Busy in Papua

Rugged terrain dominates Papua in Indonesia. Many communities are isolated from basic care due to the mountains. MAF pilots handle demanding flight schedules to overcome the obtsacles and help meet people's needs.

Based in Nabire, Steve Richards is one of those MAF pilots. His flying recently included the following in one week.

Tuesday:

Poor weather meant the week’s flight schedule had to be adapted. As a result, Steve flew to Mbugulo a day early to deliver a load of church building materials.

"As soon as I landed, a man came running up asking me to wait for a lady who needed to get to hospital immediately. He said she had a ‘fish eye’. I was completely confused, but waited for her, enquiring whether she had been stuck by a fishing hook. They said no, she had a fish eye"!

"So what is a fish eye? Real fish eyes are a delicacy here and I thought maybe you can get some sickness from them".

"When the lady finally came to the plane she showed me her hand. She had a huge boil on her thumb. Very painful, she could hardly move her hand and kept it in a sling the whole time. It did kind of look like a fish eye! I flew her out to be treated at the hospital. The man beside me said, “Praise God you came so this lady could get to the hospital today".

Wednesday:

"Yesterday’s original plan of flying two pastors to Hitadipa for a translation seminar took place today. The two men agreed that God was in control, and praised Him for allowing us to help the woman the previous day".

Thursday:

"I went to Timika and picked up two other pastors to return home after a church conference. I also picked up a man, and his family, from Hitadipa who had just finished Bible school. He had graduated the week before and was now returning to his home to serve in the local church. It was again a joy to be able to serve this family. I could see the sorrow of having to say goodbye to great friends in Hitadipa, but they were ready to go forward and serve where they felt called to serve".

"I rushed home and had 10 minutes to turn the plane around for a return flight to Pogapa, to bring the director of a Christian kindergarten in to oversee the end of year ceremony for 19 kids who were finishing the program. For most kids in the interior the idea of kindergarten is unheard of, since just getting teachers for elementary school is nearly impossible".

"From there I flew to Pagamba for a medical emergency. A three-year-old boy had broken his arm when he fell from a house (houses are raised off the ground). I collected him and his father to take them to hospital".

Friday:

"More bad weather and another medical emergency flight from Pagamba. A man had fallen from a high scaffold. He had broken his back and was found in a ravine. The family carried him overnight to Pagamba. I have seen those trails and I can’t imagine running over them at night without a flashlight, but to do it carrying a stretcher is even more amazing".

Steve concludes:

I guess you can say it was really an amazing week! It was good we could fit in all the church and mission requests with one plane, and fly several emergency cases as well. Despite the weather and several medical emergencies, we were able to fly every flight we had planned at the beginning of the week.

MAF has been operating in Papua since 1952, helping reach remote communities with medical help, education and the Gospel.