An Arduous and Dangerous Journey

Getting to school can sometimes be a rather frustrating experience for a whole host of reasons… Whoever drives you is never on time or you have to walk a distance that’s less than convenient or you’d consider yourself a quiet person and the other people on the bus are always rowdy. Whatever the reason, allow us to show you a new way to look at your gruelling journeys to school.

Take a look at these photos of school kids in Indonesia (see more here http://bit.ly/1ltjXNA). Believe it or not, they’re on their way to school too! These guys have huge obstacles to overcome just to make it into the classroom and they often put themselves in danger doing so – the boy on the right is scaling a tightrope 30 feet above a river!

It could be quite easy to assume that these kids don’t mind their arduous journey as it may be all they’ve ever known, but imagine if you switched places with one of these guys knowing it’s far easier where you come from. You often hear people, who having visited developing countries, say things like ‘I’ll never take running water for granted ever again’. Will it take a trip to a needy nation to cause you to say something similar?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. God wants us to be thankful to him for everything and He loves it when we’re truly thankful! It shouldn’t take a trip a to developing country to cause us to be grateful! Getting to school could be harder, right? Being thankful to God may require just thinking more simply. Thinking beyond what happens on the bus and being thankful for the bus itself!

MAF work in Indonesia and PNG where kids continue to struggle in simply getting to school. We’re dedicated to helping these wonderful young people achieve their learning through schooling and we hope to inspire you through this work. Next time you’ re off to school, thank God for your car, the bus or the flat pavement. It could be a whole lot harder!

Learn more about our work in PNG here! -> http://maf-youth.org/thinkinsidethebox.php

Citation- Images used from http://bit.ly/1ltjXNA

 

 

 

Babies, Dinghies and Planes

When we hear particular phrases repeated a lot, it can be quite easy to lose the actual impact of them. “Without our help, it would’ve taken them days to get there” – In our line of World Mission, you’ll probably hear this sort of phrase a lot. However, stories can sometimes make this kind of phrase comeback to life!

In Balimo, PNG, Tunibato was in labour expecting twins, she’d already given birth to one but the other seemed reluctant to come out. So reluctant in fact that MAF were called to take her to the nearest hospital in Rumginae as the mother and the unborn twin were going to need medical assistance.

Although being an hour away in Lake Murray, our nearest Pilot was called at 4pm to make the Medevac. There was an issue here. Balimo’s airstrip was closed and the nearest one was an hour’s dinghy ride to Kawito for Tunibato. There was no way they’d arrive at the hospital before dark!

We couldn’t do anything to help and then were told that without the essential medications, the baby wouldn’t survive the night! BUT, morning came and MAF Pilot Luke Newell received a call at 7am. The baby was still alive!

An hour’s dinghy ride allowed for Luke and Tunibato to meet at the Kawito airstrip to take her a further hour’s flight to Rumginae hospital. However, it turns out that 2 other pregnant ladies – Elsie and Solowayato – were also in need of medical attention and had arrived by dinghy too!

It was a tight squeeze but Luke skilfully fitted the ladies into our little aircraft before shooting over to Rumginae where all 3 ladies had their babies delivered safely! Phew!

There are so many inconveniences when living in an isolated community and hearing of this kind of situation really does bring back the meaning and the impact to how essential it is to help these lovely people in PNG!