February • 2022
globalheroes.com
ADVERTORIAL
Only When the Plane Comes
TAKING OFF IN INDONESIA © DAVE FORNEY
AT A REMOTE AIRSTRIP IN LESOTHO, AFRICA © GRANT STRUGNELL
You shield your eyes against the glare of the blazing mid-morning sun, darting them back and forth as you scan the horizon for the source of the sound as it echoes across the plain. Then it appears, a tiny dot at first, but growing larger with every passing moment. It’s the MAF plane. Right on time. Just in time. • Maybe it’s a regular weekly flight bringing medical supplies to restock a local village clinic. • Maybe it’s bringing building supplies for the new school or replacement parts for a broken well. • Or perhaps it’s here to medevac a critically ill child in need of immediate medical attention. Whatever the reason, to countless thousands of families living in more than 30 countries worldwide, planes from MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP (MAF), an international, Christian, humanitarian, relief and development organization, are anticipated and welcome. MAF GOES WHERE MOST OTHERS WON’T (OR CAN’T) Imagine that another drought
has left your village without food. It’s not your fault; it’s just geography. Maybe if your village were a little lower, a little higher, a little more coastal, then you wouldn’t be at the mercy of unpredictable weather. But this time, it’s different. This time, the drought has impacted the entire region—maybe even beyond. You know it won’t last. Eventually, the rains will come, and the crops will grow, but for now, your family has a month of food left, maybe more if you don’t eat your share. You’re hardworking and proud of what you have built for your family, and the last thing you want is a handout, but as you look into the faces of your children, you feel afraid for tomorrow. This is a situation that is all too common in areas plagued by drought and famine. In places like these, MAF helps deliver emergency supplies of food for today, as well as replacement seeds and simple farming tools to help provide for a better tomorrow. Whether it’s the aftermath of a war or political uprising or the result of earthquakes, hurricanes, or other natural catastrophes, when disaster strikes and
people are left hurting, hungry, in providing transportation for and in need, MAF is there. mentors, development workers, discipleship leaders, and pastors. MAF FLIES TO OVER Currently, MAF provides 1,700 DESTINATIONS; logistics, transportation, and technological support to over MORE THAN ANY OTHER AIRLINE 30 countries worldwide. Since 1946, Mission Aviation Fellowship has operated light OPERATING THE aircraft to assist individuals and WORLD’S LARGEST partner organizations serving in FLEET OF PRIVATELY developing countries, bringing OWNED AIRCRAFT essential aid and spiritual sus- Mission Aviation Fellowship is tenance to many of the world’s at the forefront of a global effort most inaccessible and inhospi- to overcome barriers of poverty, table locations. ignorance, and disease. Over the years, those locations Our aircraft—currently have grown in numbers, with numbering roughly 130 worldnew airstrips opened, and more wide—support teachers, medical communities served every year. personnel, and relief and development workers from countries No 911. No doctors. No around the world. medicines. When you live here, In addition to flying perand the help you need is on the sonnel, MAF planes go where other side of that mountain range, others don’t, transporting you’re thankful that a MAF flight emergency food, seeds, and is just minutes away. livestock; transporting the sick and injured; delivering doctors, For many families living in medicine, and relief supplies; isolated communities world- and carrying the materials those wide, seeing a doctor, having living in remote communities adequate food and clean water, need to build better lives for or even access to education for themselves and their families. school-aged children only hapMAF airplanes are often the pens when MAF planes arrive. only safe and reliable means MAF also plays a vital role of transportation to otherwise
isolated communities. In regions without passable roads, MAF can reduce a doctor’s all-day trek by foot to a mere 20-minute flight, or provide a single flight that can haul a half-ton of cargo into an area that would otherwise require a train of pack animals, several guides, and weeks of gruelling effort to reach by land. MULTIPLYING EFFECTIVENESS Mission Aviation Fellowship multiplies the effectiveness of over 1,400 partner organizations. Instead of spending time and money on costly and inefficient overland transportation, MAF enables thousands of partner organizations, missionaries, doctors, and aid workers to put more of their resources to use where they will make the most difference. With MAF, what would usually take weeks of travel by foot or even days by road, can now take hours or minutes. And in remote places where minutes can mean the difference between life and death, a MAF flight can make all the difference. To learn more about the work of Mission Aviation Fellowship, visit mafc.org
Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada 102-195 Hanlon Creek Blvd. Guelph, ON - N1C 0A1 | 1.877.351.9344 | www.mafc.org
Help keep this life-changing work going. Your financial support of Mission Aviation Fellowship can play a vital role in seeing lives changed.
Scan the QR code to become an MAF Flight Crew member with regular donations of $20 or more that can help fund a flight for someone in need, or visit mafc.org to learn more about our work. Thank you for your support.
Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada is a registered Canadian charity (Registration # 12994 2561 RR0001) and is able to issue receipts for income tax purposes.
An MAF plane sits on a remote airstrip in Lesotho, Africa Credit Grant Strugnell
Whether responding in times of war, natural disaster, or famine, your support of MAF can help bring help, hope, and healing to thousands of communities around the world.
