News for Prayer Issue 484
19 September 2013
Night fight
During a tribal fight in the early hours of the morning in Kopiago, Papua New Guinea (PNG), a man named Jacob was stabbed with machetes and badly injured. By the time pilot Martin Koehler reached him, Jacob had lost a lot of blood and was extremely weak. As village helpers transferred the patient to the aircraft using a makeshift stretcher, Martin wondered if Jacob would make it. ‘I had my doubts he would survive the 19-minute flight to Tari,’ recalls Martin. ‘Every few minutes I looked back to make sure he was still breathing, and called our Traffic Officer at Tari base to make sure an ambulance would be waiting as soon as we arrived. ‘Jacob was still alive when we landed, and as he was taken from the aircraft to the ambulance, I was greatly relieved that he was in good hands and my mission was accomplished.’ Give thanks for the Cessna Caravan aircraft that made this medevac to a remote PNG community possible, and pray for healing and reconciliation for everyone involved in the tribal fight.
Cold comfort
A flight to Keew, South Sudan, has provided a large freezer unit for a medical clinic run by Christian Mission Aid (CMA), which was donated by the World Health Organisation. CMA has been active in Jonglei State for over two decades – their four clinics treat thousands of patients every month. These numbers increase when the rains come, as malaria-carrying mosquitos tend to flourish. ‘There is no road here,’ explains CMA Programme Manager Simeon Njiru. ‘Transporting anything from Juba to Keew takes nine days by river.’ This, Simeon says, is why CMA clinics depend on MAF flights. The building materials needed to extend their maternity ward, a satellite dish required for improved communications, along with food, syringes, medicine and personnel were all flown in by our planes. Within minutes of his arrival, pilot Michael Dupuis was surrounded by people of all ages who regard the landing of our aircraft as a major event for the community. CMA staff were helped by locals to lift the freezer unit from the plane and carefully lower it to the ground. The freezer can run off solar power and batteries, making it ideal for the humid air that envelops Keew for much of the year. It also has the capacity to store 100 litres of medicine, which will be used to combat scourges such as kala-azar, a
potentially fatal disease spread by sand flies. With the vital cargo safely delivered, Michael boarded the aircraft and left for Juba happy that, despite the punishing heat, patients in Keew can now receive medicine stored safely at the correct temperature.
The English-speaking patient Zidane Abdullah was walking to school with some fellow high school students when Antonov bombers flying overhead targeted them. ‘Two students, a boy and a girl, died on the spot,’ Zidane explains. Eventually some people came with a donkey cart and took the survivors to hospital. ‘I kept thinking I was going to die. The injuries were very brutal,’ says the 22-year-old, who spent 15 months in hospital fighting for his life. After being discharged, Zidane went straight to Yida refugee camp, South Sudan, where 70,000 refugees live crammed together in a ‘no man’s land’ that has no electricity and no generators. Many have papers from the North, but Sudan’s authorities won’t allow them to return home. When Zidane heard that people were being assessed by the Diocese of El Obeid for further treatment in Kampala, he was glad – particularly when the doctors decided his case was urgent enough for him to go. The Diocese has so far partnered with MAF to fly over 60 patients to Uganda for prosthetic surgery.
Thanks to this fruitful partnership, Zidane received surgery to straighten his disfigured leg. ‘I thank God for the treatment I was given,’ he says. Pray he will be able to contact his family, who have no idea what happened to him, and that he will be able to walk normally again. Pray too that Zidane, the only English-speaking patient at his hospital, can resume his studies, and that those still on the waiting list for further surgery will receive treatment.
Only hope When Tulkan, a missionary from Kazakhstan, began having severe seizures, it soon became clear that MAF was her only hope. Doctors in Khovd, Mongolia, where Tulkan, her husband and three children are based, decided she needed urgent medical treatment in Ulaanbaatar – a journey of 994 miles from Khovd, one of the country’s most remote locations. So they contacted MAF, and we flew her direct in a matter of hours. Tulkan eventually received the all clear from the hospital, and on the return flight was well enough to talk about her missionary work in Mongolia. Once he had landed in Khovd, pilot Ryan Van Geest then had the opportunity to learn more about the work from Tulkan’s Christian and Missionary Alliance colleagues. Pray many more of Mongolia’s minority Kazakh people will come to know Jesus, and that Tulkan will continue to be free from seizures.
Prayer points • ARNHEM LAND Our base at Numbulwar is closing. Pray for pilot Jason Job, his family and pilot Rachel Goodfellow as they say goodbye. • AUSTRALIA The Flight Training Centre based at Coldstream plans to relocate to Mareeba. Pray for God’s leading as arrangements are made. • Uphold aircraft maintenance engineers Nathan and Emma Lang, studying at Bible college in Geelong, Australia. Pray for a fruitful and faith building time. • BANGLADESH Give thanks that our flight schedule is busy and operations are going well during the monsoon season. • CHAD Uphold our team as they battle with health issues. • HAITI Uphold our team led by Country Director David Carwell. Pray for the opportunity to share Jesus’ love as we continue to help rebuild the lives of people devastated by the 2010 earthquake. Thousands still live in tent cities.
• LIBERIA Praise God that we have recently been registered as a legal entity (NfP 483). Pray for favour as we apply for our final operation permits from the Ministry of Planning and Economics. • PAPUA Give thanks there was little damage from a recent power failure at Nabire. Pray as the team continues to serve in sometimes challenging situations. • PNG Pray for the water shortage affecting MAF families in Kawito. Pray the emergency water tank will arrive soon. • SOUTH SUDAN Pray Nasir airstrip will dry enough to begin operation in October for our partner Every Village. They will need regular flights in and out of Nasir for vital supplies and personnel. • UK Give thanks for the grant awarded to MAF UK by Google, which will enable us to advertise on their search engine, improving our ability to connect with people who don’t know about our work.
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