Mind the Gap in South Sudan
At 191cm tall, Eivind has to quite literally squash himself into the cockpit of MAF’s smallest aircraft; so it clearly isn’t comfort or even the plane's performance that ignites his passion for the Cessna 182!
At 191cm tall, Eivind has to quite literally squash himself into the cockpit of MAF’s smallest aircraft; so it clearly isn’t comfort or even the plane's performance that ignites his passion for the Cessna 182!
'It’s the service the plane can do for church and mission in South Sudan that excites me the most!'
‘I love the Cessna 182 because it fills a gap that has existed for years where MAF couldn’t offer a small and cheap aircraft,' continues MAF Pilot Eivind Lindtjørn. 'For me, this is what mission and church flying is all about – that they can charter a plane for one to three passengers to fly wherever they need to go – to reach out to a village or to fly supplies – and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.’
‘It takes us back to the kind of Nate Saint era type of flying. I feel much more connected to our partners. Because of the type of flying that we do, I wait with the passengers and then I go back with them, so I get to know them at a different level. We have prayer fellowship before we go. I feel a part of the ministry when I fly this plane.’
‘I can fly down to Lokitok, a 40-minute flight, with 270kg of cargo or 2 to 3 passengers for $260 round trip. To drive, it’s pot-holed and there are bandits along the road. It would take them a whole day, so they save both in money and time. With this aircraft we can actually say that it’s cheaper to use that aircraft than to use their car.’
'We’re now the only one in South Sudan that can offer the little 182. No one else is filling that gap. If we can’t do it, no one else can do it.'
‘Two African Inland Mission (AIM) doctors from the US have been coming here twice a year for the last ten years. They had to go to Lokitok and stay for a few weeks and develop a clinic there. They needed to fly on a very specific date. For that purpose, it was perfect.
‘Kuron Peace Village were so excited when we got this plane, they asked, ‘Are you always available? Can we always charter this plane?’ It’s two days to drive there from Juba, and the roads are insecure and unsafe. They fly in one to three people, or their inverter might be broken for the solar system, so they fly in an inverter, and add on food or whatever they need that adds up to 200-300kg.
‘Bishop Taban, the founder of the Kuron Peace Village, travels a lot. He’s doing reconciliation and flies all over South Sudan. In Kuron, all the tribal chiefs came and had a little meeting under the tree before we left. Then I flew him to Yei where he met with a reconciliation group. He’s so excited and happy to have this plane available.
‘The Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) uses this plane all the time. One day I flew two radio workers installing a system for their station, and another time flew people running a workshop for the church, or a bishop to a board meeting. ECS uses the plane the most frequently.
Most of the flights are east, west and south because those roads are so insecure. You don’t drive to Yei or Kajo Keji anymore because there are robberies where people are killed. And now it’s cheaper to use the aircraft.
We’re now the only one in South Sudan that can offer the little 182. No one else is filling that gap. If we can’t do it, no one else can do it. If I can’t fly one pastor or one missionary to Torit, he has to drive down. So it’s really meeting a need.
South Sudan has few roads across its vast swampy plains, meaning aid and mission groups depend on MAF's aircraft to reach people suffering through hunger, conflict and isolation.
Our smallest and most economic aircraft is ideal for flying individuals and small teams
Dave Waterman knows all about working in extreme conditions in South Sudan. He changed an engine in scorching heat and drank nearly eight litres of water a day to survive. MAF’s Jo Lamb, gets the lowdown…
Pastor Dave Jaggerman from Wyoming and New Yorker Sean Gardner, flew into Gulu on the Uganda-South Sudan border to deliver chaplaincy training in Nimule with Far Reaching Ministries, whom MAF fly regularly.
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In just 3 years, a new sport has exploded across the schools and neighbourhoods of Juba and Maridi where 60 community teams and 30 school teams now compete. In a country where women have often struggled to make their voices heard, the exciting thing, is that all the players are girls!
Winfred Wanjiku works as a nurse in the transition centre at Kakuma Refugee Camp, where refugees are given medical attention, food and hope by the centre's caring staff.
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A disabled girl was considered worthless until she was noticed by someone outside her family.
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Sometimes all the passenger seats are taken out of our Caravan aeroplanes. As was the case with a chartered flight for Tearfund in South Sudan.
When MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue.
Manuela needed to be flown to a hospital in Juba when she became seriously ill with cerebral malaria. Story and photos by Thorkild Jørgensen.
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Stuart and Jack fly back to Khartoum before continuing south across Sudan. Extreme heat and the challenges of navigating featureless terrain persist. The intrepid pair are tested to the limit when they are blown off course.
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In 2013, during a visit to Bartholomew’s Orphanage in Kajo Keji, Communications Officer Jill Vine noticed a rusting wheelchair frame that belonged to a teenage orphan. Story Jill Vine Photos 2013 Achim Appel 2017 Claire Wise de Wet
Medair operates a 24-hour maternity facility at the Yusuf Batil camp for Sudanese refugees in the far northeast corner of South Sudan. MAF has been supporting Medair’s work in Maban since they started in 2012.
Hillary Muni is head of World Relief’s Human Resource and Church Empowerment departments – working to build up the local church in remote villages such as Ibba and Maridi in South Sudan.
Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God is remarkably consistent with the vision of a sustainable future recently adopted by the United Nations (UN)
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MAF was privileged to lend logistical support to the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, when he visited South Sudan in his capacity as Chair of Christian Aid.
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The Dillinghams arrived in Madagascar just a month before MAF’s marine partner Mercy Ships, the largest charitable floating hospital ship in the world, docked in the eastern port of Tamatave.
From the pilot to the passengers, you won't find any men aboard this MAF mission flight in Madagascar!