MAF Youth Magazine - Issue #37

RESTORING SIGHT

— WORKING WITH SOUTH SUDAN’S ONLY FEMALE EYE SURGEON

Jenny Davies

Dr Aja Kuol, President of South Sudan’s Ophthalmic Association, is the nation’s first female eye surgeon and one of only four eye surgeons who work in the country!

Her mission is to restore sight to South Sudan’s most vulnerable and isolated communities.

The country is landlocked, with an abundance of swamps and wetlands — its infrastructure ravaged due to years of conflict.

South Sudan is the size of France, with a population approaching 12 million. Unlike France, only 186 miles (300 km) of its roads are paved.

It can take days to reach remote villages riddled with muddy dirt tracks, with many of the routes often becoming completely inaccessible.

Dr Kuol and her team travel the length and breadth of the country performing sight-saving operations. Unfortunately, the lengthy overland travel limits the time they could have with their patients.

Dr Aja Kuol and team carry out eye tests in Loolim village

Operations are carried out in an empty hall with makeshift blinds

When adults see again, children can finally go to school

Last year, however, Dr Kuol and her team used our aircraft to avoid the perilous roads. Doing so not only helped reduce their travel time from days to hours, but enabled them to access some of the country’s remotest locations.

MAF now flies the team from Juba to a range of isolated areas. We also transport specialist surgical equipment that includes a microscope and essential medical supplies.

On a typical 4-day outreach, some 1,000 people can receive a life-changing operation.

Because access to healthcare is so limited, people often walk up to four days to receive help from Dr Kuol and her team, though it’s a small price to pay for the gift of sight!

Although it’s quite a trek, Dr Kuol understands the great need for people to access healthcare. ‘With so few surgeons, we have to come out to the field. We can’t wait for the people to come to us.

‘People in Juba can’t afford to access treatment or even go outside of Juba but, in areas like Kapoeta, there is no service people can access. So I move around — it’s the nature of my work.’

Two of the most common conditions treated by Dr Aja and her team are trachoma and cataracts.

According to the World Health Organisation, trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. It’s an infectious disease which thrives in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. If left untreated, it can lead to irreversible blindness.

Dr Aja and her team see different stages of trachoma during their trips and fight to save what little sight some people have left.

‘You have to be tough to be a doctor,’ she says, ‘because sometimes, even with surgery, someone’s condition might be quite advanced. We take them to theatre when their vision has already significantly reduced.

‘We have to explain to them that we are not trying to increase their vision, just maintain what vision they have left.’

Cataracts are very common in older people. A misty patch develops over the lens and can lead to total blindness if it isn’t removed. Fortunately, vision is often easily restored after an operation.

Dr Kuol, who can see the impact this surgery has on people’s lives, notes, ‘When people come to us blind, they don’t know that this type of blindness is reversible. Cataracts aren’t permanent.

‘Coming here and treating thousands of people makes a lot of difference. I feel like I’m really giving a service to my community. You can see the smiles on their faces. One man had been blind for seven years. When we opened his eyes, he was dancing!

‘One mother of four, who’d been blind for eight years, had only seen her firstborn son. After surgery she cried, “This is my baby, that I haven’t seen until now!” This is the difference we’re making.’

Restoring vision means that people can do things without needing help and can make a living for themselves and their families. Most importantly, they can see their loved ones again.

When patients get their sight back, they regain their independence. Children no longer have to care for them and can go to school, which will ultimately improve their lives.

With the help of MAF, Dr Kuol and her team performed 4,700 operations in 7 locations in 2023.

This year, thanks to the incredible difference that Dr Kuol and her team are making due to MAF flights, the number of operations is likely to be even higher.

MAF

Please pray for Dr Kuol and her team, for the MAF pilots flying them to different locations around South Sudan, and for those receiving treatment.

flies in personnel and equipment for the mobile eye clinics

TWIN MEDEVAC

— A STORY OF LOSS AND LOVE

Annelie Edsmyr, Jessica Hunt, Anton Lutz and Camy Thomas

WARNING: This story contains facts that may be upsetting

Back in March 2024, people from an entire village rushed to clear an overgrown airstrip in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the hope that they could save the lives of a mother and her two newborns

FRIDAY 22 MARCH

In the remote jungles of PNG, on the edge of a steep mountain in the middle of thick rain forest, bordered by a huge river raging violently beyond its banks, a brave mother delivers twins on a Friday afternoon in her grass hut in the village of Mengamanau.

Complications arise when the placenta — usually delivered after giving birth — remains attached. With the second twin still attached to her, Mamma Samarie continues to bleed.

Fast-flowing rivers separate PNG’s villages

The relentless rain last week makes it impossible for the family to carry the mother and her babies to the nearest aid post on the other side of the raging river.

The community health worker — himself a new father — realises it’s impossible to swim to this desperate family waiting for help on the other side.

All he can do is encourage the community to clear the overgrown airstrip on their side of the river, keep the doctor at the hospital in Kompian informed, and connect the MAF agent on their side of the river with the doctor.

The MAF agent asks MAF’s Mount Hagen base to send a plane as soon as possible.

The family, tribe and community unite in work and prayer to ensure that the plane will be able to airlift Samarie to the nearest hospital. It’s 15 minutes by air but a 4-day walk overland.

MONDAY 25 MARCH

This morning, after many days of rain and a 6.9 earthquake on the Richter scale, the sun shines brightly, helping the steep, slippery airstrip to dry off so the experienced MAF pilot can fly the mother and her twins to hospital.

This afternoon, three days after giving birth in the bush, the pale, unconscious mother with the twin baby boy still attached to her by his umbilical cord is rushed into hospital drenched in blood, sweat and tears, along with his twin.

Samarie is eventually resuscitated (reviving someone from being unconscious/near death) and put on antibiotics because she has lost a lot of blood. She is likely to have sepsis and is running a high fever, as is her baby boy.

According to Dr Ray, the number one cause of death for PNG mothers — postdelivery — is sepsis. The second highest cause of death is from bleeding.

The airstrip near Kompiam District Hospital

Story by Dr Camy Thomas, dentist at Kompiam District Hospital. Edited by Mandy Glass

Although hospital staff rush to give Samarie a blood transfusion, she is still in need of healing and recovery, as is her baby boy Jared. Baby girl Sanda, however, remains well.

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH

Samarie’s baby boy is still fighting for life, while his sister lies next to him, full of life.

There’s a paediatrician visiting this remote hospital today, which is rare. Raising families in remote villages where healthcare is difficult to access, they see a fair number of medical emergencies and diseases which tragically prove fatal.

MAF’s partnership with hospitals like Kompiam enables us to carry out medevacs and fly health patrols to remote areas for preventative care and immunisation programmes. But there’s a long way to go before professional health care is accessible for all in remote PNG.

The paediatrician inserts a tube up the baby boy's nose, and then into the airway (trachea) to hold it open, as he cannot breathe on his own. Now, student nurses physically pump air into the baby boy’s lungs. Every second, air is pumped in physically by the nurses. The air is pumped in 3,600 times — the equivalent of 3,600 breaths an hour. Then the next person takes over and pumps. Everyone will take turns until baby Jared breathes on his own, or his heart stops.

At 11am PNG time, the boy’s heart stops beating. He is buried by his grandmother in the hospital compound far away from the home where his father and older sister wait — a four-day walk through the jungle and across raging rivers. His mother is too weak to walk, still needs more blood to replenish her, and has a baby girl to feed. She weeps and prays for her baby boy.

FRIDAY 5 APRIL

It’s been a fortnight since the twins were born. Baby Sanda and her mother are doing well. The tiny one initially had to be fed by the nurses as Samarie wasn’t producing enough milk. But, after two bags of blood and medicines to help her recover, she’s doing well.

Baby Sanda sleeps a lot and seems to be growing a little bigger since she came in last week.

One day, she’ll hear the story of how she came into the world, had a twin brother who was formed with her for nine months in their mother’s womb, but who lived outside of it for only five days.

Sanda may question why, and will be told that it rained all week, making the river swell so much that help couldn’t reach them in time. She will be told how her family and community cut the airstrip grass so MAF’s plane could land to fly them to hospital.

Perhaps she’ll ask how many babies died before her twin brother passed away and how many babies perished afterwards due to similar circumstances.

For now, MAF aircraft are urgently needed to save lives in remote PNG whenever medical emergencies occur.

MAF works closely with Kompian Hospital to ensure patient safety

Mother and daughter

I’m Bea and I’m 13. I live in Rugby and I like to knit, write and volunteer! My favourite school subject is textiles, and I can’t wait to support MAF in its fundraising.

I’m Daniel and I’m also 13. I live in the Outer Hebrides and enjoy mountain biking, shinty, kayaking, boating, and play the bagpipes and snare drum. I really like planes and am keen to be a pilot.

We’re the winners of the first MAF Youth Fundraising competition and we wrote the story you’re about to read. It’s about a mum and baby who received help, hope and healing thanks to YOU!

IMAGINE SEEING YOUR NEWBORN BABY’S CLEFT PALATE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

IMAGINE NOT KNOWING THAT IT COULD BE TREATED.

IMAGINE THE SHOCK AND UNCERTAINTY.

IMAGINE HEARING PEOPLE SAY THAT YOUR DAUGHTER LOOKED LIKE A PIG.

IMAGINE THE JUDGEMENT AND RESENTMENT.

IMAGINE THE GUILT THAT MAYBE THIS WAS BECAUSE OF YOU.

IMAGINE THE BLAME FROM OTHERS THAT THIS WAS YOUR FAULT.

IMAGINE THE NEWS THAT A MOBILE CLINIC WAS MOVING NEAR TO YOUR HOME.

IMAGINE HEARING THE EXPLANATION FOR YOUR DAUGHTER’S CLEFT LIP AND PALATE.

IMAGINE BEING TOLD THAT IT COULD BE TREATED BY A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.

IMAGINE THE RELIEF!

IMAGINE THE OFFER OF AN MAF FLIGHT TO A HOSPITAL FOR THE OPERATION.

IMAGINE FLYING FOR 3 HOURS INSTEAD OF HAVING TO WALK FOR 10 HOURS.

IMAGINE THE JOY OF SEEING YOUR DAUGHTER COME OUT OF SURGERY.

IMAGINE THE GRATEFULNESS FOR EVERYONE’S HELP TO ERASE THE MOCKERY THAT YOUR DAUGHTER WOULD HAVE EXPERIENCED.

DO

YOU THINK IT’S

FAIR THAT FAMILIES

WITH A CHILD WHO HAS A DISABILITY STILL FEEL THEY MUST HIDE THEIR CHILD AWAY TO STOP THEM BEING BULLIED?

In the UK, children born with a cleft lip or palate have a care plan from birth to when they are 15 years old.

Tailored to their individual needs, the plan includes feeding assistance, support for parents, hearing tests, paediatric assessment, speech assessment, facial surgery and dental reconstruction.

The experience of Christine and her 11-monthold baby Bella in Lodwar, a remote part of Kenya, was very different until MAF stepped in.

MAF Pilot Daniel Loewen-Rudgers flew a medical team from Nairobi to Lodwar where Christine could attend a mobile clinic with Bella.

At the clinic, Dr Federico assured Christine she was not alone in her struggle and that her daughter’s condition could be treated.

YOU can make such a difference. Please help end the struggles of families like Bella’s.

‘Every step we take to lift a child up is a step towards a world where differences are celebrated,’ says Dr Federico, ‘and every heart is made whole again.’

Please pray that MAF can continue enabling children like Bella to receive the medical care they need.

You can also help today by FUNdraising for MAF so children like Bella won’t remain hidden and disfigured for the rest of their lives.

Visit www.maf-uk.org/fundraise

Please consider helping, so that many more beautiful testimonies can be spread and known. Support MAF today so that more children like Bella can receive treatment.

Thank you for all your support. BEA AND DANIEL

Youth Fundraisers

Why not host a...

• Silent disco

• Roller disco

• Games night

• Movie marathon

WHAT KIND OF FUNDRAISER

COULD YOU SURVIVE A DAY WITHOUT CHATTING?

FOOD IS ESSENTIAL TO SOCIALISING? ALWAYS HUNGRY? BIG IMAGINATION?

ENJOY CREATING?

HUNGRY?

Try a...

• Pie eating contest

• Bake-off

• MAF country cuisne themed dinner party

• Frying for Life breakfast

GLAMOROUS?

Host a...

• MAF’ternoon tea

• Pamper evening

• Clothes swap

• Cheese and wine party

Remember to snap 'fundraising' for a free pack!

SERVANT HEARTED?

Why not do...

• Promise coupons

• Go giftless (give up your birthday)

• Dog walking

CHOOSE BOOKS OVER PHONE?

AFTERNOON TEA OVER A GREASY SPOON?

GIFT OF THE GAB?

WHEELER DEELER?

Try a...

• Car boot sale

• Charity auction

• Raffle

• Street party ARE YOUR HANDS ALWAYS COVERED IN GLUE?

CRAFTY?

Run a...

• Knit-a-thon

• Craft sale

• Coffee morning

• ‘How-to’ lessons

CHATTY?

Why not try a...

• Sponsored silence

• Pub quiz night

• School tag day YES NO

• Supermarket packing SOCIABLE?

OWN AT LEAST 2 FANCY DRESS OUTFITS? IMAGINATIVE?

Host a... Talent show Treasure hunt Murder mystery

FANCY DRESS FANATIC?

Attempt a...

• Top Gun themed party

• Wear wings for a week

FUNDRAISER ARE YOU?

#JUSTABITOFFUN

SPORTY?

Play...

• Charity football

• Touch rugby

• Golf tournament

• Bike race

• MAF walking challenge

HARDY?

You could do a...

• Car wash

• Arm-wrestling competition

• Sponsored run

• Tough Mudder endurance event

OWN A FITBIT?

WANT TO HAVE A GO AT FUNDRAISING FOR MAF? SNAP US, SAYING, ‘FUNDRAISING’, AND WE’LL POST YOU A FREE PACK!

LOVE THE OUTDOORS?

LAUGH IN THE FACE OF DANGER?

DAILY SCREEN TIME 3+ HOURS? TRY ANOTHER ROUTE! NO

GOOGLE IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER?

BRAVE?

We dare you to...

• Wax!

• Messy games night

• Dunk tank

• Karaoke

• Sponsored hair cut

• Chilli challenge

THRILL SEEKER?

Try...

• Skydiving

• Bungee jump

• Abseiling

• Marathon

• Zorbing

DREAM OF FLYING?

COmpetitiOn TIME!

TURN THE PAGE FOR YOU CHANCE TO WIN A COSTA COFFEE VOUCHER!

GEEK-CHIC?

Why not have...

• Xbox night

• Tech free week

• Coding challenge

• ‘Gaming for Good’ streaming marathon

AVIATION ENTHUSIAST?

Why not try...

• Flying competition

• Design a plane

TALENTED?

Sell your skills!

• Whether it’s cooking, guitar playing or teaching French, offer lessons!

COmpetitiOn

KIND OF FUNDRAISER

You are officially invited to the launch event of MAF Co-Pilot

Saturday 12 October

Mission Aviation Fellowship’s new and exciting initiative for 16-25 year olds

Packed

We’re at the following Christian festivals this summer. Visit our stand or plane and say, ‘Hey!’

Thanks for the great response about coming with us to our Netherlands flight training centre in July. We’re so excited to bring you along on the adventure!

HIGH flyer

here's Daniel enjoying his indoor flying experience!

Don't forget to add us on snapchat to stay up to date with all MAF Youth is doing!

Lem Malabuyo