What's been happening? Good question, and as it happens almost too much to write down in a few lines.
The flying has been hectic of late. Mercy Air has often had all it's planes out at the same time and we haven't had a staff meeting with all present for ages. We have visited 14 international airports in four countries in the last few weeks. Some of the highlights include:
Last week we did a flight for Dorcas Aid. They are a Dutch Christian Aid organisation who have many projects around the world. We spent a week flying a group of business people, who were either sponsors or potential sponsors and visited various projects in Mozambique, SA and Lesotho. We went to many places and saw much poverty but also the hope that is provided by an organisation who base their ethos on biblical principals. To be honest what we saw revived our faith in Aid Organisations and we were pleased to be a small part of bringing more hope to people who seemingly had none.
In Lesotho we visited many of Dorcas's projects including a World Food Programe food distribution centre.
Yesterday we were about to leave for church when we got a call from a missionary in Mozambique saying that their local pastor had been taken seriously ill with a burst appendix. He was at least 12 hours drive from a hospital where they could operate and it was critical that he got there the same day. Using one of our fast twin engine planes we were able to reach him in less that two hours and transport him to Maputo an hour and a half later. He would almost certainly of died had we not been able to provide a prompt response, although his condition is still serious and we would ask you to pray for him.
On another occasion we were fortunate enough to get a flight down the coast all the way to Cape Town with a small team.
Last week we took a mission team up to Northern Zambia and helped with the construction of an orphanage. A bonus here was flying over Victoria Falls on the way up and again on the way down.
Right now we are stuck at home. Today we was supposed to fly a team up to eastern Zimbabwe but the weather played it's joker and fogged us in the whole day. As we type, we are swapping stories with the passengers in our office who are now staying the night and planning a death 'o' clock start tomorrow morning.
For most of the last month we have had all four Mercy Air planes out in Moz at the same time. Our 'big' plane spent two weeks with a group from Medical Ministry International doing eye and dental work in a Muslim village in the very north of Moz. During their time they saw over 900 patients. At the same time out smallest aircraft was shuttling missionaries in and out of a town in mid Moz and also flew a mission trip to Zimbabwe.
We had a camera crew with us recently doing a small article for national TV, they were so impressed that they suggested a full on documentary sometime in the future.
We have also been very busy with guests and have had an almost constant stream of people visiting for periods ranging from just a night to a month.
Mercy Air team
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