Moz, Lesotho, Zambia

We have been trying to find a spare half hour to write a quick update for ages and if we don't manage it now we can see it being at least another couple of weeks, otherwise you might all think we have fell off our side of the world.

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

Moz Hub Conference

We just got back late last night at the end of ten days in N. Moz.

We took a plane load of people up to N. Moz for a missions conference. Just getting there involved 1400 miles and over seven hours of flying. One of the pilot's wives, Cathy, was part of a medical team we provided to help the missionaries up there.

The conference went very well with up to 60 missionaries attending at times. We saw some old friends and met plenty of new people who we might be able to work with in the future. It took us 7 1/2 hours by plane and can take up to five days for the missionaries to drive. Because of this, the Hub arranged for us to take a number of specialists up with us including a Dentist, Vet, Agricultural bloke, Doctor, Nurses (including Cathy), Hairdresser/beautician (for the ladies!), and a home Schooling adviser. The week also included a Language Acquisition Course to help new missionaries learn the various languages of the numerous 'un-reached people groups'.

Cathy taking someone's blood pressure.


The dentist doing a check up on a mission kid.


One of these landed on Paul's head the same night as he was walking through the compound where we stayed.


Not all fun and games. A Puff Adder Paul trod on one night. He was alive at the time but the application of a big stick soon sorted that out.


Thanks.

Mercy Air team

Mercy Air Helicopter

Last week we sent a quick update cos we were all excited about our new helicopter arriving. Matthias, our heli pilot, has been busy since then hammering and banging in the hanger till late at night and the results can be seen in the following pictures:

And the proof of the pudding is in the flying.

Now that it is flying Matthias will fly down to ZUMAT to do some promotional work with the clinics. After that we need to do a big service on the engine and when that is completed next year we will start to use it for God's work here in southern Africa.

Please pray for this new avenue to Mercy Air's service, more especially that these first flights will be a blessing to the people served through the clinics and that the helicopter will be richly used by God to build his kingdom.

Thanks

Mercy Air team

More mission trips

We have been away again on a couple of trips.

The first (large doctor team) trip to Moz was canceled at the last minute - well the night before anyway when the Mozambican National Health Director suddenly decided that they didn't need any medical help after all. This was however replaced by another three day trip at equally short notice.

The second trip was last week when we took another team in three planes to work at a hospital in Zambia, one hours drive north of Victoria Falls. Some of the group did medical work whilst others completed various construction and maintenance tasks. There were also a few pastors who attended to ministerial things. One of the pilots wives, Cathy, was able to come along and enjoyed working in the maternity unit as well as driving out to a couple of clinics. Here's a pic of her on baby weighing day. She also did almost 100 ante-natal checkups - sometimes on the floor or on a school desk - 2nd pic.


We were busy with practical things and one of the most satisfying jobs was building some swings for a church pre-school.

It is a long story of how we got it but we were able to fly this trip in Mercy Air's new Beech Baron.

Mercy Air team

Somewhere different in Moz

Just over a week ago we picked a US church group up in Johannesburg and flew them to Manica in Mozambique where they helped local missionaries with a number of projects.

We had never been there before but found it to be a poor place, as is much of Mozambique, but the people were friendly, colourful and grateful for our involvement. A lot of the day was spent just living, collecting water and buying food from the market.

One day we cleared an area, dug the foundations and collected bricks for a pastor’s house.

On another we leveled an area for a new church building. This involved removing loads of old bricks and five minutes after we begun we were joined by the local women and children who were keen to help.

We had long tiring days usually starting at 7am and finishing most nights past 9pm by playing football and basketball with the local youth.

Mercy Air team

Scary animals

Things remain busy at Mercy Air. During one period we spent three weeks ‘on the road’ with only one day at home.

We were initially away for a week in Mozambique taking a group of Dutch missionaries to visit their colleagues. A relatively straightforward trip apart from a battle getting in to Maputo to pick my passengers up due to the biggest downpour you've ever seen at the approach end of the runway.

At our destination strip the local kids were very curious as we were one of a handful of aircraft they see on the ground each year. They welcomed us by swarming the plane - a good reason to shut the engines down quickly!


After returning from that trip we had a day to sort ourselves out before we went down to Natal to help another mission flying organisation for a couple of weeks. Zululand Mission Air Transport (ZUMAT) primarily operate as a flying doctor and air ambulance service to local hospitals and have been operating in the area for over 25 years but are short of pilots just now. They have four aircraft all with short takeoff and landing capability, which is necessary to get in and out of their 300m (984ft) long strip on the side of a mountain. We flew most days sometimes in fairly marginal weather to places ranging from international airports to short dirt strips with game animals on.


One last pic of something we found in one of the hospitality guest rooms recently.
Anyone for a visit?!

Mercy Air team

More

The last few months have been very busy.

The first trip involved flying a team from Times Square Church in New York to a remote location for a week. We helped them clear an area and dig the foundations for a clinic that a local church were building through an organisation called Doctors for Life.


The second trip was only a one day affair but involved six and a half hours of flying to collect some people who had been working in Moz and take them to Durban to meet up with the rest of their mission team.

The third trip was a nine day one where we again stayed with an American group who were partnering with a church in Pretoria to build a bible school in central Mozambique.
A fairly rough time as we had to camp in the bush with minimal facilities and although the weather was unusually cool the mosquitos were still quite a problem. The trip was split up though by having to fly up to northern Moz for a couple of days to transport some Dutch Lutheran Church guys who were doing research into church planting possibilities.

The first roof trusses go on the Bible School

We have just got back from an 11 day trip taking Dutch Reformed Church members on their annual tour of many mission stations in northern Moz. This last trip amounted to about 4000 miles of flying, enough to get you from London to Moscow and back or from Central America to the north of Canada.

Mercy Air team