuart continues to build the legacy of a unique organisation that reaches the unreachable in many of the world’s poorest countries, transforming lives beyond all recognition and spreading God’s Word further than ever before.

Maybe you too could leave a legacy to MAF through a gift in your Will, and bless lives in the future. For more information, please phone Miriam Wheeler on 01303 851958 or email miriam.wheeler@maf-uk.org

Main Flying Officer Stuart King pictured with his wartime comrades Inset The Légion d’honneur and Stuart’s RAF medals

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 11

BANGLADESH: pray for surgeons

‘I can live a normal life’

A new shuttle service is saving precious time and enabling life-saving operations for the inhabitants of Bangladesh’s river islands Story Charmaine Viljoen Photos Humani Terra Edited by Jenny Davies

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is deformed club foot meant 2½-year-old Bappi was unable to walk and play like other children. Bappi’s father, a day labourer from the Bogra district of Bangladesh, couldn’t afford to provide for his son’s treatment and had almost given up hope.

Papiya, a 12-year-old girl from Paikpara village, was unable to walk comfortably due to an inguinal hernia.

Any kind of activity was a daily struggle – she’d been suffering terribly from this condition for many years.

Like Bappi, Papiya’s father is a farmer, and could not afford to pay for her treatment. So Papiya continued to face complications which made her life very hard indeed.

Serving the island people Bappi and Papiya are just two of the thousands of people treated each year on the Friendship floating hospitals that serve the people forced to live on chars – remote river islands formed as a result of sand and silt deposits.

We began our twice-weekly northern shuttle service in November

12 Flying for Life Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

2016 to meet regular demand for a service to communities scattered along the Jamuna River, a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra.

Nearly 1.5 million char dwellers eke out a precarious existence in small island communities – huddled on little parcels of land that shift yearly as the monsoon rains raise the river levels and erode precious farmland.

Poor and stigmatised Life is extremely basic for the people of these hard-to-reach farming communities – some of the poorest in Bangladesh.

The instability of the sand islands forces the inhabitants to move up to ten times during the course of their lifetime, repeatedly building their homes and preparing the ground for growing crops.

As a result, the char population has less access to resources than most Bangladeshi people, and there are virtually no basic services.

‘To be from the chars is to be poor and stigmatised,’ explains Dr Rafi Siddique, the doctor responsible for

Bogra

B A N G L A D E S H Jamuna River Char INDIA

Dhaka

Bay of Bengal

Rongdhonu Friendship Floating Hospital – one of the few sources of healthcare for char dwellers.

Accessing services Bappi’s and Papiya’s fathers learnt of the medical services available on the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital (LFH) through Friendship’s outreach teams.

The ship, which moves around serving the needs of different communities, was docked nearby.

Bappi’s father rushed home to discuss this great opportunity with his wife. They immediately began preparing their son for his stay on board the floating hospital to ensure that the HumaniTerra orthopaedic team flown in by MAF would operate on Bappi’s right foot.

After the initial operation, Bappi’s father exclaimed with excitement: ‘I am really grateful to LFH that my son can live a relatively normal life now.

‘The doctor will perform further surgery on his left foot to restore his feet completely. The medical team suggested physiotherapy for him, and told us about some necessary exercises so my son can recover fully.’

The same trip that carried the orthopaedic team back to Dhaka on 22 April 2016 brought the visceral team that operated on Papiya.

The operation was successful and, a few days later, a smiling Papiya said: ‘I am truly lucky that my complication is over and I can now live a normal life.’

HumaniTerra flights Friendship isn’t totally reliant on MAF to bring the skilled expertise they need to change lives but, with a third of the country covered in water, MAF’s amphibious aircraft is an extremely effective ‘door-to-door’ solution.

In March 2016, MAF Pilot Mark Blomberg flew a tired HumaniTerra medical team back to Dhaka after a busy week consisting of 44 lifechanging operations on board the Rongdhonu Friendship Floating Hospital.

The 45-minute return flight was in striking contrast to their tedious 6-hour flight-plus-bus-plus-boat journey there, saving them hours of exhausting travel.

Praise God for our fantastic partners and so many lives changed!

200 miles

MYANM

Changing lives From 4 March to 9 April 2016, the partnership between MAF, HumaniTerra and Friendship’s floating hospitals resulted in 237 life-changing operations and 158 other medical interventions – with the lives of patients such as Bappi and Papiya changed forever.

Main Bappi’s right foot has been corrected and an operation on his left is already scheduled so he will be able to walk for the first time Left Friendship’s medical staff perform a life-changing operation on Bappi

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 13

UK news

The joy of the Lord is our strength Towards the end of 2016, President Emeritus Stuart King was presented with France’s highest distinction – the Légion d’honneur – in official recognition of his part in the eventual liberation of France in 1945 (page 11).

Does YOUR church have a youth group?

MAF Youth offers a speaker service to all youth groups across the UK We deliver sessions jam-packed with Adventure, Aviation and Mission. Our speakers challenge young people about the realities of life without food, medicine and Wi-Fi – a scary thought for a teen!

MAF Youth speakers also bring to life the urgent need for airstrips in extremely isolated communities – comparing and contrasting our lives with those of an MAF pilot, volunteer, refugee or child.

So why not invite us along? You don’t have to be your church’s youth worker to enable MAF Youth to get involved with your group and inspire the next generation with stories of the amazing work God is doing today.

There are so many adventures young people can have on the mission field, but we need your help to reach more of them!

To request an MAF Youth speaker, please phone us on 01303 851955, email youth@maf-uk.org or visit www.maf-uk.org/youthspeaker

Hearing Stuart recall how God then called him and other MAF founders to use, to use aircraft for peaceful purposes raised a particular question in my mind. Did any of those early pioneers envisage the sheer variety of ways in which the Lord would use MAF to help build His Kingdom?

From erecting radio masts and hosting movie nights (page 2) to flying medical students into remote jungles (page 8), MAF makes a fascinating range of projects possible.

It is our joy to bring these stories to you and also to know that thousands of you partner with us in prayer.

The results of your prayers range from the long-awaited opening of a new programme in Liberia (page 10) to urgent operations enabling a toddler in Bangladesh to walk for the first time in his life (page 12).

And each answered prayer results in a joyful story which strengthens our mission.

Thank you for bringing God’s joy to the world through your prayers

Ruth Whitaker Chief Executive, MAF UK

This is Mission Aviation Fellowship is a Christian organisation serving 26 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 around 135 light aircraft, MAF’s pilots fly into some 1,500 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.

14 Flying for Life Winter Spring 2017 www.maf-uk.org

MAF UK Castle House, Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone Kent CT20 2TQ 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD 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: Oak Creative Printer: Fretwell Print and Design Ltd Printed on sustainable paper produced from a managed forest © MAF UK Spring 2017 ffmh It costs us no more than 65p to produce and send you this magazine and prayer diary

What do YOU think?

We love to know exactly what it is about our work that matters most to you as an MAF supporter, as it helps us focus on the things you consider important Perhaps you’ve taken the time in recent years to complete a postal or online survey for us, or been part of an MAF discussion group.

Findings from our most recent supporter survey include: Our Christian values are central to why most of you support us.

It is a tremendous encouragement to us all that 85% of those surveyed use our Prayer Diary.

While the majority of you don’t know that 84% of money raised in the UK goes overseas, almost everyone who replied trusts MAF to spend resources wisely.

We received a high number of ‘above average’ and ‘exceptional’ ratings based on our Supporter Relations team’s swiftness of response, ability to help and overall friendliness. (You can phone them if you agree!)

The Twin Otter supplement we included in the Winter 2017 issue was a direct response to a question about ways in which we could serve you better – the most popular answer being ‘an occasional article focusing on technical/aviation issues.’

Now this is where you can shape our future! Would you be willing to join other supporters on a new MAF feedback panel?

We would love to send you ideas we are considering, telephone or email you with a few questions or invite your feedback before launching a new project.

If you feel able to help us in 2017, please phone our Supporter Relations team on 01303 852819 or email supporter.relations@maf-uk.org

Reckless Abandon MAF UK is excited to be partnering 4Front Theatre for their UK tour of Reckless Abandon – a feature-length stage adaptation of an incredible true story Operation Auca was a daring attempt by ten missionaries to take the Gospel to the previously unreached Waodani people, a murderous tribe living in the Ecuadorian jungle.

The 60th anniversary of the missionaries’ commitment to spreading the message and love of Christ was marked in 2016.

Their faith and courage, even in the face of death, remains an inspiration to all.

The play Reckless Abandon is the story of these missionaries, including MAF Pilot Nate Saint. It is a story of sacrifice, a story of love and a story of bravery. But above all, it’s the story of ten individuals living lives of reckless abandon which supporters are calling ‘fantastic’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘very moving’.

We’re delighted to be sponsoring the show which will be touring the UK throughout 2017. New dates are being added, so please check www.maf-uk.org/recklessabandon for production dates and to book your tickets.

This promises to be a fantastic evening, so do bring your friends along so they can learn more about the martyred missionaries and MAF’s inspiring and unique ministry.

Spring 2017 Flying for Life 15

On the road with MAF in 2017 Want to chat to some real live MAF staff and hear our latest news? Reckon you could land a plane on a remote airstrip?

Come along to our roadshow exhibition and find out!

4-13 April Spring Harvest, Minehead 21 May Heart & Soul, Edinburgh 27-28 May Big Church Day Out South, Wiston House 2-3 June Big Church Day Out North, Capesthorne Hall 22-30 July Refuel 2017, Inverness

Come and see us this summer! www.maf-uk.org/events