Hansen & West Tribute – 10 Years On

10 years ago, 2 very dear MAF bush pilots, Chris Hansen and Richard West lost their lives in Papua New Guinea. We’ve dedicated this post to them. The following words are from MAF Chief Exec, Chris Lukkien.

“22 February 2015 marks the ten year anniversary of the circuit area accident of MFQ, a 300 series DHC6, at Wobagen in the highlands of western Papua New Guinea.

It was the sixth flight leg of what appeared to be a normal day for New Zealand pilots Chris Hansen and Richard West, as they flew a load of freight and passengers from Tabubil towards Wobagen in the Bimin valley.  After arriving in the circuit area, due to ground fog the crew made several unsuccessful attempts to land at Wogaben before the aircraft impacted trees to the south of the airstrip. Both pilots were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.  Cabin Attendant Stanley Torea and some of the ten passengers on board received light injuries.

On that day, the lives of Janice (wife of Chris) and their children Rochelle, Jessica and Simeon, and Cherie (wife of Richard) and children Larissa and Marcus were irrevocably changed, and no doubt ten years down the track, the memories of the pain and devastation felt are still very tangible.

On that day we had inevitable doubts and fears asking such questions as – ‘Why us? How could God allow this to happen? Where have we gone wrong?  and Where to from here?’  It was a time for grieving and also a time when we were forced to depend on the sustaining love and faithfulness of our sovereign God in order to move forward.

Ten years on, let’s remember and celebrate the lives of Chris and Richard and give thanks for their service to MAF even unto death.  Please pray for Chris and Richard’s families, asking God to continue to uphold and sustain them.

Let us also give thanks to the Lord for recent flying safety and continue to pray for safety for our organisation.  Above all let’s recommit ourselves into the hands of God, praying for His will to be done in our lives and through our service with MAF.”

A Slight Inconvenience

We’ve all been caught flailing our arms around, clambering on furniture, or pacing back and forth just for that one precious bar of phone reception- but what about climbing a mountain to get some?

Oksapmin High School teacher in PNG, Glenda Giles, recently went through quite an ordeal to accomplish the simplest of tasks last month. Upon returning to the Sandaun Province after spending a month back home in New Zealand, Glenda experienced a situation that she shan’t quickly forget.

Extreme weather can ground general day-to-day life in PNG with life interrupted by a mud-slide or flooding. However, this particular incident featured a whirlwind! Glenda wasn’t caught in the whirlwind herself thankfully, but she was caught in the aftermath and its affects.

Glenda said, “Many Casuarina trees were spilt or uprooted. It affected the area from Tekap right through to here. The PNG Bible church was blown down. However, the whole community worked and has helped to get it back up again. At the school two sheets of roof came right off my house and it seems that the satellite phone dish got damaged also. Fortunately some of the young village men came immediately and nailed the sheets back up so nothing got wet. Plastic roofs came off the girls’ toilets and shower blocks plus some parts of the girls’ and boys’ dorms. The primary school radio aerial came down but fortunately not the one at the Health Centre…”

Although the whirlwind caused a fair amount of damage, it was interesting to hear what proceeded after these observations. The knocking out of the satellite phone dish and the school radio inevitably caused communication issues! Glenda, a student called Caleb and a teacher called Jethro all needed to contact various people urgently.

This led to a 7 hour excursion across challenging terrain and around the nearest mountain towards Oksapmin School just so that Glenda could send a text to her loved ones to say she was ok and so Caleb and Jethro could book flights with MAF!

To us, this would seem crazy but this is what it’s like in many places across the developing world! It’s a lesson for us all. The next time you feel a surge of frustration when you’re sending a text on a train whilst going through a tunnel, stop for a second and count your blessings! It won’t take a 7 hour mountain climb to tell your friend that you’ll be arriving in 10 minutes!

 

*Disclaimer: Images used are not taken from the event described in this blog. Images used are to merely give reader a visual to help illustrate what it’s like in PNG.*    

 

 

Getting Better – Michael’s Recovery

Not so long ago we posted about a schooling centre called Confident Children out of Conflict  (CCC) in South Sudan and how much we admired it’s work and how privileged we are to help out and be a part of what they’re doing!

We’ve recently been in contact with CCC with regards to Michael, a South Sudanese boy who is undergoing therapy after a being horrifically attacked. Do carry on reading to find out what happened to him and how he’s currently doing…

“In December 2013, 15-year-old Michael was walking home from school in Juba where he lived with his older brother, knowing that something was dreadfully wrong.

Several men with guns spoke to him in a language he didn’t understand.

When he couldn’t respond, they shot him in the legs. Michael was taken in by a local organisation that takes care of orphans and street children called Confident Children out of Conflict.

Many at MAF took Michael under their wings, including Judith DuPuis who met with him regularly to talk, pray, and read the Bible, or Rob Johnson who would visit him in the evenings to play games.

Michael’s physical condition has worsened as his leg became seriously infected. Thanks to many donations and a church who will look after him, he left on 31 August for Nairobi for major surgery on his leg.

Update

Michael was operated on Saturday 6th September, and came out of hospital a week later.  With the help of friends in Nairobi we have identified a boarding school he can attend in Nairobi once the initial follow-up to his operation has been completed.

Michael is doing well.  He moved to Africa Nazarene University overseen by the Chaplain Dr Cindy from the end of November, and then moved into boarding school at Peace Junior Academy in the second week of January.

Over Christmas he had an operation to remove the pin from his leg (which had been put in in September) so he is back in a cast now.

MAF South Sudan staff have been instrumental in providing essential pastoral support to Michael during his stay with us at CCC.  They visited him, played games with him, counselled him, prayed with him, and read the bible with him.”

A shocking story but it’s great to see how things are looking up for Michael! We’ll surely be keeping you updated on how Michael’s doing in the future but in the meantime, please pray for his on-going recovery!

If you’d like to hear about how CCC began, view our blog post ‘A Safe Haven’ here… http://wp.me/p4k7dT-5Y

 

A New Airstrip for Bunam

For MAF, the opening or re-opening of an airstrip is a beautiful moment. It’s an opportunity and a gateway through which the gospel can be accessed by another isolated community!  Well, you can imagine our excitement when we’d received word of an airstrip being opened in Bunam, PNG!

Michael Duncalfe, MAF PNG’s flight operations manager and chief pilot, declared the Bunam airstrip open towards the end of 2014. The celebrations that normally occur were not as extravagant as they sometimes are but during the visits soon after the opening, something exciting was slowly becoming clear!

Mandy Glass and husband MAF pilot Mathias Glass, were on the first operational flight that landed on the newly opened airstrip on the 1^st of December. Whilst doing his circuit above Bunam, Mathias exclaimed “I can see about 20 people and there are more coming!” As they landed it appeared that the whole parking bay was surrounded by people! The community had turned up to witness the first landing!

The reason for such a turnout? Bibles. Mathias ended up selling 20 Bibles that day and then a further 40 on the pickup day. It must create such a buzz and excitement for the pilots as they witness how eager the communities they serve are for not only the presence of MAF but the word of God. It certainly gets us enthused too!

This wasn’t the only occasion where the interest for Bibles was displayed by the Bunam people. Even before the first operational flight, MAF pilot Brad Venter recalled being asked about the availability of Bibles during the inspection and test landing on the Bunam airstrip by the local people!

It’s absolutely thrilling to see these beautiful people getting excited about Jesus and what they can learn through the Bible and it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of our work in PNG! We’re certain that God has great plans and purposes for the Bunam airstrip and we’re so looking forward to seeing them unfold in the next few years!