MAF Youth Magazine #22

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CROC ATTACK!

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WIN A £50 AMAZON GIFT CARD

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WARNING — GRAPHIC WOUND IMAGE

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Croc atTAck! Got the guts to clean up blood? Could you keep calm in a crisis? This is what it takes to be an MAF pilot.

The day was just winding up for Pilot Philipp Techand in Ramingining, Arnhem Land — he was about to lock the plane up for the night, when his mobile rang. He recognised the number as being from near the Arafura swamp and answered to hear a woman’s anxious voice…there had been a crocodile attack and a man needed urgent medical treatment.

Calmly, Philipp sprang into action, and shares what happened.

Gathering incident details Michelle, the lady on the phone, didn’t have the number for the local clinic in Ramingining, so she’d contacted the clinic in Lake Evella. I asked her to stay on the line while I told my wife Lia to contact the local clinic to let them know we were coming. Then I gathered more details.

Soon after, the Lake Evella clinic manager called to confirm the flight details and asked me to take some of their staff with me to provide first aid — she would send them to the plane.

One of MAF Pilot Philipp Techand’s special skills is fixing the local people’s mobiles – a major plus when the nearest repair shop is over 310 miles away!

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2-MINUTE READ PHOTOS PHILIPP TECHAND

Route and weather check I checked my weather report and confirmed that I had about an hour to do the round trip. I assured Michelle that I would have just enough time to do a pick-up and would be bringing two nurses.

She would have to find a way to bring the patient to the airstrip, because we wouldn’t have time to walk to where he was and back again. She said they’d already organised a small all-terrain vehicle from the rangers stationed there.

Pre-flight checks I prepared the aircraft to fly and, realising that I would need just a couple of litres of extra fuel, I got out the fuel drum.

The two nurses hadn’t arrived by the time I’d finished fuelling, so I decided to warm up the engine to save time later. We were ready to fly just ten minutes after they arrived.

Outward flight We took off at 5.50pm. The wheels in my head were turning over the numbers. The flight plan said 15 minutes there, 14 minutes back, which would leave us with 10 minutes to load Kelvin, the patient, and get away.

Our pilots don’t usually hear updates on the patients after doing a medevac – they just do their part and trust the rest to God.

There was a thin line of rain shower in our way, but it didn’t look like it would get any worse.

I took a deep breath — one step at a time!

We flew over a stunning area surrounded by a vibrant green swamp. The low sun shone a reddish light on the buffalo grazing below, and the usually white cockatoos looked colourful in the sunset rays.

Landing near the patient

Background // Crocodile. David Cloude, Unsplash.com Left // MAF Pilot Philipp Techand flying the nurses Middle // Nurses attending to the patient Right // Last rays of sunshine over Ramingining

Home landing After we landed, an ambulance, the police and a group of local people helped us unload. It was now dark. It had all happened with just minutes to spare. I parked the aircraft and locked up for the night. It wasn’t until the next morning that I saw all the blood in the plane!

As we landed, I could see a group of people and a quad bike near the area where we’d park up. We were all relieved to see that Kelvin was in a much better condition than we’d expected.

He was sitting on the bike and was able to hobble into the aircraft, helped by the nurses.

He was in pain and still bleeding, but the nurses agreed to get in the plane and stop the patient’s blood loss during the flight.

Return flight By 6.15pm we were back in the air. The GPS showed an arrival time of just two minutes before the daylight cut-off!* As we flew over Ramingining, we passed through light rain; the sun disappearing behind the horizon. It was getting dark quickly under the rain clouds, but the sun was sending us its last light in a beautiful sunset to the west.

Ramingining is a vibrant Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, Australia, about 350 miles east of Darwin, where mainly Yolŋu people live.

*MAF usually flies under Visual Flight Rules, which mean we don’t operate in bad weather or when it’s dark

What has MAF been up to?

MAF has put new measures in place to protect our staff and passengers from coronavirus. These include social distancing, wearing face masks, using hand sanitiser and carrying out a special deep cleaning of our aircraft.

Here’s just a few of the things we’ve been doing during the crisis:

1. Building an airstrip on a mountain in Lailenpi, Myanmar

2. Making emergency disaster relief flights to the flood-hit district of Kasese, Uganda

3. Flying coronavirus testing kits, virus response teams and essential cargo in South Sudan

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4. Delivering vital vaccines to help babies survive in Madagascar, as well as distributing PPE and coronavirus test kits

6. Flying anti-venom medication, PPE and essential supplies in Papua New Guinea

5. Transporting essential food and medicine supplies to the Yolŋu Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land

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7. Delivering masses of soap and buckets to 68,000 isolated people on Oecusse, TimorLeste, in addition to carrying out medevacs on the main island

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8. Taking medical staff to the Lesiwai village clinic in South Maasai, Tanzania to provide villagers with essential vaccines and educate them about the coronavirus

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COMPETIT

Do 'em a solid!

Your chance to win a £50 Amazon gift card by sweetening life up for someone else!

We feel it is time for an acts of kindness challenge — MAF Youth style…

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TION//TIME STEP 1 Think of someone who could do with a bit of a boost right now

STEP 2 Look out for a way to bless them — safely!

STEP 3 Record your good deed somehow (photo/video) Make sure you get permission

STEP 4 Share the love with us on SnapChat or by emailing youth@maf-uk.org

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COUNTRY UGANDA CAPITAL KAMPALA MAF BASE KAMPALA PROGRAMME EST 1987

KAMPALA

MAF Pilot Greg Vine helps to unload relief supplies flown in for flood victims in Kasese, Uganda PHOTO DAVE FORNEY

Y utH Wall A massive shout out to St Margaret’s Church Youth Group in West Sussex, which raised more than £2,000 doing a Facebook fundraiser for MAF. They walked 1,000,000 steps between them over a 4-day period – AMAZING! Do you fancy doing something similar to challenge yourself and raise money for MAF? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Snap us or email us at youth@maf-uk.org

Pilot:

‘Do you know what the propeller does?’

Passenger:

‘It provides thrust for the plane to fly.’

Pilot:

‘Actually, it keeps the pilot cool. If it stops, you’ll see me sweating.’

Pilot: ‘Have you ever flown in a small plane before?‘

Passenger: ‘No, I haven’t.’

Pilot: ‘Well, here’s some chewing gum. It will help to keep your ears from popping.’

Pilot (after the plane lands): ‘Did the gum help?’

Passenger: ‘Yes, it worked fine. The only trouble is I can’t get the gum out of my ears.’

Christ Our Hope in Liberia

There is no such thing as too much hope.

If you could eat it, hope would never make you sick — no matter how much you packed away. And hope after loss is especially important. The MAF partner organisation we’re featuring this issue is all about that

1-MINUTE READ

PHOTOS LUANNE CADD

Meet the kids Twelve-year-old Bobo lost his father, mother and baby brother. Here he is inside one of the orphanage rooms.

Christ Our Hope North is an orphanage set up by two amazing people: Abraham Howard and his wife Agnes. They saw a need and they acted — creating the safe haven for children affected by Ebola in the area of Liberia hardest hit by the epidemic.

Abraham is pastor of Abide In The Vine Disciples’ Church in Lofa County.

Not just orphans — survivors!

It’s hard for most of us to imagine what the children who live at the orphanage have been through.

Some have lost both parents, others have lost one, leaving the remaining parent unable to care for them. Several contracted and survived Ebola. A total of 19 girls and 16 boys, along with the pastor’s 5 children, live at Christ Our Hope North.* To be cared for as part of a family after losing their birth family is a priceless gift to the children, who are also educated there.

Just imagine a household that large — and what mealtimes must be like!

*Correct at time of interviewing

Bobo in Christ Our Hope North orphanage Where children are gathered, there are always games. Below you can see the orphans hanging out at the play area for group games.

Their favourite is called Awana, along with a slipper game called Lapa.

The orphanage is supported by the American non-profit organisation One Body One Hope. Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, we regularly flew One Body One Hope to visit the orphanage and delivered supplies.

Fun and games

Bliss after

blisters

Have you ever had a humongous blister and found it hard to walk? How much pain would you need to be in to stop you walking? This true story brings tears to the eyes in more ways than one! What started as a YWAM outreach turned into a life-changing mission to help one woman in need Agali is a beautiful remote village in Hela province, deep in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It sits on a plateau of green pastures between forest-covered mountains and the vast Strickland River. It’s about an hour’s flight from Mount Hagen, the third largest city in PNG. MAF flew YWAM (Youth with a Mission) staff to Agali at the end of 2019 on a mission led by Micha Lucht, a young guy from Germany.

YWAM exists to bring young people closer to God and trains them to share the Gospel throughout the world.

Agonising sores — crawled for years The YWAM team had a great time with the people of Agali, teaching the Bible and praying.

While walking around the scattered village to meet people, hear their stories and pray with them, Micha and his teammates stumbled across a woman crawling in her garden.

Kathy [name changed to protect her identity] has four children. The youngest is about three years old. Kathy, who had been abandoned by her husband, was unable to walk

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1½-MINUTE READ PHOTOS MARKUS BISCHOFF and MICHA LUCHT

due to large, open, excruciating sores on her feet.

Her life was extremely tough!

She was too poor to pay the small amount needed for a local nurse to care for her wounds and, for years, had relied on crawling to get about. How Kathy kept going in order to care for her children was a miracle.

God had other plans Micha and his team tried their best to care for Kathy during their short visit. They cleaned her wounds and gave her some bandages and antiseptic, but they knew this wasn’t enough.

They couldn’t shake the memory of her after they’d left. Their prayer and teaching outreach developed into a determination to help Kathy long-term — so the team set to work; agreeing to pay for Kathy’s flights and hospital costs.

It doesn’t go smoothly!

After discovering that it was not possible to access the hospital in Hela province, Micha was put in contact with Dr Mills from Kompiam Hospital in Enga province, who agreed to treat Kathy!

Arrangements were made with the hospital and an MAF plane was organised so finally all was ready. The night before her flight, Kathy was carried to the clinic near the airstrip but, guttingly, in the morning strong winds made it too dangerous to fly, and the flight had to be postponed.

Bottom left // Kathy’s severe gout Below // Kathy being carried on to an MAF aircraft Bottom // Kathy walking off on her return

YWAM rearranged everything and it all came together for the next planned flight. On 5 December 2019, MAF flew Kathy to Kompiam Hospital where Dr Mills and his team were waiting. They discovered that she was suffering from severe gout which had eaten away at her bones over the many years she had it — ouch and grim!

Without medication and treatment, it would only have got worse!

Carried on, walked off!

Over the next three months, as Kathy was treated at the hospital, many people prayed for miraculous healing.

Just before lockdown in March 2020, MAF flew Kathy back home to her village — walking with the aid of a frame. What a transformation!

YWAM’s actions and persistence were an example of God’s love in action which literally took Kathy from her knees to standing. A priceless gift — praise God!

Gout is a common and complex form of arthritis that causes severe pain, swelling and tenderness in the joints

‘I am very impressed by the work MAF does for the people in PNG. I can truly see God moving through them!

Without MAF it would have been impossible for us to go to this remote area to preach and teach God’s love.’

Micha Lucht 13

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Please pray for + Teachers across the UK are about to start their new terms with full classes for the first time since coronavirus struck.

Pray for them to adjust well and for safety in their classrooms. + Many people – especially young people – are struggling with anxiety and fear.

We have all been through a very difficult, challenging and unexpected period which, for some, may well have led to mental health struggles. Pray for comfort, strength and healing.

+ Pray a blessing over the area in which you live. + Many have recently lost loved ones. Jesus knows the pain of loss and understands how those suffering bereavement are feeling. Pray for comfort and peace. + People living in the Kasese District of Uganda saw houses, crops and livelihoods swept away in the floods this year.

Many are dealing with homelessness, poverty and potential starvation. Pray for help to rebuild their lives.

+ People in eastern Africa are living in areas stripped of food by the largest swarms of desert locusts for decades. An average swarm can eat the same in a day as 2,500 people in a year! Pray that people will have enough food to eat, and that what they have lost will be restored. + Pray for God’s protection and provision for those living in refugee camps, especially as the weather gets colder.

If any of the issues above have affected you personally and you need help, please talk to a trusted adult, or visit www.youngminds.org.uk For immediate support, you can text SHOUT to 85258 any time, day or night, and text-chat about anything that’s worrying you

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CROC ATTACK!

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WIN A £50 AMAZON GIFT CARD

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WARNING — GRAPHIC WOUND IMAGE

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