New MAF KODIAK Aircraft Goes Right to Work in Haiti Relief Effort

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Since its arrival Saturday in Port-au-Prince, the new MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) KODIAK airplane has been in continual daytime use as an air ambulance, delivering victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake and doctors from around the world to undamaged hospitals in rural Haiti.

Among the relief cargo on the KODIAK that MAF delivered to orphanages were the two boxes of supplies collected by 9-year-old Moise Salois of Nampa. Moise, adopted from an orphanage in Haiti four years ago, still has two brothers and a grandmother living in Haiti. The child’s gift of bandages, antiseptics, infant formula and clothing was delivered to a Haitian orphanage on Sunday.

The KODIAK’s arrival to the disaster zone comes as the MAF supply of aviation gasoline, or “avgas” fuel has dwindled to a single truck. Avgas powers three MAF Cessnas already in service in Haiti. In contrast, the KODIAK uses jet fuel that in Haiti is readily available and more economical.

“MAF was blessed to be able to fly the new KODIAK where it was direly needed in the very heart of the Haitian catastrophe,” said MAF President John Boyd. “Meanwhile, MAF continues serving a vital role at the Port-au-Prince airport, coordinating the arrival and delivery of international aid flights that are crucial to the survival of hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims.”

The KODIAK is transferring physicians and patients from Port-au-Prince and the devastated port city of Jacmel to a little-damaged hospital in the inland Haitian city of Pignon. Additionally the two MAF pilots who arrived with the KODIAK aircraft have provided direly needed relief to the MAF Haiti-based pilots.

The following website tracks the KODIAK’s relief flights in Haiti: www.maf.org/haitikodiak

To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the “Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund.” Donations can be made at www.maf.org/haitifund.

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It has been quite some time since last updating what has been happening out at the hangar. Last week we had a few aircraft in for maintenance. We had a normally aspirated GA8 in for an engine change, a C206 in for a 100 hourly inspection, a Twin Otter for unscheduled and the C208 for a mini phase check. It has been really good to be getting back into maintenance in the New Year. The last few weeks of last year I was probably spending more time in hangar maintenance and safety work/projects than working on aircraft. Lately I have been getting to work on gas turbine engines more frequently. So it has been working out with each check rotating from airframe to engine and vice versa. It has been really good for a change and to work towards getting hours for PT6 license.

1. C208 Caravan

The C208 mini phase check is done at each 100 hours between Phase checks which is every 200 hours. I do enjoy working on the C208 and as time goes on I am getting more familiar with it, especially as we only have one of them. Normally with the C208 checks it is more intense for me than any other check to get the aircraft serviceable. But this time round we had an extra day than normal and were able to get the aircraft ready for a few weeks of flight training which was good.

2. GA8 in the process of having it’s firewall painted during the engine change

This week has been busy too, the engine change being completed on the GA8, finishing a C206 100 hourly and a 100 hourly on our newest GA8 turbo airvan. On the GA8 Turbo I was put on to do the engine, first time doing a 100 hourly on a GA8 engine. So it has been good to get more exposure on piston engine’s (new for me) and work towards engine licenses more (still awaiting airframe licenses to be processed). We had three aircraft in the hangar yesterday trying to get finished so they could return to flying. This morning before lunch the GA8 Turbo being the last one was finished. So the next two days will be a bit quieter, but will leave room for more hangar projects (always plenty to do) and unscheduled maintenance and give us some breathing space before next week.

3. Twin Otter in for unscheduled maintenance

Next week we have a C check starting on one of our Twin Otters which is scheduled for four weeks. Something that is challenging at times , labor intensive and requires patience. Seems to be plenty of work on in the weeks ahead.

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MAF Sends New KODIAK Aircraft, Crew to Haiti Relief Effort

NAMPA, Idaho – MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) has deployed a new KODIAK airplane and four crew members to join its fleet of three aircraft already serving the relief effort following the massive earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12.

1. MAF US new Kodiak being deployed to Haiti

The deployment marks the first-ever use of this specially designed airplane in disaster relief work.

Following a brief dedication ceremony yesterday afternoon, the KODIAK took off on its 3,000-mile, 18-hour flight to Haiti.

The KODIAK, which can carry more cargo and passengers than the Cessna planes currently in use in Haiti, will support the MAF relief efforts. The KODIAK runs on jet fuel, which is more readily available than costly aviation gasoline, or “avgas,” which fuels Cessnas and is in short supply in Haiti.

“The KODIAK is the next-generation bush plane and is made for such a time as this,” said John Boyd, president of MAF. “It can land on short, unpaved airstrips to get essential humanitarian help to its destination quickly and safely in the absence of viable roads. The KODIAK will greatly expand our ability to quickly take aid where it is most needed.”

This deployment of its finest aircraft is the latest MAF response to the tragedy that has claimed some 200,000 lives and damaged most of the buildings in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

Disaster response has been an MAF area of expertise for more than 60 years. In past disasters, including the Indonesian Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Felix and Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and the Haitian hurricanes of 2008, MAF provided communications systems, delivered relief supplies, transported medical teams and assisted humanitarian organizations in reaching people and areas that had been otherwise cut off from assistance.

MAF flights bring desperately needed relief supplies to outlying towns and return to Port-au-Prince with expatriates who had been working in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating the country.

MAF, which has been serving in Haiti for 23 years, has set up a Port-au-Prince communications center connected to a GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups. The ministry is also helping coordinate the arrival and distribution of relief through its hangar at the airport. This service is valuable to relief organization as MAF staff know the country, the culture and the language.

“With the help of MAF, CCH’s trauma team and medical supplies are in Jacmel helping heal the injured, hurt and hopeless,” said Karen H. Carr, director of Community Coalition for Haiti. “MAF has been a constant source of hope for all of the relief organizations trying to get supplies and medical personnel into Haiti. For the Haitians who are suffering and those bringing help, hearing the MAF flights overhead gives us more reason to believe that things will recover here and that more help is on the way.

“Without MAF, our ministry here to those in need in Jesus’ name would not be possible,” Carr said. “For the lives that have been saved, we owe MAF an eternal debt of gratitude. For those who will hear and see Jesus touching them through our medical volunteers and MAF’s efforts, our appreciation on their behalf is infinite.”

2. Moise in Idaho

Nine-year-old Moise Salois of Nampa, Idaho, adopted from an orphanage in Haiti four years ago, is interviewed by local media. He has two brothers and a grandmother living in Haiti. Moise sent two boxes of aid on the MAF Kodiak.The cargo aboard the KODIAK included two boxes of aid collected by 9-year-old Moise Salois of Nampa, Idaho. Young Moise, adopted from an orphanage in Haiti four years ago, still has two brothers and a grandmother living in Haiti. Among items Moise sent to Haiti on the MAF flight were medical supplies, infant formula, food and clothing.

Additionally, MAF is partnering with Hands of Hope and World Concern to provide relief supplies to Haiti. Among items collected for distribution in Haiti are food such as Power Bars, peanut butter and cooking oil; medical supplies including surgical gloves and orthopedic braces and splints; and other supplies such as blankets, solar-powered flashlights, large tarps, nylon rope and bungee cords.

This aircraft is the fourth MAF KODIAK. Three others are already serving overseas in remote areas.

The KODIAK is manufactured by Quest Aircraft Co. of Sandpoint, Idaho, which was founded to provide rugged, backcountry aircraft for remote operations for mission aviation organizations around the world.

Over the next few years, MAF will place 18 KODIAKS into service, replacing many of its Cessna 206s. Because this revolutionary aircraft can carry nearly twice the cargo of the Cessna 206, which makes up most of MAF’s fleet, the amount of medicine, food and disaster relief supplies MAF delivers at half the cost per cargo pound.

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MAF Opens Critically Important Satellite Communications Center

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) missionaries have set up a Port-au-Prince airport communications center connected to a GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups that have arrived since the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake.

Huntsville, Ala.-based GATR Technologies donated the use of the GATR system for the communications center, which is located at the offices of World Concern, a relief agency operating out of the airport. Dedicated phone lines are providing telephone service for the relief agencies, facilitating the distribution of emergency supplies to the millions affected by the quake. The center also allows wireless communications, Skype, voice-over-Internet protocol and email.

“The earthquake destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and communication problems have so hampered relief efforts,” said MAF President John Boyd. “The GATR satellite and communications center is greatly facilitating the distribution of aid to the injured, homeless and suffering in Haiti.

“Logistics and coordination that MAF is providing to the emergency relief effort is crucial to saving lives, especially in these early days following the Haiti earthquake and later as rebuilding begins,” Boyd said.

For the first time since the earthquake struck, MAF pilots in Haiti have resumed flights using the ministry’s three aircraft. MAF flights bring desperately needed relief supplies to outlying towns and return to Port-au-Prince with internationals that had been working in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating the country.

The United States Air Force, which controls the Port-au-Prince airport, is sending many humanitarian cargo flights to the MAF hangar there. MAF is helping planes refuel and clear cargo through Haitian customs, as well as unload the cargo into the MAF hangar, ready for distribution.

MAF missionaries’ homes sustained little damage and are housing relief workers from many agencies. Other MAF and relief staff are sleeping on cots in the ministry’s hangar. Cargo shipping containers are serving as offices.

Incorporated in 2004, GATR Technologies (www.gatr.com) provides deployable satellite solutions, including a patented inflatable antenna, advanced material research and development, and custom engineering services to military, broadcast and public safety markets.

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Last Sunday I headed out to KBBN radio station for church outside of Mt Hagen with Nick and his family. Nick works in aviation stores with MAF and is a good friend. He lives in a village about 10-15 minutes drive out of town. The church is heading out on the other side of town on the old highway, about five minutes drive out of town. So normally Nick and his family have some distance to walk from their village to catch a PMV to town and then catch a PMV from town out to church. I have been there several times now and have been trying to visit again with them since the New Year.

1. The Family - Janet, Megia, Kamima, Celima & Nick (I love Nick’s hat, put on just for the photo)

After picking up Nick and his family we headed out to the KBBN radio station where Bible Fruit Baptist Church is located. The church has very good teaching and a friendly congregation. The Pastor and his family are from America have just returned to PNG, so it was good to finally meet them. The service normally breaks up into groups for Sunday school before getting back together for the main service. I always feel old since I have to go to the youth’s group being a yangpela man (youth, single man). It was a good service and good to visit the church, but refreshing to be out of town.

2. The girls

After the service we headed back into town to buy some supplies for belo kaikai (lunch time). After buying food and drink plus some ice cream we headed out to Nick’s village Kolcop. Normally I would drop them off but this would first time to have lunch together at his village. As usual sausages were the go and Nick started to get a fire going while Janet prepared the food. I asked what I could do, I wasn’t asked to do anything except to sit down and relax. In the meantime while talking with Nick, we just entertained the three girls. Megia (nickname Maggie) is the youngest of the three at one and a half. She is a lot of fun, entertaining and very cute. She is hard to understand at times and has been scared of me at times ever since she was a few months old. She wouldn’t let me hold her. She called me Aunty instead of Uncle, haha.

3. Nick getting the fire going

After cooking lunch outside on an open fire we ate inside Nick’s house. It was a good feed and we stori (talk, share stories). Nick has had a few hard weeks out in the village. Again Megia was like a TV set, creating entertainment for all of us. One thing was Nick would growl and she would run away towards Janet. At first she wasn’t sure if it was me or Nick doing the growling. But she would run away screaming with laughter. After while I thought I should do some filming of the family. Afterwards I showed it to them and was a big thing for them. Megia recognised herself, the girls really loved it.

4. Megia finishing off the coke

After a while it was almost five o’clock so it was time to start to depart. When saying goodbye Megia for the first time walked up to me and shaked my hand to everyone’s amazement. It was a really good day of fellowship with Nick’s family and good time out in his village. For our friendship to grow more outside of work and with his family too.

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MAF Coordinates Delivery of Vital Aid to Devastated Haiti

1. Photo from the MAF US website

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) hangar at Port-au-Prince’s small international airport is playing a vital role in facilitating dozens of relief flights into devastated Haiti that otherwise would be turned away.

As the airport was having difficulty accommodating all the aircraft trying to enter Haiti, MAF workers approached Air Force controllers to offer logistics support as well as space at MAF’s hangar, said John Woodberry, MAF manager of disaster response and security. As a result, the many more relief flights are now arriving at Port-au-Prince’s otherwise maxed-out airport.

The MAF hangar has become crucially important to the work of major international relief ministries. It is serving as a cargo warehouse for Operation Blessing, Baptist Haiti Mission, Samaritan’s Purse and others. It also has become a key logistics support base for Operation Blessing and Samaritan’s Purse, both of which have staff sleeping at the MAF hangar to support and manage their relief operations and coordinate trucks that pick up relief for distribution.

* Saturday alone MAF facilitated 69 passengers and 20,000 pounds of relief supplies, beginning the arrival of a flight carrying 23 relief workers from World Vision, the Mennonite Central Committee, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and others. Relief supplies handled included food, tarps, blankets, hygiene kits, water treatment systems, and medical equipment and supplies. These planes then departed Haiti with 43 evacuated children and short-term missionaries that had arrived before the earthquake struck.

* Also Saturday, MAF aircraft began relief flights within Haiti, evacuating a U.S. work team that was stranded in the town on Hinche, 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince. This group from Richmond, Virginia, had arrived in Haiti on January 7. MAF pilots Mark Williams and Will White flew the group to Cap Haitian and helped them find a place to stay before the team departed for the U.S.

* Sunday morning flights into Port-au-Prince from the U.S. brought medical and surgical teams and medical supplies to the MAF facility.

* Much emergency relief cargo arrives in Haiti not designated for delivery to a certain group. MAF has been asked to coordinate getting it to the most worthy organizations.

* MAF pilots and planes will continue relief flights within Haiti, transporting relief supplies, relief workers, and medical teams to remote areas.

To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the “Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund.” Donations can be made by clicking here.

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MAF Disaster Team Ramps Up Relief Efforts in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The MAF presence in the devastated nation of Haiti has transitioned into full disaster response mode, as the team began working with Samaritan’s Purse to provide relief to the suffering people.

1. Relieve arriving (photo taken from the MAF US website)

“MAF has been ministering in Haiti since 1986. We know the country, the culture and the language,” said John Boyd, MAF president. “This experience and knowledge will be invaluable to groups coming to Haiti to help. What’s more, MAF will continue to minister here in the months and years following this disaster.”

John Woodberry, MAF manager of disaster response, arrived in Port-au-Prince Friday afternoon to aid in the ministry’s relief efforts. MAF is ramping up its assistance to aid agencies by coordinating the storage, distribution, and transportation of food, water and medical supplies, as well as tarps and water purification systems.

“Our first priority is to establish a reliable communication structure, which will allow us to more effectively collaborate with aid groups trying to bring relief supplies to the people of Haiti,” Boyd said. MAF will install a GATR Technologies inflatable satellite terminal at the Port-au-Prince airport, which will provide reliable internet and wireless data connectivity, including VOIP (internet telephone service), to aid organizations.

In past disaster situations, including the Indonesian Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Felix and Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and the Haitian hurricanes of 2008, MAF provided communications systems, delivered relief supplies, transported medical teams and assisted humanitarian organizations in reaching people and areas that have been otherwise cut off from assistance.

Woodberry also reported the following from Haiti:

* Wives and children of the seven MAF missionary families have been evacuated to Florida for counseling and debriefing.

* MAF is committed to providing assistance to the families of Haitian national staff members, as well as to the communities in which they live. Of immediate concern is ensuring that aid goes where it should.

* MAF is ramping up efforts to assist aid agencies, networking with relief agencies such as Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision.

* A Samaritan’s Purse DC-6 has finally arrived carrying 25,000 lbs of relief supplies. The MAF hangar at the Port-au-Prince airport is being used as a logistics point for this flight and will likely be similarly used for other flights.

* Although small aircraft are still not allowed to fly out of Port-au-Prince, MAF continues to ready its fleet to contribute to the relief efforts.

* MAF staff housing is being used to accommodate MAF staff as well as relief workers from other agencies.

The situation in the already poverty-stricken nation is heartbreaking. And the needs seem overwhelming. Thousands are dead, and thousands more are suffering from injuries following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that stuck Jan. 12. Millions of people who survived the quake in Port-au-Prince are now suffering without food, water or shelter. Fear remains high that already desperate people will turn to violence.

To view photos from Haiti, click here.

How You Can Help:

“We are touched and encouraged by the hundreds of supporters who have contacted MAF to offer their prayers and assistance,” said John Boyd, MAF president. “We are grateful to God for this overwhelming show of love.”

To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the “Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund.” Donations can be made by clicking here.

Many have also inquired about volunteering to assist MAF in the relief efforts. Currently, MAF is unable to bring volunteers into Haiti. There may be a later need for those with specific technical skills in logistics and communications, coupled with disaster response experience. Watch the MAF website for more information.

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One Indigenous MAF Worker Feared Dead Following Earthquake

NAMPA, Idaho (Jan. 14, 2010) - One indigenous MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) worker is feared dead and two are missing following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, but none of the ministry’s missionary staff in Haiti were injured, according to Ron Wismer, crisis team manager at MAF headquarters here.

MAF is withdrawing its non-essential staff and dependents from Haiti, Wismer said. A team of key staff members will remain to coordinate relief efforts. MAF has sent ministry directors to Haiti to assess the needs and set up the ministry’s response.

“We are grateful to God for his protection of our missionary staff,” said John Boyd, MAF president. “We do not yet know the exact status of all of our Haitian staff members, and ask for your prayers for them and for all the people of Haiti during this time of great sorrow.”

To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the “Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund.” MAF expects to work with other relief agencies as they begin providing disaster assistance.

Disaster response is an MAF area of expertise. After an initial needs assessment is completed, Wismer said the ministry will coordinate logistics and provide air transportation for aid agencies working within Haiti. In times of disaster, MAF often takes government and relief officials on flights to survey and assess damage and develop a response plan.

Casualties of the quake, Haiti’s worst in more than two centuries, may run into the tens of thousands, relief sources estimate.

Wismer said that the MAF hangar and airplanes were undamaged in the 7.0 quake, which flattened entire neighborhoods of wealthy and poor alike. But because the earthquake’s epicenter and heart of the devastation was in the capital, Port-au-Prince, none of the planes in MAF’s fleet of three aircraft have been used.

Missionary staff homes sustained only moderate damage. One home’s security wall collapsed on two sides, Wismer said. Missionaries, however, have slept on porches and outside their homes in the past two nights because of ongoing danger of aftershocks.

Haiti’s communications infrastructure sustained severe damage. Cellular phone service is sporadic. Some staff members’ homes are equipped with VSAT internet connections. “Skype works if you can find somebody with an Internet connection,” Wismer said.

MAF has served the missionary community and the people of Haiti since 1986. Currently, seven MAF missionary families, seven national staff members, and three aircraft serve 16 airstrips from a base of operations in Port-au-Prince. MAF also has one email hub in Port-au-Prince, supporting six clients.

To enable the work and maximize the effectiveness of Christian workers and agencies, MAF provides missionaries, medical staff and community development workers the means of ministering to the people of Haiti through light air transportation services, communications networks and distance education.

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Christmas 2009 would not be my first Christmas away from Sydney. But it would be my first away from family and friends. A few months out people had started planning and talking what they were doing for Christmas. Some went home to family, others holidaying in country and others getting together with other missionary families. One thing I knew I didn’t want to spend Christmas in Mt Hagen. I could of possibly return to Sydney, but due to saving leave and travelling back later in the year for furlough it wasn’t an option. I knew I wanted to get out of the highlands and get to the coast. Timon was heading overseas to visit his parents for Christmas, so that left Brandon and I. Wewak was not an option, but Madang was. I took five days without pay and would get twelve days off over Christmas and New Year. Seven nights would be spent in Madang.

1. Rempe a great place for snorkelling, Karkar island in the background

We planned to leave Hagen on the 23rd of December, but due to bad weather around PNG our flight was cancelled. Which was sort of good as it meant Brandon could get what he needed done at work and I could go to the carols night with the other MAF families in Hagen that night. Which leading up to then didn’t seem like Christmas. But spending the night together and celebrating together and focusing on it made it feel like Christmas. We left Hagen Christmas Eve afternoon and made it safely to Madang.

We ended up staying in three different places during our six nights in Madang. A Pioneers Bible Translation house, Jais Aben and the Madang resort. We were able to rent the MAF vehicle over Christmas and another mission’s vehicle later on. Besides just chilling out by the water, swimming and eating out, we went snorkelling on some coral reefs, went back to Maloo beach (black sand beach), kayaking around Krangket Island, caught up with some friends from SIL who were on holidays.

2. The track through the airfield

One of my highlights of the trip was finally getting to do something that I had wanted to do ever since POC. That was to find an old WW2 Japanese airfield and an old bomber. I had heard about it from some people and then read about it in lonely planet book I just recently got. I got directions from different locals and in the end finally worked out what road to take off the highway. The previous day I had not succeeded, so Sunday morning I took the MAF hilux out by myself to find this old bomber. I first drove to an old catholic mission that was close to the turn off to make sure I had the right directions and how far up the track. Once leaving the station I headed back to the highway and then took the dirt track.

3. A bomb crater filled with water, one of many

There were tracks like this all the way along the highway, so it could be any one of them. The grass was quite high and the track was not driven on much. The grass was so high that I could not see beyond it. I continued for a while and after a little while I found an old aircraft engine sitting on the side of the track. No one was around at all, I had a look around and couldn’t see anything. I continued along the track thinking that if I can’t turn around I will have to reverse all the way back along this track, some of it being a bit boggy. As I continued I kept coming across fresh tracks through the grass, so I would get out and follow them in my thongs, but nothing was there. When I stood up on top of the hilux I could see small swamps around which were bomb craters filled with water. I was not sure what to expect if I would find the old bomber or not, how much of it was still remaining and where exactly it was.

I continued to follow the track and kept stopping to check out fresh clearings in the long grass. I got to the end of the over grown airfield where there were now trees. Maybe the bomber was in there. I got to the end of the track where I could not continue in the hilux and was able to turn it around. I found a few tracks and found the freshest one. I followed it into the jungle and keep walking for 30 to 40 m and there through the trees was a clearing with a bomber sitting there. It was quite a shock just to see it there after spending sometime looking for it.

4. Japanese Bomber (believed to be a Nakajima KI-49 Donryu - “Helen”)

After checking it out and taking some photos. I decided to have more of a look around in the jungle, as I had heard the airstrip was destroyed by bombing. So there were plenty of bomb craters around and maybe more aircraft. I headed down another fresh track, but as soon as I got close to a bomb crater I was attacked literally by a swarm of mosquitos. I ran along the muddy track back to the clearing. Grabbed my rid out of my bag and started to bath in it. It kept them at bay, but they all sat on my shirt like flies. I went back down the trial and had a look, but decided to head back as it was close to lunch time. When I got back to the clearing, I headed down what I thought was the track I came in on. But after walking some of it realised it wasn’t taking me where I needed to go. I knew the direction I needed to go, but couldn’t find the tack I came in on. After some searching I found it and got out of the jungle. Hopped in the Hilux and drove back to the highway and then back to the resort for lunch. There were other things to try and find and see, Like  the Japanese WW2 strategic command at Amron and the early missionary cementary. But with the time remaining I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon by the water as it was our last day at Jais Aben Resort.

5. A bush strip we stopped at to drop off passengers on our return to Mt Hagen (it’s not a flat strip)

It was a really good time in Madang, my first holiday in PNG. I had gone there to escape things of PNG, but was unsuccessful. Despite the mishaps where we stayed, it was still a good and relaxing time. I didn’t get to do everything I would of liked. Like visiting my wasfamili and other sights, but I am grateful for God’s provision for our time in Madang and celebrating Christmas in PNG for the first time.

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This year i would really like to see this blog used more to share stories of people in PNG and MAF. In saying that it is hard due to how time consuming it can be. I first heard of the big Earthquake in Haiti Wednesday night and since then I haven’t heard too much about it except how the MAF program has been affected by the disaster. MAF US operates the MAF program in Haiti with seven missionary families and some national staff. All seven families are accounted for and have been evacuated except for essential staff members. Sadly one national staff member is presumed dead. I would like to post stories from their website over the next week despite being old news, to update what has been happening. Please pray for them during this difficult time as they try to minister and take part in the relief effort. Also for the national staff  that have been affected and the people of Haiti. Please find the story below and others at the MAF US website.

1. Homes in a Port-pu-Prince neighborhood (photo taken by MAF Aircraft Engineer Todd Edgerton)

Massive Earthquake Hits Haiti

All MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) missionary staff in Haiti are uninjured following a devastating earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter scale.

“We are grateful to God for his protection of our missionary staff,” said John Boyd, MAF president and CEO. “We do not yet know the status of our Haitian staff members, and ask for your prayers for all the people of Haiti during this time of great sorrow.”

Thousands of people are believed to be dead, and tens of thousands may have lost their homes. Much of the infrastructure in Haiti has been damaged, making travel and communication difficult. Food is in short supply.

MAF has served the missionary community and the people of Haiti since 1986. Seven MAF missionary families and seven Haitian staff members with three aircraft fly to 16 remote airstrips from a base of operations in Port-au-Prince. Government aid agencies, non-profit disaster relief organizations and others traditionally look to MAF for substantial assistance.

According to initial reports, some MAF homes may have sustained damage. MAF personnel have not been able to assess any damage that may have occurred to the ministry facilities at the airport.

To respond, MAF has set up the Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund. To make your gift, click here. MAF expects to work with other relief agencies as they begin providing disaster assistance.

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