Hope arrived for the troubled residents of Old Fangak, southern Sudan, following an outbreak of kala-azar, a chronic and potentially fatal parasitic disease of the internal organs.
MAF pilot David Pearce flew to this incredibly isolated village with a cargo of 180kg of glucantime medication, that had been pleaded for by resident doctor Jill Seaman.
Recently Jill wrote, ‘We can’t believe it. What a miracle! We have been on the phone and email so many hours a day to get this medicine. The other day was so sad – two deaths of seven-year-old kids.
'Then the phone connections were so bad. The medicine did not make it. This morning, after cancelling another option from Loki, we find that WHO could not hear us the night before to learn of our back up option so the meds would probably not make it. By 11:30 MAF tells us that there is no plane coming to our location as there is no medicine.
'We try calling the commissioner to see if he has a boat for Malakal where the medicines might be. There is no answer. Then the network is gone all afternoon. And suddenly we hear a plane. We race to the boat and head across the river to the airstrip. We are still paddling as the plane takes off. We arrive in fear - and find 180kg of glucantime for the kala-azar! What a miracle!
‘Most of the patients assembled back at the hospital within an hour of the sound of the aircraft. All the nurses seemed to show up and the injections began. Thanks to everyone who made this miracle happen.’
Dr Jill Seaman has been serving the people in Old Fangak since 1989. She is a world expert on the kala-azar. Her year is divided by time in a remote community in Alaska and time in Old Fangak - what a temperature contrast. Her devotion to duty to people in remote places has been recognised by the MacArthur Foundation in their 2009 awards.
A long day
And for pilot David Pearce? This was the last flight of a very busy day of flying. Earlier, he also transported nine World Vision passengers on the 1½-hour flight from Juba to Yambio. He returned to Juba with a World Vision passenger, one from WHO and two sick patients (one a child) accompanied by three UNHCR people. In Juba, David picked up 740kg of freight for a 2-hour flight to Jaibor for Christian Mission Aid, then on to Old Fangak with the emergency medication.