A V I AT I O N MISSION ADVENTURE
ABC
ABC
E-MAGAZINE E D I T I O N // 6
WHEN A WORM MEETS ITS END ‘It’s not a very glamorous job,’ Hannah laughs as she sits in a dark wooden hut agonising over poo samples. You can say that again! With incense and Tiger balm stuffed up her nose, Hannah is testing the stool and urine samples of 50 Malagasy village children. Hannah is part of a team of medical students from Manchester that’s travelled throughout Madagascar as part of the university’s first ever student-led medical research expedition.
W H AT O N E A R T H W E R E THEY UP TO? The Madex team has been flying to remote villages all over Madagascar to better understand the spread of bilharzia, an infection caused by a parasitic worm that enters the body due to unhygienic conditions. The results have been staggering. Among those who were tested, 94% had some form of the disease and – although it’s easily avoided – if untreated, the little worm can cause serious damage to organs which, in some cases, can result in death. Not only can the disease be tackled at little financial cost, it can also be completely avoided! This is the vision of Madex leader Dr Stephen Spencer,
whose passion is to see hygiene conditions dramatically improved in Madagascar’s remote villages – eradicating the disease entirely.
TRAVEL TROUBLES In 2015, the first research expedition began with the team using public transport to travel from Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo to the remote district of Marolambo where they began performing tests. Unaware of MAF’s presence, the team spent four seriously gruelling days travelling on the rough roads. ‘It was like nothing I’d ever seen,’ says Hannah as she recalled the night when they encountered three trucks that were stuck in the mud – causing a major road blockage in pitch-black conditions. ‘There was no option but to get out and walk the final section for about 12 miles,’ she explains.
HOW WE HELPED Sounds like a bit of a nightmare, doesn’t it? However, when the team returned in June this year, we were able to help them overcome the tough terrain with our time- and energy-saving flights! Since the moment the Madex team realised we were able to help, they were relieved to be flying to some of the most
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remote villages from our airstrip in Marolambo! Not only did this save the team a load of trouble, it also had a dramatic effect in speeding up the research they were desperate to carry out. MAF was even able to provide flights for some 9,000 doses of the treatment drug to begin mass distribution to children at the schools they’d visited! ‘To be able to go back to Antananarivo in about 45 minutes was just amazing… we couldn’t have done it without MAF,’ concludes Hannah.
WE LOVE IT It’s a huge privilege to be able to support incredible causes that can make an enormous difference in many people’s lives and the Madex project certainly does just that! As Dr Spencer and the Madex team continue to expand their research, many remote Malagasy communities can look forward to a day where bilharzia can be abolished for good!
WHEN MAF YOUTH M E T // MARK NEWNHAM ABOUT YOU I’m Mark Newnham, my wife is Sarah and we have three kids – Amy, Josh and Abigail. Josh and Amy are nine and ten, and Abigail, our little baby, is three. We’re from the Medway town of Gillingham, Kent, and we’re working with MAF in Liberia!
HOW DID YOU AND SARAH MEET? Sara grew up in Nigeria for about six years of her life and then, when her parents came back to the UK, they settled in Gillingham. We met at the same church there.
W H AT ’ S I T L I K E W O R K I N G IN A BRAND NEW MAF PROGRAMME? Very different! I came from Uganda having been there for ten years. We’ve gone from a big programme with 18 international families to a small programme with just 3. The nice thing about a small programme is that you tend to get involved in everything. In Uganda I’d fix planes because I’m an engineer and other people could do everything else. In Liberia, I can be helping load passengers and freight in the morning, and then be doing paperwork and other things during the day. Being Chief Engineer there means there’s manuals to amend and parts to order as well!
EBOL A HAD BEEN RAMPANT IN LIBERIA AROUND THE TIME YOU JOINED THE PROGRAMME. DID YOU HAVE ANY FEARS ABOUT T H AT ? I think my mum did [laughs]. Yeah, I mean I knew that MAF was monitoring the situation and things had been delayed because of that, but we knew it was safe when MAF and other organisations were sending people in.
HOW’D YOU COME TO KNOW GOD? I was brought up in a small church in Gillingham. So I’ve always gone to church and had the routine of going to church. But I was always taught that it’s a personal commitment that needs to happen. When I was 11, I just realised for myself what God had done for me – then I wanted to make Him my saviour and follow Him.
W H AT G O T Y O U INTERESTED IN ENGINEERING? I didn’t really like school – I endured it. I always liked fiddling and fixing things, and that sort of got me on a course for some kind of practical job. At the end of school, I got an apprenticeship with GEC Marconi. I continued an interest in engineering
through that apprenticeship, and then worked for a bit afterwards.
W H AT L E D Y O U T O JOINING MAF? After Sarah and I had been married for about 1½ years, we felt that we needed to look into missions as a couple, but didn’t know where to start. We wrote to ten organisations asking, ‘Can you use us?’ Three replied – one said, ‘No’ and two said, ‘Yes, but you need specific training in a certain area’. One of those was MAF. We did the interviews and things just seemed to flow. That was clearly the course God wanted us to take!
W H AT D O E S S A R A H G E T UP TO? We’ve only been in Liberia for two months but she’s been kept busy with the children. She’s a speech and language therapist and she loves working with children who have special needs. Hopefully, she’ll be able to get involved in something like that.
W H AT D O Y O U L O V E A B O U T MAF? I love the fact that MAF is helping other missionaries. There are people out there who are called to preach, teach and evangelise, and MAF helps them do that better by getting people around safer and quicker.
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THE RAW REALIT Y
TA K I N G B A C K H E A R T S IN TIMOR-LESTE W R I T T E N B Y Kim Job
P H O T O S Mathew Lyn
A BLEAK BEGINNING Fainting, dizziness, shortness of breath and chest pain may all point towards a serious heart condition. If someone feels this unwell for a period of time they may have to seek medical attention. But what do you do if there are no specialist heart doctors around? And what if it’s impossible to get treatment within your own country? What if your only hope of health, wellness and a fully active life, can only be achieved by flying to another country – a country whose technology and training are able to fix your broken heart – but you don’t have the means to get there? This is the sad situation that many people suffering with a heart condition in Timor-Leste can face.
F O R T U N AT E LY… East Timor Hearts Fund was formed to address this need. In September 2010, Dr Noel Bayley was trying to help two young Timorese women find funding to take them to Australia for life-saving heart valve surgery. In his frustration, Dr Bayley approached the media to share their story and was amazed at the response he received. Individuals and businesses
pledged financial assistance and, just six weeks later, $30,000 in donations were received. This was the beginning of East Timor Hearts Fund, which for the past 6 years has helped 30 patients receive surgery in Australia, and allowed hundreds of patients to be examined in Timor-Leste by heart specialists.
H O W M A F G O T I N V O LV E D On Saturday 11 June, MAF Pilot Jason Job, flew Dr Bayley from Dili to Oecusse to conduct a heart clinic. Dr Dan Murphy of the Bairo Pite Clinic, photographer Mathew Lynn and other medical personnel from Australia and TimorLeste accompanied him. Oecusse is a small region that is separated from the rest of the country by Indonesian territory. Travelling there from Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, is difficult. Road travel involves obtaining visas and driving on poor roads. Travel by sea takes many hours and requires an overnight stay. Air travel, however, makes this journey far quicker and easier for the passengers. ‘Flying proved to be a very efficient option. The ferry would have required a two-night stay, causing a major impact on our ability to meet our Dili commitments. We were grateful to MAF for giving us an excellent service.’
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While the medical professionals were in Oecusse, they were able to examine 19 patients, from small infants to an 80-year-old man. ‘Sadly, we saw a couple of teenagers with such an advanced disease that they are beyond surgical help. This is avoidable with proper preventative programmes, early assessment, and good access to surgical treatment, and serves to remind us of why we are here,’ explains Dr Bayley. Staff from East Timor Hearts Fund believe this was the first time that a team of heart specialists had visited Oecusse. When they arrived at the airport, they were officially welcomed by Dr Mari Alkatiri, President of the Oecusse region, and given a tour of the new hospital complex that’s being built there.
N E E D S B E I N G M E T, SUCCESS BEING ENJOYED Pilot Jason Job said, ‘It was great to fly this team and witness first hand what they do to help people who don’t have the means to afford this kind of treatment.’ MAF’s vision is to see isolated people physically and spiritually transformed in Jesus’ name. By providing transportation for passengers such as the staff from East Timor Hearts Fund, we are helping to fulfil this. ‘My greatest joy,’ concludes Dr Bayley, ‘is to see the patients who’ve had the procedures. They are often very ill when I first meet them, with limited life expectancy. To see them well and enjoying life again is a source of huge satisfaction.’
YO U ARE HERE
G E T // DEEP
DOING GOOD SOMETHING’S OFF ‘I’ve done my good deed for today.’ Have you ever heard anyone say that after doing something ‘good’? It’s a bit of a weird thing to say, isn’t it? As if that person was under some sort of requirement to perform a mildly selfless act on a daily basis. Why would that be the case? We live in a culture where many people think that doing something seemingly good earns us something. Depending on the ‘do-gooder’, there are a variety of reasons for the ‘gooddoing’. Perhaps it’ll earn the person some respect from those watching or an increased sense of self-worth — who knows?
HMM… It’s an interesting thought, but it’s one that — in a cultural sense — has even affected Christianity. This time, however, the thing being ‘earned’ may be God’s love or possibly even heaven when we die. Although we often find this mindset among many of the religious worldviews MAF comes across, Christianity actually runs counter to it! ‘All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away’ (Isaiah 64:6, NIV). People tend to quote this passage as if it explains how God views our good-
doing — as ‘filthy rags’. But the previous verse says… ‘You meet him who joyfully works righteousness’ (Isaiah 64:5a, ESV)
THIS IS THE ISSUE So doing good deeds isn’t the problem! ‘Our sins sweep us away’ — sin is the problem. In this particular case, sin can manifest itself through our motivation for doing good deeds. Our motivation matters! So what should our motivation for doing good be?
JESUS? As already mentioned, Christianity is completely different from other worldviews because, although becoming a Christian is accomplished through good works, it’s not through our good works — it’s through Jesus’!
DEPENDING ON THE ‘DO-GOODER’, THERE ARE A VARIETY OF REASONS FOR THE ‘GOOD-DOING’ PERHAPS IT’LL EARN THE PERSON SOME RESPECT FROM THOSE WATCHING
own righteousness can earn what He has already accomplished.
WAIT A SEC… But don’t get me wrong! I know it’s possible to think, ‘Thanks for doing all the hard work, Jesus. I don’t need to do anything now, so I won’t!’ But that’s not what I’m talking about. We shouldn’t respond in a way that avoids spurring us on to acts of goodness. We should follow Jesus’ example and be willing to live lives of service and love! Wanting to be like Jesus should give us the right motivation for doing good.
THE GOOD PART When we remember that what Jesus accomplished for us has been given as a gift to us, it should cause us to realise how generous, merciful and kind He is — despite how inherently sinful we are! Our response to this amazing truth should be one of thankfulness. Then, out of that thankfulness, should come acts of the same generosity, mercy and kindness that we’ve been shown by Jesus. Don’t go and belittle what Jesus has done for you! Receive it as you would a gift, hold on to it for dear life and begin to do good to those around you from a place of worship and true thankfulness!
This means there’s nothing we can actually do to earn God’s love and a hope for heaven with Him, because it’s through the work of Jesus in His life, death and resurrection that we can have assurance of God’s love, and spend eternity with Him. If these things can’t be earned, then a wrong motivation for doing good would be to disregard what Jesus has accomplished for us and act as if our
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FOR IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, THROUGH FAITH – AND THIS IS NOT FROM Y O U R S E LV E S , I T I S T H E G I F T O F G O D E P H E S I A N S // 2 : 8 6 MAF Youth E-Magazine 2016 www.maf-uk.org/youth
FAYA//CHAD
P R AY ! P R AY ! P R AY ! • P R AY F O R T H E W O R K O F THE MADEX TEAM AS THEIR RESEARCH CONTINUES TO BRING HUGE IMPROVEMENTS T O H E A LT H C A R E I N COMMUNITIES ACROSS MADAGASCAR. • I T W A S G R E AT S P E A K I N G TO MARK NEWNHAM ABOUT HOW THINGS ARE GOING IN ONE OF MAF’S NEWEST P R O G R A M M E S . P R AY T H AT MAF LIBERIA FLOURISHES A N D T H AT G O D W I L L U S E T H E PROGRAMME TO BRING HIS KINGDOM NEAR TO PEOPLE THERE. • P R AY F O R I M P R O V E M E N T S I N H E A LT H C A R E I N T I M O R L E S T E , P A R T I C U L A R LY I N OECUSSE WHERE PEOPLE WITH AVOIDABLE HEART DISEASES HAVE NO ACCESS TO SPECIALIST DOCTORS. • M A F Y O U T H H A S AT T E N D E D A LARGE NUMBER OF FESTIVAL EVENTS THIS SUMMER! P R AY F O R E N E R G Y F O R OUR VOLUNTEERS, GOOD CONNECTIONS AND MORE SUPPORTERS. • T H E S TAT I S T I C S H A V E B E E N A R E A L E Y E-O P E N E R I N SHOWING JUST HOW MUCH MAF CAN ACHIEVE IN A YEAR! P L E A S E P R AY T H AT, B Y T H I S TIME NEXT YEAR, OUR WORK WILL HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE FRUITFUL! • THE MORE WE READ IN THE NEWS, THE MORE WE SEE J U S T H O W U N S TA B L E T H I N G S A R E I N T H E WO R L D. P L E A S E P R AY F O R P R O T E C T I O N AND SAFETY FOR ALL MAF PROGRAMMES AROUND THE GLOBE.
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