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'School is more than just learning, it's my future.'

At 14 years old, Elinami Thomas is one of the few girls in her remote Tanzania village who isn’t a wife or a mother.Instead, she’s a student at Naserian English Medium Primary School in Malambo, run by Help for the Maasai and supported by Mission Aviation Fellowship flights.“Many girls of my age are married and some of them have children too,” she said.Child marriage is a common occurrence for the Maasai in remote Tanzania. It greatly increases the risk of violence, abuse, ill health, an...

Emergency Flights brings Vital Care for Law Student in Coma

In a flight of less than three hours’ duration, MAF in Guinea has transferred a patient from N’Zérékoré to Conakry – avoiding a difficult road journey of 24 hours or more.Israel Kourouma is a young university student with his life ahead of him. He’s in his third year of studying law in N’Zérékoré, a region in the country’s southeast.“Unfortunately, on September 2, he was the victim of a serious motorcycle accident that left him in a coma,” said Mr Jean Guilavogui. Jean is t...

New Airstrip Brings Hope to South Sudan

“You find young girls of 25 who are already widows because their husbands are killed in revenge,” said Minagano Kape, a Peace Building Advisor.“When they tell you the stories of how they have to run when they hear of an attack, how they hide, and how they carry their children, it’s really sad. We really have a community that lives in so much fear.”It was into this hotspot of conflict that Minagano flew with MAF to work on a project healing communities and breaking the painful cycle of ...

Hope for the Next Generation - How MAF Brings Healing to Young Lives in Crisis

Around the world, young lives hang in the balance every day due to medical emergencies, lack of access to hospitals, or the absence of specialist care in remote communities. MAF helps bridge that gap - flying patients, doctors and supplies to bring help, hope and healing. The stories of three young patients - Neema, Yelikha and Angeline - show how MAF is helping bring healing to the next generation....

A Brighter Future for Refugee Children

Over one million refugees from war-torn South Sudan have sought safety in northern Uganda. Among them are children growing up amid uncertainty. But at Peace Nursery and Primary School in Olua, run by MAF’s partner PEACE International, hope is taking root – and children are completing their education.The schoolyard at Peace Nursery and Primary School is teeming with life. Laughter is loud, and children in tidy school uniforms run between each other. Here we meet Achol Bol Mabior, mother of 15...

Our Learning Journeys: From Calling to Training to Serving Isolated Communities

At 15, Timothée Berger’s aviation imagination was piqued while flying radio-controlled aircraft at a Christian aviation camp.Now, the Swiss pilot is flying with MAF in Arnhem Land, Australia, where he is part of a new generation of pilots transporting healthcare teams, students and teachers to bring help, hope and healing to this remote region.“I was interested in aviation only if I could serve the Lord,” said Timothée.“There was this lady who came and shared her testimony about her jo...

Change is in the Air - New Floatplane will be reaching the remote islands of Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, stretches across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. “It feels like a small ocean,” says Ruth Jack, Country Director of MAF in Uganda. “Some of the most isolated people in the country live on the many islands in Lake Victoria.” For years, many island communities here lived in isolation. Little to no access to healthcare, education, or the gospel have been the norm. But now, change is in the air.“There are no hospitals on any of the islands,” explains ...

"Kenya Stole My Heart"

The team flew out to the Loita Hills on a MAF aircraft, where they stayed for most of their trip. They did everyday life with the local Maasai - helping to teach classes at the RedTribe Academy, partnering with Water Matters to deliver water filters to a further remote village, and more.“Bringing the water filters to the remote Maasai Village was such an eye-opening experience. Seeing the way that these people live and how happy they are, but also how much of a privilege it was that we could h...

80 Years Young - Looking at what's next for MAF

The organisation was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War by pioneers determined to use aviation to bring help, hope and healing to isolated communities.MAF International’s Chief Transformation and Operating Officer Norman Baker said the bold journeys of those early MAF pioneers (such as Murray Kendon and Trevor Strong, the founders of MAF) had set an example for the organisation to follow as it looks ahead.“The world is changing around us and it’s changing at a pace that...

How MAF Supports Healing in Uganda

Their team noticed that traumatised pupils were passing on that same trauma to their teachers, which stopped students from learning.“Every five minutes a child would be fighting,” said school teacher Stella Baru. “The children feared strangers. They said we looked like the people who hurt their families.”Another teacher, Rebecca, admitted: “I almost left the job. When we tried to stop the children from fighting, they sometimes turned against us, I would arrange the classroom and find i...

MAF Supports Holistic Discipleship in South Sudan

Without MAF, we wouldn’t be able to be here. Ibba is very safe. Between Ibba and Juba is not safe,”Today, the Quills are returning to Ibba after a few days in the capital to renew paperwork. “It would be a 12-hour journey by road, and it’s not safe,” Joanne adds.“Our flight with MAF was excellent as always! I got to sit up front enjoying the view,” Andrew says as he shares more about the ministry that led them to leave their rural parish and adult children behind in the UK.“We’...

A Remote Village Buy Bibles From The Back of the Plane

“God’s Word has power,” said Pastor Kimin Mauwe, of the Karimui Baptist Church.“The Bible itself says, in Hebrews 4:12, that God’s Word has power and is sharper than all kinds of things – sharper than a sword.“All of God’s Word has pawa (power),” he said, speaking in Tok Pisin, or Pidgin English.Pastor Kimin has had ample opportunity to witness the power of God’s Word. He began ministry here 33 years ago. He is married to Susan, has a pet cassowary and vulturine parrot, and g...

MAF Helps Emiliana Reach Unreachable Villages Quickly

“What touches me is that I’m helping both mothers and children,” said Emiliana Musa Chalo, who has served for fifteen years as a nurse and midwife at Kilimatinde Hospital, a ministry of the Anglican Church of Tanzania.Emiliana dedicates her time to providing healthcare to mothers and children in remote areas. Her services include vaccinating children, monitoring pregnant women, and offering treatment and advice.“When a mother is pregnant, I monitor the baby’s heartbeat, check the devel...

MAF's Partner Supports a Child-Headed Refugee Family

At fifteen, Nyabuom Puok took on the responsibility to care for her four younger siblings single-handedly. It was not out of her own free will that Nyabuom assumed this responsibility.Her mother, who lived with them at Rhino Refugee Camp in northern Uganda, returned to South Sudan with a promise that she would return soon. A year later, there’s no trace of her.Community members brought the plight of these children to the attention of the Khayamandi Foundation.MAF flies the Khayamandi Foundatio...

MAF Flight Enables Mercy Ships to Help Baby Osman

Potential patients in Toliara were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Mercy Ships Patient Selection Team. Among them was Delphine, a 20-year-old mother clutching her six-month-old son, Osman, who was born with a cleft lip. Delphine knew that her child needed surgery, but the cost at a local hospital was too high for her.“There are surgeons here, but it costs a lot of money so I cannot afford it,” she said. However, when she heard about Mercy Ships on the radio, she seized the opportunity an...

Airlifted in 24 Minutes: Pregnant Woman Saved by Floatplane

Sadly, the baby could not be saved, but the mother received life-saving care.“Everything happened so quickly,” said Gensy Deisi, from the small community of Boboa, on the shores of Lake Murray, in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province.“With the floatplane, we were already in Kiunga, heading to the hospital.” Shimbil Deisi, Gensy’s younger sister and a mother of two, was referred to the nearest hospital in Kiunga due to difficulties in delivering her baby.“As soon as she arrived, we t...

From Darkness to Light: Dimanbil's Airstrip Dream Comes True

For nearly four decades, the people of Dimanbil in Papua New Guinea’s Sandaun Province held onto a dream, a dream of connection, of light breaking through isolation. With bush knives, sticks, and sheer determination, they worked to carve a runway from the dense jungle. It was a seemingly impossible task.But in late 2023, that dream took flight when an MAF aircraft landed on their newly built airstrip for the first time.In May 2025, the people of Dimanbil are still enthusiastic about the sight ...

Eight Patients on Board Receive Access to Life-Saving Care

In the remote plains of Malambo, where access to medical care is limited, MAF partnered with Help for the Maasai to transport eight patients to Arusha for treatment. Among them were three young children with special needs.Pilot Peter Griffin is gaining experience on the larger aircraft type, supervised by Phil Henderson. Peter shared that the flight was significant to him personally, because it was his first time to fly so many patients at once.“We had more patients than I’d ever flown befor...

Next Gen Community Health Workers Supported by MAF

They are equipped with faith, supported by MAF, and driven by the urgent needs of their people.Sephreid Kuri knows what it means to watch loved ones suffer without medical help. In his remote village of Duranmin, there’s no medically trained people, and no road in or out.“My area doesn’t have a CHW or health worker. Because of this, many in my family and community have died,” said the first-year student at the Telefomin Community Health Worker School.“I want to become a health worker s...

MAF Helps Medics Reach Remote Community

Mansare Nankoria had been suffering from the painful effects of leprosy for more than a year before a MAF flight brought a medical team to her region in central Guinea. Mansare received treatment from the Mission Partners for Christ team for her leprosy, which had left her with wounds on both hands and feet for a year and four months.“I am a native of this village, I really cannot describe the way these wounds started on me. I went to several hospitals and villages to find a solution but nothi...

Meet Angela Competente

Angela Competente was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved to New Zealand when she was seven. She grew up in Auckland and in the church. From a young age, Angela felt called to go into aviation—she just wasn’t sure what that would look like. She started her flight training in Palmerston North in 2018 and got her commercial pilot licence in 2020 through Massey University. Along the way, she also discovered a real love for teaching. Over time, she felt a calling to serve, and God faithfully ...

MAF Helps Fistula Patients Receive Life-Saving Surgery

30-year-old Tensa, the mother of eight, with six living children, shares her story to encourage other women to seek out help.MAF partnered with the Reconciliation Hospital to fly fistula patients for surgery. In the pre-op ward, Tensa is waiting to receive expert care. Tensa’s story is tinged with sadness and hope. Tensa developed a fistula birthing her eighth child, in her rural community in October last year. Too far from hospital she had no choice but to deliver at home.‘I stayed for thre...

Meet Nathalie Buitendag

With a background in marketing, operations, and administration, I’ve always enjoyed roles that bring structure and clarity behind the scenes.Being part of a local church and raising our family in a community that values generosity and purpose has shaped who I am. It’s a privilege to support a mission that reaches people in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the world—with both practical help and the love of Christ.I’m grateful to be part of a team that’s making a difference—and t...

MAF flies 18 Veterinarians to Kenya to Offer Free Treatment

Organised by Veterinarians Mission Program (VMP), in partnership with Christian Veterinary Mission and local churches, the week-long mission to Kinna aimed to combat animal disease while sowing seeds of faith among the Borana and Ameru residents.For many pastoralists here in Isiolo County, livestock is everything: a source of food, income, and identity. Yet, access to veterinary care is rare and unaffordable for most. During the mission, over 3,200 animals were treated, including cattle, sheep, ...

MAF flies 70-year-old Grandmother After Successful Surgery

Ngoita, affectionately called Koko, which means ‘grandmother’ in Kimaasai, began her journey earlier this year during a mobile medical clinic run by Help for the Maasai, a partner organisation supporting vulnerable people in remote Maasai communities.Cataracts in both of Ngoita’s eyes were discovered, severely limiting her ability to function independently. She was brought to a clinic in Malambo for initial care, and arrangements were made for her to travel to Arusha for surgery. Ngoita fi...