WINTER 2017
FLYING FOR LIFE
THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF
MAF AUSTRALIA 04 WOMEN FOR WOMEN 10 AN OASIS OF PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN 12 CONQUERING KOKODA IN SUPPORT OF MAF
FROM THE GM Welcome to the Winter edition of Flying For Life. One of my favourite scriptures is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Here Paul is talking about our response to the ups and downs that we often face in life. We may have plenty or be in need. Well fed or hungry. Tired or rested. Regardless, our peace and contentment comes from knowing that our strength is in the firm foundation of Christ. It can not be moved. What a blessing it is to be able to work in this strength! With your prayers, financial support and encouragement, we continue to labour to reach isolated communities with the love of God. And together we are having a real and tangible impact on the remote areas that we serve. In this edition, you get a small snapshot of this work. From supporting peace in South Sudan to repairing lives in Bangladesh, we are together able to do these things through Him who gives us strength. A great opportunity for you and your church to further engage with the work of MAF is fast approaching. Our Fuel for Father’s Day campaign seeks to raise jerrycans of fuel to help enable life-saving flights. We supply you with fun videos to play at church and jerrycan-shaped Father’s Day gift cards to sell after the service. Every jerrycan we’re able to fill puts us in the air for 20 minutes - enough time to save a life! If this is something you’d like to explore for your church, please get in touch with us here on 1800 650 169 or maf@maf.org.au! Thank you for your continued faithful support. In His service, Ian McDougall General Manager MAF Australia
Father s Day '
2017 Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 2
Every dad dreams of being a superhero. Make your dad a MAF man. Get your church involved this Father’s Day! Every $50 raised puts us in the air for 20 minutes – enough time to save a life.
Fuel for Father ’s Day Call Matthew on 1800 650 169 to get your church resources! maf.org.au/FuellingFathersDay
Dr. Connie Neuhann-Lorenz and Nurse Kristen Wilde-Milius change Atiya’s bandages.
WOMEN FOR WOMEN A team from Women For Women, who specialise in plastic surgery on burn victims, operated on 53 women and children at the Friendship hospital ship in Bangladesh. Giving freely and receiving greatly in return. Story and photos by LuAnne Cadd
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welve-year old Atiya lies on the operating table whimpering as German plastic surgeon, Connie, and American nurse, Kristen, pull the old gauze bandages off Atiya’s fragile, damaged skin and replace them with new ones. In a corner of the same room, American plastic surgeon, Tracy, works with 15-year-old Monsur, who had a burn-scar contracture to the right hand and a burned face. “He lost the tips of his fingers and what he had left was stuck together,” she explains. “We separated the fingers.” Monsur motions for Tracy Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 4
to let him remove the old bandages using his good hand, and she graciously obliges. In the next room Marie-Christine, a Swiss plastic surgeon, works on replacing the bandages on 8-year-old Enamul’s leg, burned by a hot oil spill. In contrast to Atiya, he lies quietly, holding a bag of candy, two finger puppets, and a stuffed animal given to him by Pauline, a German medical student. It’s the final hour of an eight-day trip to the Friendship Hospital ship in Bangladesh where the
A crowd gathers on the shore of the Brahmaputra River, Mollar char, where the Friendship Hospital ship is docked. seven-member all-female team from Women For Women provided plastic surgery for 53 women and children under age 18. Now they are rushing to change the last bandages before flying back to Dhaka on the MAF floatplane, then home to their busy lives and jobs. The Gift of Dignity This is the sixth medical trip to this location for Dr. Connie Neuhann-Lorenz who along with a friend in 2010 founded Women for Women, an organisation of female plastic surgeons. “We were considered the cosmetic plastic surgeons, or the beauty surgeons, giving help to vain women. We wanted to demonstrate that plastic surgery is something completely different than it is perceived in the public.” Connie wanted to use their skills for the poorest of the poor in countries where women have little value and rights. “Women in countries like this would not have the ability to receive plastic surgery at the scale that we are able to do,” Connie explains. “So we thought out of a kind of solidarity for these women, we would try to bring dignity back to their lives. They don’t have much.” The organization works in many countries including India, Tanzania, and Pakistan. In Bangladesh,
Women For Women partners with Friendship, an NGO with three hospital ships that move along river systems docking at ‘chars’ – islands created from sediment. Chars often disappear in flood times forcing people to move. Burn accidents from oil lamps and open fires are common for the char people and with no money for treatment, the burns often heal in grotesque ways, sometimes leaving a woman or child with fingers fused together or an arm permanently bent or attached to their side. Although the majority of burns are accidental, Bangladesh has one of the highest incidence worldwide of reported acid attacks against women. However, many will make up a story rather then report what actually happened. “We may never know how they were burned, but this is not our issue,” Connie says. “Our issue is to help them live life with dignity.” Soul Healing For Dr. Tracy McCall, the trip felt like a healing hand on her soul. After six years of applying, the timing and her work schedule finally aligned, making it possible for her to join a trip. “In the US, we have a lot of problems right now with physician dissatisfaction,” Tracy describes. “Over 50% of the physicians practicing in the US at this Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 5
time are suffering from signs of clinical depression. The rate of those having suicidal thoughts is a lot higher than what you would expect. Like so many others, I’ve been struggling. It’s become harder and harder to do my work. It’s like they reached into me, grabbed my soul and my heart, ripped them out, threw them on the floor and stomped all over them. I knew I had to do something. When Connie came to me with this trip, it was at the right time. These people gave me my soul back. I’m not kidding about that. It’s a huge gift.” Heartache and Healing Her eyes seemingly empty of emotion, twenty-three year old Jahanara sits on one of the wooden platforms serving as beds in one of two temporary wards set up near where the hospital ship had docked. Just over a year ago her husband divorced her, leaving her to return to her mother’s home with her two-year-old child. Barely two months later an accident with a kerosene stove took the life of her child and left her with a burned and deformed hand. Jahanara’s surgery required removing thick scar tissue, tendon repair, end joint fusion, the securing of a K-wire, and skin grafts. Without Women For Women’s highly qualified plastic surgeons someone of Jahanara’s socio-economic status could never access this specialized treatment. Connie is proud that the teams are highly qualified at their jobs. Women For Women can currently choose from a pool of about 200 professionals. Anesthesiologists are particularly important, she says, and “we have the best of the best”, referring to Austrian Inge Haselsteiner and German Sigrid Kessler. There’s no skimping on quality. The procedures are the same as what they would do in their own practice. Time and Security MAF Bangladesh flights allow the team to make the most of their precious time, performing more surgeries rather than sitting in a car for a full day to reach their destination. Since the terrorist attack in
July 2016, it also means better security for the team as they can avoid an overnight in Dhaka. After arriving on their international flight they can immediately board the MAF aircraft for the flight to the safety of the river where Friendship hospitals are highly respected. Marie-Christine, who had participated in two medical trips just prior to the terrorist attack, says, “After the July attack I was not that comfortable spending a night in Dhaka. To leave with the sea plane the same day, the fact that it’s flexible, is very nice for us. Now we’re taking the plane to Dhaka and a few hours later we’re getting on our flight.” Inge tell of the time MAF couldn’t fly due to bad weather so two teams went by road, one to the south and one to the north. “It was a disaster,” Inge says. The team drove for 10 hours and slept overnight somewhere along the roadside. At one point there was shooting and the team lay flat on the floor of the car. “So we are really, absolutely happy and grateful that we can use the plane.” A Greater Gift The team of professionals work as unpaid volunteers and the expenses for the trip are occasionally donated or paid from their pockets. It’s a gift they happily give, women to women. “People ask why do we just treat women. Of course we treat all the kids, even boys, but mainly women because they don’t have any rights in this country,” Inge explains. “It’s just little drops that we can help, and they’re very grateful that somebody takes care of them and is interested in their problems.” Through giving of their time, energy and skills to women and children who have very little, Women for Women volunteers feel they have received a greater gift in return. “Have I done something for these people? Yes, I have,” Tracy says. “Have they done something for me? I think they’ve done more for me than I’ve done for them.”
L to R: Dr. Marie-Christine with Enamul and Anesthesiologist Inge Haselsteiner; 12-yr old Atiya had reconstruction surgery on her chest and face; Mark Blomberg waits by the shore of Mollar char where Emirates Friendship Hospital is docked. Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 6
23-yr-old Jahanara. The hospital seeks to serve primarily the char people who are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in Bangladesh.
2016 WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY YOU 1,400 2,000 destinations worldwide
different organisations served
39,000 hours flown by dedicated pilots
Thank you for your continuous support throughout 2016. Your invaluable contribution has helped MAF ministries touch the lives of people in need around the world. Because of you, our 1,250 staff and 135 aircraft have been able to reach some of the most isolated communities in the world with health, hope and healing.
60,000 163,000 7 mil flights were carried out
passengers transported
kilograms of freight
Bangladesh: Emirates Friendship Hospital
Bishop Taban started the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron.
AN OASIS OF PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN Bishop Paride Taban receives an award for his work in peace and reconciliation in South Sudan, particularly in the Kuron region that suffered from tribal hostility. Story and photos by LuAnne Cadd
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It may be uncommon for a Catholic person to receive an award from the Anglican Church, but 81-year-old Catholic Bishop Paride Taban’s work
is exceptional in the area of peace and reconciliation in war-torn South Sudan. In honor of his lifelong work, on 9 June the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Awards presented Bishop Taban with the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation. Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 10
A Change of Peace Seventeen years ago, Bishop Paride had a radical dream to end tribalism in the Kuron region. In 2005 he established the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron with a host of programs to promote cooperation and peace, from sports and theatre to agriculture and education. With tribes so deeply rooted in traditions such as cattle raiding, results were not easy but over time the region changed. “It’s a very peaceful area now,” described Bishop
MAF Pilot Wim Hobo picks up Bishop Taban in Kapoeta, South Sudan, taking him to the Lambeth award ceremony. Taban, a MAF frequent flier, when he recently flew from Kapoeta to Juba to begin the process for the England trip to accept the award. “You can drive 300 km from Boma to Kapoeta. You can travel even at midnight. It’s so peaceful. You can’t believe it. You can live without thinking of any security. At night you can walk through the forest without thinking of any danger. One can’t imagine that there’s such a place in South Sudan.” Cattle raiding continues on occasion, but the value of peace is consistently taught. “It happens because these are cattle raiders from neighboring states,” Bishop Taban says. “We are working very hard, and if there is an invading, we tell them they shouldn’t go there to take revenge by shooting. We don’t have soldiers; we don’t have police in that area. So the community is the police to solve the problem, and the chiefs are supporting this.” Dedication over Generations Bishop Taban worked toward peace and reconciliation for many years prior to his peace initiative in Kuron, founding the New Sudan Council of Churches in 1989 during the war. It comprised of six churches that acted as a facilitator for peace negotiations. He believed that the church must
stand as one body. Now at age 81, Bishop Taban stays healthy by exercising regularly and sticking to a vegetarian diet. He lives in a small hut at the Kuron Peace Village where his dream of peace began. “The people pray that God could give me another 100 years because I came too late to them when I was older,” he says. He still travels periodically for work, often flying in MAF’s small Cessna 182 as he did recently with pilot Wim Hobo. “I started flying MAF since more than 30 years,” the Bishop says. “It’s wonderful. When I’m in MAF, I feel that I’m safe. Thank you so much for all the service MAF has given us, especially since the time when I was dealing with the New Sudan Council of Churches during the 21 years of war. Your service is the one bringing peace for the suffering people of South Sudan. May God bless you and serve the people. Thank you very much for your support.” Bishop Taban attended the award ceremony in England for one reason. “I have to tell the world that there is something good happening in South Sudan, not always just talk of war and death and something negative. South Sudan has something positive. We have an oasis of peace in Kuron.” Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 11
CONQUERING KOKODA IN SUPPORT OF MAF Keith, front left, with the expedition team
What do you get when you mix a small group of MAF supporters and the infamous Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea? A group of muddy, sweaty, tired, yet enthusiastic trekkers who raised around $60,000 to assist the ministry of MAF. Story by Keith Maag
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AF Australia, in cooperation with trekking companies Inspired Adventures and BackTrack Adventures, recently organised a fundraising activity with a difference. MAF supporters were encouraged to get fit, raise funds and experience an extraordinary adventure walking in the footsteps of Australian soldiers. For 12 days in June this year, eleven people aged from 14 to 60 did just that. Paying Respect to the History The Kokoda Track is located in the eastern mainland of PNG and holds a great deal of historical significance for Australians. During World War II, Japanese forces landed on the north coast of New Guinea and began to advance towards the Capital Port Moresby by way Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 12
of a narrow, jungle track over the Owen Stanley Range. If Australian soldiers could not prevent the Japanese advance, then Port Moresby would be occupied and used as a launching point to strike Australia. After six months of ferocious fighting in appalling conditions, the Australians pushed the Japanese back, but not without suffering enormous losses. Today, many people are walking the Kokoda Track as a mark of respect to those who gave their lives during the Kokoda campaign. The Kokoda Track starts at Owers’ Corner, two hours drive to the north-east of Port Moresby and runs for 96 kilometres over extremely rugged mountain ranges. Combine this with tropical rain, heat and
humidity and trekkers are faced with a daunting challenge to reach the small community of Kokoda on the northern side of the Owen Stanley Range. Our Trekkers The 11 MAF trekkers, with Australian guide Dan Tones and 20 national support crew, took 10 days to walk the track. We spent our days climbing and descending torturous mountains, crossing swollen creeks and exploring the rusty relics of war. Walking in the mountain mist, surrounded by thick jungle and towering mountains, was often a surreal feeling. Watching beautiful butterflies and strange insects as we carefully negotiated the slippery, root-covered track was a challenging yet memorable experience. At night time, we bathed in frigid mountain streams, washed our sweat-stained clothes and talked around the camp fire of the day’s adventures and the important work of MAF. Land of the Unexpected PNG is known as the “Land of the Unexpected,” and so it proved to be on the last day of our trek. The plan was for the MAF Twin Otter based in Goroka to collect our team from the remote airstrip at Kokoda and return us back over the Owen Stanley Range to Port Moresby. Unfortunately, the day dawned rainy and overcast. In true PNG style, as the morning progressed, the poor weather continued and alternative plans were quickly devised to collect us from a larger coastal airport. As MAF is so often required to do, the pilots adapted to the changing situation admirably and delivered us safely to Port Moresby later in the afternoon. Interestingly, the flight only took 40 minutes and was a perfect illustration of the significance of MAF’s work in PNG. The trek which took us 10 days to complete by foot, took less than an hour by air. That is why so many communities rely on MAF to overcome the barriers of isolation. As a group of MAF supporters, it was a real privilege to see MAF in action and to experience their professionalism and friendly service. What a blessing they are to many people in isolated places around the world. Despite tired muscles, sore feet and muddy boots, the MAF team finished the trek with a smile and a real sense of satisfaction. After hiking a total distance of 120km over a narrow, slippery track, the unrelenting mountains, heat and humidity couldn’t dampen our achievement - it was worth the effort.
To meet more of our trekkers, make a donation or send messages of encouragement visit kokodatrekformaf.gofundraise.com.au
Top to Bottom: Brigade Hill Memorial; Children at Efogi Church; The Kokoda team with MAF Twin Otter; Efogi camp. Photos by Keith Maag and Naomi Hough Winter 2017 / FLYING FOR LIFE / 13
#WISEWORDS P L E A S E S H A R E YO U R S MAF is participating in the annual campaign week led by Include a Charity, a consortium of 100 charity supporters who highlight the importance of making a Will and how gifts left to charities in Wills can help future generations. Join the conversation and share your wise words today. These can be quotes that resonate with you, a favourite saying from childhood or a thought for the days when things aren’t going to plan. The goal is to initiate a dialogue with our friends, family, co-workers and the general public about the things that can make a difference in life and how supporting a favourite charity can have a huge impact.
What key moments/occasions in life call for words of wisdom to be passed on?
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given when you were younger?
What last words of advice would you leave as your legacy to future generations?
If you have some useful advice that others could benefit from, please share it with us via email at maf@maf.org.au or call 1800 650 169. We will be broadcasting your quotes in our campaigns to raise awareness for the benefits of leaving a legacy and making a difference.
KNOW SOMEONE WORKING IN FINANCE? For almost 70 years finance professionals at MAF have partnered alongside pilots, engineers, managers, teachers, administrators and many others to transform isolated communities.
In loving memory
Sign up to our email series that will help unpack what it means to use your finance skills with MAF at:
maf.org.au/work-with-us-finance
MAF would like to commemorate the passing of Richard Wise and use this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution he has made to our cause over the past years through his involvement in the MAF Ride for Fuel.
Over the years, Richard and the MAF Ride for Fuel team have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the service of remote communities in Australia and around the world.
Richard was a true champion of this year’s ride, not only pushing his own limits but also displaying great love and concern for his fellow riders, with constant encouragement and positivity.
We would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to Richard’s family and friends in this difficult time.
Richard Wise (left) with fellow rider Ian Charles
Flying for Life
(ISSN: 2202-0365) Design/Editor: Cadence Media (cadencemedia.com.au) Printer: BHB Printing Flying 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 COVER: Courtesy Dave Forney
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