flying for life summer 2015

Flying for LifeThe quarterly magazine of MAF Australia

Summer 2015

After the Tsunami610 years on, we remember

Mongolia10Modern Day Acts

2 Flying for Life Summer 2015 www.maf.org.au

2015 is well and truly here. And what a wonderful beginning it has been for us here at MAF! Towards

the end of 2014, the donations continued to roll in for the Biblebox ministry in PNG. We had set a goal to raise enough for 1000 Bibles. But thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we raised enough for over 2000 bibles! When the team at CRMF heard this, they told us they almost fell off their chairs! These Bibles, along with all the prayers that accompany them, are going to bring transformation to the remote parts of PNG.

Alongside this, we are overjoyed to see the number of new candidates joining MAF. We had been praying God would provide four new Australian field staff members in 2014. He provided eight!

In this issue we take a look back at the destruction caused

Michelle DoreyCEO MAF Australia

MAF Australia: More than we imagined

10 years ago by the Boxing Day Tsunami in Indonesia. The images bring back memories of the devastation and heart-wrenching stories that came out of this disaster. For MAF, it was a chance to fulfil our calling: to show God’s love through aviation and technology.

We don’t know what 2015 holds. We don’t know if another disaster is just around the corner. But whatever comes our way, God is showing us that He is “able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine”. So join with us in prayer and thanksgiving for the ministry of MAF in 2015.

More than we imagined

Happy recipients of the Tok-Pisin Bible stand in front of the Twin Otter that carried them in. (Bak, PNG)

Photo: Michael Duncalfe

Summer 2015 Flying for Life 54 Flying for Life Summer 2015 www.maf.org.au

Timor-Leste: Casa Vida

Ready to goThe second GA8 Airvan for Timor-Leste is here

The second aircraft for Timor-Leste (a Gippsland Aeronautics Airvan with call-sign VH-MQO) has been on quite a journey. It was one of five GA8s that

MAF bought in 2013 in Kununurra, Western Australia and then ferried to Mareeba (that’s right across the top part of Australia) for a ‘make-over’.

A year in the makingAfter delays waiting on paperwork and permissions and a massive delay getting the needed parts, maintenance on the aircraft

was underway in the second half of 2014 and completed by the end of the year. It was during this time that MAF supporters in Australia came together to donate a massive $500k to make this possible - the record attempt by Ron Watts bringing in almost $200K alone.

After even more waiting for paperwork and permissions, MQO is finally ready to head for the skies of Timor-Leste. At the moment the ferry date is set for sometime in early February (we would greatly appreciate your prayers for a safe flight!).

Desperately neededIf you are asking why MAF in Timor-Leste need another aircraft, then look no further than the most recent statistics. The flying in Timor-Leste is increasing. Last year was a monumentally busy one with November being the busiest month on record since operations started in 2007. That month the team flew 66.9 hours, 126 sectors and 342 passengers. The 66.9 hours of flying can be broken down into 12 hours of medical emergency flights, 3 hours supporting health and education sector, 41 hours supporting the development sector and the balance hours flying general customers. The team flew 24 medevacs in October and November alone!

“An important service”And there’s plenty of praise for the current service. Australia Red Cross Timor-Leste Country Manager Peter Lomas states, “The MAF service in Timor-Leste plays an important role in the health, safety and security of Timorese and expatriate people. I am thankful for their operations in Timor-Leste, providing a professional, vital and

important service.” And Victory Family Team leader and missionary Myra Leaw loves MAF’s service too. “MAF has been such a blessing to us in our ministry here in Oecusse. They have brought Dili closer to us.”

Ready for MQOAs more people become aware of MAF and as more depend on our service, the flight schedule is becoming heavily booked which means that people are not always able to get flights on the days that they want. Generally they are very gracious and understanding. But being able to provide a consistent and continuous service is vital.

According to Programme Manager Jonathan Lowe “Because so much of the programme’s work is flying medical evacuations, we just can’t afford to have our only aircraft in the hangar for maintenance for two days.” And Emergency Department Senior Nurse, Francisco Barges would agree. He says that “MAF provides a great service here in Timor-Leste, particularly in attending the critically ill.”

MQO is truly a welcome and eagerly awaited addition to MAF in Timor-Leste.

Story and Photos Angela Harding

Chief Engineer Ben Sibthorpe hands over the keys to MQO to pilot David Pett in order for David to undertake a check flight prior to the ferry flight to Timor-Leste

Work being carried out on MQO

One of the 14 medevac flights in October - Judianto do Araujo Rego and daughter Jiona

Pilot Jonathan Lowe

Pilot Michael Bottrell

6 Flying for Life Summer 2015 www.maf.org.au Summer 2015 Flying for Life 7

Indonesia: 10 years on

TsunamiAfter the

Ten years on, we reflect on the Boxing Day crisis in Aceh, Indonesia

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — On December 26, 2004, the ground shook and the ocean rose, engulfing the western coast of the Aceh region of Indonesia. An estimated 170,000

people died, 550,000 were displaced, and communities were forever changed.

DestructionMAF was one of the first responders. MAF has worked in Indonesia since the 1950s and was able to mobilise aircraft from Bangladesh, Australia, and other parts of Indonesia to assist in the relief efforts. Within days, MAF was conducting survey flights and delivering aid to survivors, using roads as landing strips to reach the isolated.

“As you flew up the coast, things looked fine

until you reached Meulaboh. Then, it was just destruction. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said David Wunsch, special projects director for MAF.

Roads were destroyed or covered with debris, making ground travel nearly impossible. MAF used its aircraft to deliver food, water, medicine, and other necessities to locations that others were unable to reach.

Operation BlessingMAF’s Tim Chase arrived in Aceh 10 days after the tsunami and recalls those initial efforts. “At that time we had two locations on the coast where we were landing on roads,” said Chase. “Obor Berkat (Operation Blessing Indonesia) was working very closely with us to provide food in boxes that we could give to each family. We could load 150 boxes or so in a Cessna 206.” People would crowd around the

aircraft as it landed, desperately seeking help.

Internet CaféAs other relief organisations began to arrive, MAF established a communication centre (or “internet café”) in Meulaboh, a community on the west coast of Aceh where the United Nations set up a base camp. Another communication centre was established in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital that was devastated by the tsunami.

“There was a huge need for communications, as most of that infrastructure was destroyed in the tsunami,” said Mark Blomberg, who worked at the Meulaboh communication centre. “The U.N. had set up tents on a soccer field, so that was a logical place for the internet café. We had a tent with tables, computers, and a wireless network that was available for the U.N. or

Story Dianna Gibney

This Cessna 206 landed on a stretch of road to bring boxes of essential relief supplies to the village of Alue Titi Photo: Kate Allen

Summer 2015 Flying for Life 98 Flying for Life Summer 2015 www.maf.org.au

Indonesia: 10 years on (cont)

anyone who wanted to use it. We also had several VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phones that the aid workers could use to call back to their offices.

“People would come to the café early in the morning to shoot off a few emails or make a few phone calls, then they would go out and spend the day in the field. After dinner they would return and spend the evening writing up reports and assessments, or making phone calls with our phones. At that point our internet café was the only communication link,” said Blomberg.

Blomberg met his wife, Heidi, in Meulaboh, where she was working with Food for the Hungry, one of many relief agencies that partnered with MAF.

“We always flew with MAF from Medan to Meulaboh,” said Heidi Blomberg. “That was our only way of getting in and out. They transported all our expat and local staff. We also did a lot of surveying up the coast, and that was done with the MAF float plane. MAF also worked with Food for the Hungry to set up internet for us in our office.”

Road to recoveryThe rebuilding work in Aceh continued for years. Chase, who remained in Aceh until 2007, said that the people were dependent upon food aid for at least a year, until their gardens could become reestablished.

Hundreds of development groups were involved in efforts as diverse as clearing debris, building fish farms, planting rice, constructing homes and schools, digging wells, building boats, and helping small businesses get back on their feet.

And MAF provided transportation, communications, and logistic help to make it happen.

“The tsunami response was really the beginning of MAF’s disaster response department,” said Dave Wunsch. “We have always helped in crisis, but after the tsunami it became obvious that MAF had an important role to play in coordinating logistics and transportation and really enabling other relief providers.”

Disaster ResponseMAF now has a full-time disaster response department that is on standby to assist in the wake of natural disasters and other such emergencies. This team played critical roles following Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

What began as a disaster response effort turned into a long-term commitment for MAF in Aceh. Ten years later, MAF is one of the only aid groups still working there. From a base in Banda Aceh, MAF provides medical evacuation flights and safe, reliable air transportation. MAF also partners with a local aviation maintenance vocational school, providing practical laboratory training for high-school age students. In 2014, some 90 students passed through the MAF hangar.

We rememberTo the casual observer, Aceh seems to have recovered from the tragedy wrought by the tsunami. But such loss is not quickly forgotten.

“Things will never be the same,” said Chase. “Everything looks fine now. The homes are built and the kids are in the schools, but the human aspect of it is pretty raw. It will be a generation or two before things truly get back to normal.”

Being preparedWhen disaster strikes in an area where MAF can help, things move very quickly. Plans are put into action, aircraft are diverted and our staff hit the ground running. It’s in these moments we lean very heavily on our prayer supporters. We’d love for you to join with us as a prayer partner to support our everyday flying and to be there for us when the next disaster happens. To sign up as a prayer supporter, head to: www.maf.org.au/prayformaf

Unloading supplies. Photo: Harry Berghuis

Destroyed bridges made roads unusable… at least for cars. Our Cessna 206 was able to

use it as an airstrip. Photo: Amber Desist

Pilot Rune Karlsson unloads precious cargo. Photo: Harry Berghuis

The normal means of receiving help were completely wiped out. Photo: Harry Berghuis Photo: Harry Berghuis

Ulaangom

Erdenet

Darhan

Hovd

Olgiy

Arvaikher

Tsagaanders

Bayanhongor

Ulan Bator

M o n g o l i a

MAF base


Mongolia: Modern day Acts

Modern dayActs

1. Zavkhan Team (people group engaged: Halkh):

We have found that the people in the village who had expressed interest in following Jesus in June (during an earlier visit) are still wanting to follow Jesus. Some had met together in small groups a few times, but there was not a consistent group meeting together regularly. We focused on teaching locals how to share the Gospel with others and how to do house church meetings, encouraging them to meet together weekly. Several villagers said they would organise weekly meetings. We also shared the gospel with about a dozen new people. From this effort, several new people made decisions to follow Jesus, and the local believers accompanying our team members began to feel confident in sharing the Gospel themselves.

The recommendation: Another visit in 3-6 months to continue helping to form the local church. Next steps include organising local church leadership, envisioning locals and helping them plan for evangelism and church planting in surrounding areas.

It’s Saturday and nine Mongolian missionaries from Antioch Church are tucked into the back of the Cessna 208B Caravan. The plan is simple: they will split up into groups of three and visit three different areas, encouraging the local church and providing recommendations for the future. The Mongolian terrain is both beautiful and prohibitively harsh. For these nine

missionaries, MAF is vital as it greatly increases the areas they can visit and the impact they can have.

The church planters were dropped off in Uliastai (Zavkhan Province), Ulaangom (Uvs Province), and Bulgan (Khovd Province). The report back reads like something from the book of Acts. The Gospel is on the move!

2. Uvs Team (people groups engaged: Bayad, Duruvuud, Halkh):

In Sagel, we focused on a family (Bayad people group) who had previously decided to follow Jesus but seemed to be having trouble sticking with it. The husband is the village police officer, and the wife a teacher, an influential village family. The family had been going between the Bible and a local shaman, and they talked openly about their struggles. At the end of their time together, the family (parents and kids together) burned all of their shaman artifacts and recommitted to Jesus and to forming a house church. We met with others in the village and found openness but spent almost all of our time with this one family. We are hopeful that this influential Bayad family will be the foundation of the church in Sagel.

The recommendation:Next steps for Uvs will be continuing to solidify churches in Ulaangom, Sagel, and Tes through visits at 3-6 month intervals, as well as helping locals reach their neighbours.

3. Khovd Team (people groups engaged: Halkh, Torguud, Altai/Kalmyk, Kazak):

We spent time with the small church in Bulgan village and worked with the local pastor, training on reproducible evangelism and house church planting methods. We had taught some on this in June 2014, so this was a follow up training, addressing problems they had encountered. We also visited a local Kazak family who had expressed interest in follow Jesus in June. We found the family still interested, and they talked with them further about following Jesus and gave them some practical tools. We pray that this Kazak family will be the start of a Kazak church in the area.

The recommendation:Next steps in Bulgan, Hovd will include continuing to train the local Mongolian church and also reaching out more to Kazaks and helping establish a Kazak church.

The ripple effect of this one flight – one of many - will never fully be known. MAF’s ability to transport groups of missionaries and church planters around the country with such ease, is allowing the church to grow quickly and effectively. You can’t help but think that the Apostle Paul would have benefited greatly from a Cessna Caravan too! In July, Australian Tony Lohmeyer will be joining the Mongolian team as Chief Engineer. Please pray for him and wife Jill as they undertake this next adventure.

Before the Mission Trip After the Mission Trip


PNG: Saving Rose

It started on a Friday, when Rose was attacked by two men from the neighbouring tribe. She dragged herself back to the village by nightfall, but Mount Tawa has no doctors, not even a community health worker. There was, however, a channel of communication – a CRMF

(Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship) radio and an MAF agent who knew how to use it, and so began a chain of events:

1. The MAF agent called CRMF HQ

at Goroka to request a medevac.2. CRMF staff radioed

Jeremiah, the MAF radio operator in Mount Hagen.

3. Jeremiah passed on the message to Sali, the MAF Programming Assistant.

4. Sali called the MAF Goroka Base and spoke to John, the Base Manager, to arrange a medevac.

5. John phoned Holger, the pilot who usually flew the Goroka medevacs.

6. Holger called Michael, the Flight Operations Manager, because he wasn’t checked into the Mount Tawa airstrip.

7. Michael called Martin, the pilot who usually did the Hagen Medevacs, to ask him to ‘check out’ pilot Andrew into the airstrip while doing the medevac. (‘Check out’ refers to a familiarisation flight with an instructor into an airstrip that a pilot hasn’t flown into before. This particular airstrip is challenging, the approach being VERY close to a huge cliff off a sheer mountain range).

8. Early Saturday morning Martin and Andrew flew out to Mount Tawa, returning to Mount Hagen around

10.00am with Rose, and her husband Rodney, who requested she be taken to the mission hospital at Kudjip.

9. Martin didn’t have contact details for Kudjip hospital, so he rang the Programme Manager, Godfrey, who advised it was not possible for ‘long-we’ patients (i.e. patients not from the surrounding area) to go to that hospital without prior arrangement. They headed to Mount Hagen.

10. No ambulance arrived to meet the plane, so Martin and Andrew drove Rose and Rodney to the Mount Hagen General Hospital. 11. On his way home Godfrey passed Jennifer, MAF wife and a hospital speech therapist, and asked if she would drop by Hagen hospital where she knew the hospital staff. Jennifer was at the Emergency Department when Martin and Andrew arrived with Rose, her husband and sister-in-law. Jennifer took Rose and family into the emergency ward, and later met with

the Women’s Ward Supervisor to inform her about Rose’s condition and her possible HIV&Aids contamination.

12. On her way home Jennifer met with MAF wife Lois, who promised to visit Rose in the hospital, as was her custom with most medevaced female patients.

Twenty-four hours after being assaulted in a remote village in Papua New Guinea, Rose was safe in the care of hospital staff. Twelve people related to MAF in different ways, had a part in ensuring that she received the necessary treatment and care in the shortest possible time.

Rose was brutally assaulted while working in her vegetable garden near the village of Mount Tawa, PNG. It took a whole team of MAF staff to save Rose.

“Twelve people related to MAF in different ways, had a part in ensuring that she

received the necessary treatment and care”

Story Martin Koehler and Glen Sim Photos Martin Koehler

The 12 peoplethat saved Rose

Of course, the reality is that far more than 12 people saved Rose. It was those that pray with us week in and week out that kept the aircraft flying safely. It was those that donated throughout the year that poured in the fuel. It was the volunteers and advocates here in Australia and around the world that inspired people like Pilot Martin Koehler to go and serve on the field. This is what it means to ‘Be part of Something Bigger’. Together - on the field and at

home - we each play our part so that Rose and thousands more receive the help, hope and healing they need.

Help has arrived. Rose lies in the back of a GA8 Airvan in Mt Tawa, PNG

Be Part of Something Bigger


ContactMAF AustraliaABN 26 134 583 887

PO Box 7187Baulkham Hills NSW 2153Phone: 1800 650 169Email: [email protected]: www.maf.org.au

CRMFPO Box 7187Baulkham Hills NSW 2153Phone: 1800 650 169Donations: [email protected]: [email protected]: www.maf.org.au/CRMF

Flying for LifeISSN: 2202-0365Editor: Rich ThompsonEmail: [email protected]: Lindsay Yates GroupFlying for Life is the official magazine of Mission Aviation Fellowship and CRMF in Australia. Articles may be printed with acknowledgment.Flying for Life is a member publication of the Australasian Religious Press Association.If you no longer wish to receive Flying for Life (MAF News), please advise us at: MAF Australia 1800 650 169 and your name and details will be removed from our distribution list.

Front and back cover: LuAnne Cadd

Privacy StatementMAF is committed to safeguarding your privacy. We will only disclose your information in accordance with our Privacy Statement and/or with your permission. Our Privacy Statement explains what information we collect from you and how we intend to use it. You can view our Privacy Statement at www.maf.org.au

MAF Australia

Upcoming eventsRideforfuel: A lap of Tasmania

MAF Australia ConferenceThe annual MAF Australia conference is on Sunday 24 May 2015. Join us for lunch at 1pm Venue: Mueller College, 75 Morris Rd, Rothwell, QLD 4022.We’re going to be looking at what it means to be part of transformation!

Over 8 days, the riders will make a lap of beautiful Tasmania, covering 1200km and an altitude gain of 17200m. The event will take place from the 4th to the 11th of April 2015. Registration is now open for this once-in-a-lifetime ride. If you love to ride, we’d love you to join in! All the ride details are up at www.rideforfuel.com.

Giving your voiceThrough the volunteer ministry of the MAF Advocate Team, you can serve the Lord, transform lives, and be part of building God’s kingdom worldwide ... right where you live.

Become an Advocate with MAF and connect your friends, family, acquaintances, church, and other local groups with the ministry of MAF. Use your voice to help others understand the hopelessness and adversities of isolated people in remote areas of the globe. Share with them the hope and transformation that MAF brings to the world’s neediest people every day.

MAF Advocates inspire others to get involved in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ with a world full of distressed and lost people.Join the inspiring team of MAF Advocates and be part of changing lives of isolated people with the love of Jesus Christ.

Chris Patten Advocacy Manager

Make your own event!We’re excited to announce that we now have a profile on GoFundraise.com.au! This means it’s easier than ever for you to raise money for MAF. Walk, run, ride, put together a high-tea - you name it! Just jump onto gofundraise.com.au and follow the instructions. Call us if you need any help: 1800 650 169

To get in touch with Chris to find out how you can use your voice, simply call our office 1800 650 169 or email her at [email protected]

MAF Australia MAF_Australia MAFvideosAustralia | www.maf.org.au | [email protected] | 1800 650 169

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flying for life summer 2015

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