Nick in front of one of the GA8 aircraft in Timor-Leste, and in PPE.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN TIMOR-LESTE WHEN ... Story by Ruth Hitchins Photos courtesy Nick Hitchins
You know you’re in Timor-Leste when your 11-year-old son goes to help out the guys clearing the section, and calls out, “Mum, can I use the machete?” Nick and I, along with our three boys, arrived in Dili, the capital of TimorLeste, in April, in the immediate tragic aftermath of Cyclone Seroja. The subsequent escalation of COVID-19 necessitated a State of Catastrophe being declared. Timor-Leste is very mountainous and reminiscent of parts of New Zealand—except here villages are perched precariously atop razorback ridges! They are very susceptible to being washed away, as recently happened. Access to these remote villages is by foot. MAF has seven airstrips, several of which are in mountainous regions and flying to them is very much at the whim of the weather.
Nick has been completing his country-specific training with the Chief Pilot; and is glad for his experience flying light aircraft in New Zealand’s challenging weather and terrain conditions. Nick’s first flight here involved both the MAF planes: criticallyunderweight triplets were born in the mountains on Mother’s Day, and a lot of medics and family were required to airlift them all safely to Dili! In order to keep flying during Dili’s ongoing lockdown, the two GA8 aircraft here are fitted with COVID-19 protection screens between the cockpit and the rear, and for the increasing number of pg 5
COVID-positive patients in the districts, pilots must fly fully-garbed in PPE gear. Patients now have to wait longer for medevacs since they have to pass COVID-19 tests before flying! This can delay situations which are already critical. The boys are doing long-distance learning and our days are spent wrestling with the ad hoc internet and power. Their studies are accompanied by the music of the little MAF GA8 planes, full of hope, taking off and landing. We are thankful for our AC unit whenever we hear the planes overhead flying to the remote regions, as we can imagine them roasting in their “suits” with no AC! An AC unit in the planes would take up valuable space and prevent more
