MAF - Flying for Life

Since coming to live in Anglesey I have been a volunteer Area Representative for Mission Aviation Fellowship, a Christian charity that flies light aircraft in developing countries to help people in inaccessible locations. Once I saw the work done by MAF I was more than keen to take up this work. It is an amazing organisation, bringing the love of God to people in far flung places.

It all began following the Second World War when two ex RAF officers realised how some aircraft were more than ideal for delivering aid in places it would take days, if not weeks, to get to by road. In countries affected by monsoon weather the roads are unusable for months at a time. Even the tried and tested four wheel drives cannot get through during and after such heavy rainfall. So what happens if you are unlucky enough to be cut off by flooded roads when you are taken ill?

Stuart King and Jack Hemmings flew the first flights to see if the idea would work in the field. They chose an aircraft designed for short take off and landing and flew it around the African nations. There already were a number of airstrips they could use to test the system.

After a number of months they were in the air, returning to base, and crossing a mountain range. As they flew between some very high mountains they could see one in front which rose 1,000 feet above their flight level. So full power was applied and they began to rise at 300 feet per minute. Then Stuart noticed the rate of climb indicator was showing zero - they were in level flight with a huge mountain still to fly over! Looking again, after they had changed course, he saw the rate of climb had gone negative. They were on full power but were descending at 300 feet per minute. As they changed course a second time they removed the top of a banana tree, losing the tip of the wing in the process. A few seconds later they struck the mountainside and the plane broke up into many pieces. They got out to avoid any fire that might follow but no fire broke out.

Eventually the flights to test the idea were completed and the first mission support work started in Sudan. The first aircraft were De Havilland Dragon Rapides, very lovely aeroplanes of that time. Inside the equipment for flying and navigation did not resemble the sophisticated technical wizardry of today. The radio equipment used Morse code with no possibility of speaking openly to base. But soon the aeroplane proved an invaluable contribution to the humanitarian work in developing countries. Other countries all over the globe began to see the familiar aircraft flying out to help people who lived in far off and inaccessible places.

Today the work of MAF is that of a multimillion pound organisation, yet remains almost a secret as far as most people are concerned. The fleet now numbers over 180 aircraft and MAF can now say that every three minutes one of its planes is landing or taking off. Among its services are a number of regular flights provided for community use, whilst most are about transporting aid to people who live off the beaten track.

MAF flies a number of medical safaris each year. A typical one might be the recent Christian Blind Mission that flew eye specialists to an area of Sudan which had received very little aid over the years. The local roads were a real problem and some people could not make it to the temporary eye hospital set up near the airstrip. But one group decided to make it despite the roads, travelling 40 miles in 2 days on two trailers drawn by tractors.

By the end of the few days in this location 247 eye operations had been completed - 222 were on cataracts. 600 pairs of spectacles had been distributed. Dr Sture Nyholm remarked that one old man, having had his bandages removed, spotted Dr Nyholm's wife, Eunice and immediately wanted to marry her!

One MAF supporter sent me a cutting from the Llandudno Weekly News of 17 May 2007. It was an article about a retired Anglican priest, Rev Peter Marshall who lives in North Wales. Peter had been attending a meeting of the Sudan Churches Association in London when he learnt that a young clergyman he had just met had had a phone call to say his 14 months old son had fallen into the cooking pot and burnt his arm and neck. The local hospital had nothing with which to treat the boy and he was suffering.

Peter contacted MAF who arranged to collect the young boy and fly him to a Ugandan hospital 500 miles away. This was the nearest hospital with ability to deal with burns. The good news is that the boy survived and did not even need any skin grafts. A church and a college in North Wales raised the funds to cover MAF's flight costs. A year later Peter was in the area where the young boy lived and asked if he could go there to see him. The United Nations people advised against it because the Lord's Resistance Army were known to be active only twelve miles away. He spoke to MAF who said they would take him there and give him 20 minutes on the ground before flying out again. He was thrilled to meet the youngster who was now fit and well.

Last week I went to Beechwood Court near Conwy to give an MAF presentation to the local churches. Within minutes of arriving I was approached by a tall man who said, "We haven't met, but we have spoken on the telephone. I'm Peter Marshall." What a surprise and a pleasure it was to finally meet this man who had organised the saving of an African life from North Wales!

During my presentation he told a story about a flight he was booked on with MAF. On each occasion every passenger is weighed to ensure the aircraft is not overloaded for its flight. On this occasion the weight of the passengers plus that of radio equipment to set up a Christian Broadcasting Service was too great. MAF decided to offset this by taking only half the fuel they needed for the flight and arranged a refuelling stop half way along the flight.

Wherever people are in need they are there for them. The work is often dangerous and pilots have been lost as they have flown to meet the many challenges that this sort of work throws at them. 2-3 years ago two MAF pilots were killed in an air accident in Papua New Guinea. Not much more than a year later another another pilot serving in that area was also killed. I recently read a book entitled "Many Adventures Followed" written by a former pilot who not only flew many years in PNG but twice fought off cancer during that period. It is amazing how rapidly weather can change and catch out any pilot flying in that area. He talked about flying around whilst looking for a gap in the clouds to make progress. To fly into cloud could prove fatal so the pilots need to find a gap in the clouds to get home.

But MAF does not just use pilots. The teams include administrative staff, accountants, engineers, computer specialists etc etc. All are dedicated to serving God and his people wherever they are sent. The flights go out to remote places and often the pilot has to return with sick patients on board who need to be in hospital. One doctor recounts that she held regular surgeries in one remote place at a time when the only way to get there was by taking three and a half days by dugout canoe up river. Today MAF flies her there in just 4 hours! In Tanzania there are two villages on each side of a high mountain. To walk from one to the other takes 4 hours but an MAF plane gets you there in 6 minutes.

MAF has been "Flying for Life" for almost 60 years and is still pulling in more and more money to provide even more help for forgotten people. The whole thing is built on three Ps: People, Prayer and Pounds. People are asked to pray for the work and the funds roll in! Now that is amazing and a testament to the power of prayer.

Wise Men Seek Jesus (They still do)

Today is Epiphany Sunday and I led morning worship at Llanfairfechan Methodist Church not far from Bangor. It was a lovely morning as I too made a special journey to take the gospel to this tiny church in our circuit. The sun kept popping out and the sheep gave extra texture to the fields as they grazed there. The Menai Strait looked peaceful enough as I crossed along the Britannia Bridge to the mainland. But I was not following a star, just driving to a preaching appointment.

Two thousand years ago, so the scriptures tell us, there were clever astrologers looking at the night sky. They were obviously skilled in their art and, having seen a new star rise in the heavens, they followed it towards Palestine. Their knowledge led them to declare that this was a sign that a new king had been born. Legend has it that there were three of them but of this we cannot be certain. The story tells us they brought three gifts - gold, frankincense and myrr. If they were to find this new king they needed the correct gifts. Imagine their surprise to find that they were offering extremely expensive gifts to a child born in a stable.

Each year at this season we think of the Magi and their unusual gifts for Jesus. We tend to think along traditional lines about the entire story, just as we do concerning Christmas. Perhaps, therefore, we do not think about the strange gifts that were brought to Jesus. There is a great tendency to accept all that is written in the Gospels about the birth of Jesus without question. It is many years ago that I first began to harbour doubts as to the authenticity of the narrative we find in the Bible.

Of course, in the case of Epiphany, my doubts were all surrounding the ability of the astrologers to gauge the direction of the new star. How could they be sure, once they arrived that it was standing precisely above the place where the infant Jesus lay? Much fable surrounds the birth of Jesus. The stories are beautiful but not the sort of account one can rely on as absolute truth. But there is something rather appealing about this story of the Magi bringing these particular gifts.

Have you ever wondered what to buy someone for their birthday or for Christmas. We have all known this dilemma and had to deal with it appropriately. We try to think of something we can afford that the special person would value and treasure. Sometimes, we try to come up with a practical gift, such as a power tool. At other times our recipient appreciates different things and so we buy them books or CDs etc. Others are known to prefer clothing or jewellery and that decides what they receive. In other words, we try to buy the most appropriate gift we can think of. Yet, for the Magi, it had to be expensive gifts, way beyond the pocket of Mary and Joseph.

This strangeness of gifts is something we might just take a look at and see if we can make any sense of it all. The Magi were very unusual people so unusual gifts perhaps matched them as givers.

Arthur Eperon, the travel writer, was driving in Corfu with his wife one Easter when he was stopped by a huge traffic cop. He wondered what regulation he had broken as the policeman approached him. But the policeman simply handed him a hard boiled egg painted red. It is a traditional Greek gift at Easter. One year, my wife and I were on holiday in Corfu and we visited a new taverna that had not existed the previous time we had visited the island. We recognised the owner, Spiro, as having been a waiter in another taverna last time we were there. We asked if this was right and he confirmed that he had previously worked in his sister's taverna.

After the conversation he walked off and returned with a gift - a bottle of beer for me and a glass of kumquat liqueur for my wife. I had no problem downing the beer on that hot day but Pauline could not drink the liqueur. She simply did not like the taste. So I had the task of swallowing the liquid quickly whilst Spiro was not looking. We could not leave the drink untouched. But things got worse! The next day we stopped by for a snack and the waiter came over with beer and kumquat liqueur, saying, "This is from the boss." I had to go through the same procedure on Spiro's blind side as he waited on his customers.

So we can see that we ought not to think how odd the gifts of the Magi were, but accept them as traditional giving. It can be like that with hospitality. Many years ago, as a new local government officer, I took part in the annual compilation of the local Electoral Register. This was during the early years of immigration from Asia and my home town of Nelson was receiving many new Pakistani families. I called at one house to complete the form and was asked in by the Asian occupier. He showed me into his sitting room and asked me to take a seat. There was no vacant seat for a second until his son jumped up and politely asked me to sit down. I was offered a cup of tea or fruit juice but declined them. I left that house thinking what a wonderful welcome I had received from total strangers.

Whilst on holiday in Crete, we were talking to a couple who lived quite close to us back in England. We were sitting in a taverna by a lake and talking about what we had observed during our time there. The couple told us they had taken a wrong turn to get down to the sea somewhere nearby, only to discover they had stopped the car on a private access. The family there welcomed them into their home and took them onto the balcony with its lovely sea view. There were insufficient chairs so they woke a sleeping elderly relative to get them off the mattress so their guests could be seated.

I heard a story recently about a couple whose motorbike broke down in Crete. Whilst the local mechanic fixed the machine they were afforded hospitality in the local mayor's house. They were give food and the husband received a plate of boiled snails which he had a problem with and his wife had to try and eat an egg wrapped in pastry and covered in a sweet mint paste. They could not refuse these gifts of food and had to get them down quickly!

But the real point to all this is that, although there may be a strangeness about the type of gift, the giver is someone who gives what is considered the thing to give. So, although it might be thought as over the top. to bring such gifts to Jesus it was done in the very best way out of love and respect for a fellow human being. Only the best is appropriate for Jesus. This is something we remember all our lives as we live out the disciple's life and try to make a difference.