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When cyclones strike, MAF responds

Cyclone Narelle: Evacuations and food relief in Arnhem LandWhen Tropical Cyclone Narelle made landfall in Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory earlier this year, MAF planes were kept busy making evacuation flights for more than 70 residents from the Laynhapuy homelands to the safety of cyclone shelters in Nhulunbuy.After the cyclone passed, residents were safely returned home. However, damaged tracks and depleted fuel supplies soon created another crisis, with several homelands runnin...

Tanzania transformed: MAF begins a new chapter

As MAF begins to transition out of Tanzania in the coming months, the country today is in far better shape than when MAF first started serving there over 60 years ago.In 1963, life expectancy was a dismal 44 years – today it’s 70. In the last 25 years, maternal mortality has drastically reduced by 71%, and primary school enrolment has boomed to 93% since the government introduced free basic education in 2015.The electrification rate has reached 69% across rural areas (source: Int’l Trade A...

Light in paradise

For him and his wife Caitlin, a good weekend means getting in the four-wheel drive and going far beyond mobile phone coverage, sleeping in a tent, sitting by the campfire and looking at the stars. He is also no stranger to epic sea journeys, having accompanied Caitlin to the Coral Sea, Australia, where she worked as a dive instructor and marine researcher. But Karlos had never been anywhere quite as remote as the Carteret Islands. He had never felt so cut off from the outside world.Paradise in d...

'The people laid down their arrows': A story of lasting change

“Before God’s Word came to Telefomin, the people here just thought about fighting. They were angry,” says ‘Mama’ Nunta Markis. “They would just get an arrow and shoot each other.” Tribal conflicts were part of daily life, and fear was a constant companion.Amongst the older women in the Telefomin community, Mama Nunta is one of a shrinking number of people who can remember when the Good News first came to this highland valley.“I would move around the mountains,” she says, pointi...

Education protected Mary from human trafficking and child marriage

“I’m happy that I am going to secondary school,” says Mary with a smile. Soon, she will take the next step in a journey she has dreamed about for years.Mary Nangiro is a dedicated student. She joined Akigyeno School in 2021, a school run by MAF’s partner organisation, Ezekiel 37 Ministry. The school serves around 300 students in Uganda’s Karamoja region, where literacy rates are among the lowest in the country.“I used to read my books in the night to excel. The school gave us torches...

The Sudan Crisis: 'For such a time as this'

Nearly two years ago, leaders from the entire MAF International family gathered to make a bold, and unanimous decision. We came together as a collection of MAF groups to create something new – an integrated MAF International that unites our operational programmes and national fundraising groups like never before.We are in a once-in-a-generation moment that has been signposted for us in many ways. I believe it creates a new space for us to believe in new beginnings.Looking out over the MAF Inte...

A Calling Beyond the Cockpit

“I really sensed God’s call on my life to be a missionary when I was eight years old. It was also at that time where I developed a passion and desire to become a pilot. So right from a young age I always believed that I was going to be a MAF pilot.”This never did happen, but as Mark reflects, this was for a bigger purpose. Having served several of his earlier years in pastoral ministry, combined with his passion for aviation, Mark was ideally shaped for this role.“When I joined MAF as th...

'We are Hurting Without Healthcare'

“I have come to get my baby checked,” young mother Elisabeth Moses said, holding a lively baby girl in a carry cloth among the crowd of people gathered in front of an unfinished building.The clinic is run in a bare concrete structure with roofing providing shelter from the harsh sun. The building lacks doors, floors and windows, not to mention plumbing and electrics.In cooperation with Kilimatinde Hospital, MAF flies a monthly mother and child clinic to the village of Dabia. During these out...

Getting to Work on Flight over Treacherous Waters

Winding rivers and mangrove-lined creeks carve the East Arnhem Land coastline into a maze of islands and convoluted promontories, requiring long detours by track for travellers driving between communities that are relatively close as the crow flies. And those crossing to a nearby island may have to plan carefully to catch a periodic charter barge if one is available.Today, Sharon Yunupingu, Operations Manager of a Community Housing Organisation (CHO) for East Arnhem Land Real Estate, is travelli...

Meet Anna Fraser

Anna brings to Mission Aviation Fellowship over 20 years’ experience in the faith and mission-led charitable sector, where she has provided high level operations support to organisations and teams. Her passion is to work with those who hold fast to their Christian values while delivering on their vision and mission, bringing positive change to communities and individuals. Previous work includes operations and executive support for Christian organisations working in social services, health...

They Sold Everything to Follow God's Call

When Samuel and Marion Cusin married, they only knew the snow-topped mountains and French conversations of western Switzerland. Having grown up in Christian households, they found themselves at a ‘career crossroads’, not knowing that God had a purpose waiting for them, nearly 14,000 miles away.Samuel was serving in the Swiss army, but when he found out his next mandatory training course was going to begin two days after the wedding, it posed a problem.“The army didn’t want to move this r...

Miraculous timing for mum and the girl she named 'Saved'

Access to healthcare is extremely limited in remote Madagascar. Living among the Mangoky River, one of Madagascar’s largest waterways, means travelling to the nearest hospital can take days, through dangerous terrain.Too often, isolation determines whether someone lives or dies.For expectant mother, Nomenisoa Christine timely access to a larger hospital can be the only option.Nomenisoa had gone into labour, and complications quickly developed, with concerns that an emergency C-section might be...

What It Takes to Reach a Clinic in Rural Tanzania

In Endanyawish, access to roads are not existent. The remote village is surrounded by rugged terrain. Instead, there are trails which take at least six hours travelling by boda boda (motorcycle) from Haydom.But with an MAF aircraft, it is just 15 minutes.Elsa Klarich and Caroline Alphonce Massaga have joined the monthly maternal clinic in Endanyawish to teach about nutrition.Elsa is the founder of Ashe Love Project, an organisation working on health and wellness education and implementation in c...

'God's work is in this': Helping church workers to bridge the digital gap

Not many people get to witness firsthand the many impacts of Mission Aviation Fellowship across remote communities in Papua New Guinea, but as a Communications Officer, it’s my privilege to do just that.But it’s not just the transformative impact of our flights on which I get to report—I also see the changes that technology brings to people’s lives.I travelled to Timil Waghi in Jiwaka Province to cover our Basic Computer Training programme for the Evangelical Brotherhood Church, whose re...

Meet the "Father" of MAF in Bougainville

“In 1969, when I was young, doing my grade three, I heard of MAF,” Rev Abraham said, his eyes sparkling through his dark-rimmed glasses.“MAF left a very good history and legacy here in Bougainville. Under the leadership of Captain Harold Morton and some other pilots, they would go around Bougainville, especially in the United Church places, mission stations.”Rev Abraham explains that Harold was a friend to many, because he not only knew how to speak Tok Pisin, but also a little bit of th...

Life-Saving Vaccine Fridges Boost Chuave Health

With more than fifty thousand people residing in the remote highlands of the Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, many mothers and children rely on Chuave Rural Hospital for their essential health services, including immunisation programmes, health patrols and community awareness initiatives.The hospital serves as a key referral point for surrounding health centres in Chuave, often without suitable medical storage.Through a health initiative with Digicel Foundation, the MAF Technologies team have ...

Surgeries Give Babies a New Chance at Life

One out of every 1,000 babies are born with hydrocephalus worldwide, many families not able to afford surgery.MAF flies CURE Children’s hospital’s medical team from Tororo in eastern Uganda, to Mbarara in western Uganda for a medical camp, offering a rare surgery to children with hydrocephalus, spina bifida and epilepsy.Doctor Shadrach Kisa, CURE’s clinical service supervisor, is one of the passengers on board the MAF flight.“We’d been traveling by road. It’s more than 500 km and we ...

Set-Up Phase Becomes Emergency: Meeting Long-Term and Sudden Needs in Bougainville

“Just over two years ago, we were invited by the Bougainville government to look at whether we could start an aviation programme,” said Glenys Watson, MAF’s Flight Operations Manager in Papua New Guinea.In early 2024, she and fellow pilot Brad Venter conducted a week of survey flying out of Buka, the main centre for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.“We were able to scope out meeting with community members and see if there was a need for an aviation programme to start up in Bougainvi...

New Life for Lillian

As Lillian, from Western Equatoria, flew to South Sudan’s capital Juba with MAF for surgery to treat fistula, she was smiling and hopeful, despite living with debilitating condition for decades.‘I got this fistula in 2003 giving birth to my first child when I was 16 years old. I stayed for almost a year and a half in the hospital. The doctors helped me with soap and clothes. I didn’t have anywhere to go because they could not fix the problem,’ she said.When she was finally able to leave ...

After Years of Pain, They Finally Found Hope

Hadra is the mother of four healthy children, but she has given birth to nine. There are no hospitals in the area where she lives. It is not uncommon for women to labour at home for 2-4 days, rather than set off for hospital, (a journey of hours or days) and risk delivering on the way.As they board a MAF flight together, Hadra Yousef and Tensa James are like sisters, although their hometowns in South Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, are far apart. This is the second time they have both flown with MAF t...

Fighting Polio in remote Papua New Guinea

Much of the world is no longer concerned about polio: a deadly disease that affects mainly children. Though many people in today’s generation barely know what it is, this highly contagious infection can cause long-term disability, paralysis and even death.While it was eradicated in Europe in 2003 – and stamped out in Australia in the year 2000 – it’s still out there in other parts of the world, including Papua New Guinea.With low vaccination coverage, the risk of transmission for many Pa...

Isolated Bougainville gets Radio Communication Link

Having served four years as the officer in charge of Han health clinic in the Carteret islands, Sister Bernice Kumis knows well the challenges of reliable communication and transportation when referring patients to the main island of Bougainville.“The Carteret Islands are isolated and are very far from the mainland,” she said. “We can only travel by boat, and we manage to stay here and care for the patients.”Situated 113 km east of Buka island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, th...

When One Man can See, Two Men are Set Free

As Ernest Nicolaus Skalwanda enters the hospital, his hand is held by Abeli Pita Kamanija.As one seeing, younger man leads a blind, older man to life-changing surgery, it’s evident that the weight of five years of blindness has been weighing heavily.“My life has become difficult to understand,” says Ernest, who comes from Urambo. “I have ended up living by begging and I lack the freedom to go anywhere or do anything I want, especially economic activities.“My main activity is farming. N...

'God still loves me': Rozalia regains full independence after surgery

“The pleasure of the world is to see. If you do not see, you have no pleasure,” says 75-year-old Rozalia Masanja Mayunga.For two and a half years, Rozalia lived with blindness that robbed her of all independence and joy. But last year, MAF flew Tanzanian eye surgeon, Dr Erick Msigomba and his team from Njombe to Rozalia’s home region of Tabora. There the team performed surgery that not only restored Rozalia’s eyesight, but also blessed 60 others with their sight and independence once mor...

'An absolute delight': 45 years of giving, caring and serving

“We wouldn’t have missed it,” said Grant. “There’s nothing else we would rather have done with our lives than what the Lord’s been doing over these 45 years.”From engineering and quality assurance to recruitment and pastoral care, their journey has been a unique call to serve and equip others to do the same.Originally from New Zealand, the couple spent their first 17 years with MAF in PNG. Grant maintained the aircraft that offered a lifeline to isolated communities, whilst Sharon ...