There was great concern in the remote village of Long Alango in the mountains of north-eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Early that morning, everyone was fine, but by early afternoon, over 50 people became sick with severe vomiting and diarrhoea, and numbers were increasing. One child had already died.
The people in the village used their HF radio to call out to the hospital for help. The MAF plane was quickly loaded up with two doctors and a nurse, along with several hundred kilos of medicine and pilot Dave Forney flew them to Long Alango.
This is a remarkable example of the reason that MAF is hereDave Forney, MAF pilot
Independence Day
Many people had gathered in Long Alango from surrounding villages to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day on 17 August. They concluded their celebrations that night. By the following morning people began getting sick with the fast-spreading illness. Unsure what the disease is, the sick were being quarantined in a large building.
‘This is a remarkable example of the reason that MAF is here,’ writes Dave Forney. ‘Within hours of a desperate call for help from this remote village, we were able to deliver a medical team with supplies directly to their location. There is no other operator here that can land in Long Alango. Without MAF, help would have taken days to reach Alango by river. Perhaps for many that would be too late.’
And the next day, another MAF pilot, Brad Hopkins flew 350kg of additional IVs and medicine into the village.
Great improvement
Ten days later, Dave flew the medical team back out of Alango. The medical team reported that things had greatly improved and most of the people are getting better. Dave shares, ‘Many in the village came to see them off and to thank MAF. I received many thanks from numerous people for the role that MAF played in that situation.’
More than 200 people were struck with the violent vomiting and diarrhoea in a very short amount of time. But there were no further casualties.
A good friend of Dave there told him, ‘There is no doubt that many would have died if MAF hadn't flown in those IVs and the medical team. We've never seen anything like this in our villages, and many of the older people and children would have died without the help.’
‘Thanks for the role you play in allowing us to be here. This is why we serve!’