By Jeanelle Reider

You wouldn’t know it by Mama Celestine’s face.

As she enters her immaculate 7×10 foot mud hut, an infant strapped to her back, her serene smile warms up the room.

You wouldn’t know it from Papa Mambo either. He follows his wife into their home, ducking under the low tarp roof. His gentle voice fills the space with peace.

Their visitor glances at the bright-colored clothes strung along the wall and thinks, “There’s beauty here.”

You would never guess the ashes from which it rose. 

Violence comes near

In February of 2018, ash filled the skies near the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Violence—fueled by a tangled mix of motivations—had once again visited the people. Scores were driven into the bush as their villages burned.

In the weeks that followed, thousands of people made their way to the city of Bunia, where makeshift camps sprang up overnight.

They arrived heartbroken, destitute, maimed.

As torrential downpours drenched the survivors, they stretched tarps over sticks anchored in oozing mud and wondered where their next bite of food would come from.

In the village of Nyankunde—an eight-minute MAF airplane flight away—staff serving in MAF’s East DRC program began raising funds to purchase and deliver food, firewood, and other essentials for the internally displaced people (IDPs). MAF chaplain Pastor Bisoke oversaw the buying of food and organized local church members to cook meals, while the team visited and brought encouragement.

Much of this was out of their comfort zone. And they questioned how effective MAF’s small efforts could be in the face of such overwhelming need.

But Pastor Bisoke distilled it down to this: “My heart is here with these vulnerable people. I want to suffer with them. I want to cry with them. This is the work God is sending me to do.”

God had brought the need into MAF’s “back yard.” What else could they do?

Still breathing

In the months that followed, town after town in the northeastern regions of Ituri and North Kivu succumbed to the onslaught of brutality.

Tché was one of those towns. Caught up in a wave of local massacres that began in June 2019, its houses were burned. Its health clinic was destroyed. Its people were mercilessly killed in a frenzied torrent of guns, knives, and machetes.

One day, Mama Celestine found herself lying among the dead.

Through a translator, she told her story. “They cut my arm. I collapsed among the dead people. Then when people came to bury the dead bodies, they found out that I was really not dead. They took me to the hospital, and they removed the arm that had been cut.”

Mama Celestine, Papa Mambo, and their five children eventually made it to one of the IDP camps in Bunia.

More than a stopgap

By the time Mama Celestine and her family arrived, a lot had changed in MAF’s ministry to the IDPs.

Pastor Bisoke and his MAF co-workers had hired sewing teachers and started a sewing class for women desperate for hope and a means to support their families. Through the generosity of U.S. churches and compassionate donors, MAF had purchased fabric, supplies, and sewing machines.

Seeing that no one else was addressing the trauma of the IDPs, they had also hired counselors to help minister to the emotional and spiritual needs of those traumatized by unimaginable atrocities. And they had built a wood-and-tin-roof building for the sewing and counseling activities.

Though humanitarian organizations had eventually stepped in to meet basic needs, MAF continued to provide supplemental food for malnourished children and pregnant women as well as simple medications to dispense through some of the counselors.

What had begun as a stopgap measure was starting to grow into a robust ministry in three separate camps in Bunia.

Forcing its way in

In the spring of 2021, the violence that had stormed into MAF’s “back yard” three years earlier now forced its way into the “house.”

On April 16, fighting broke out between the DRC military and local militia near the MAF base in Nyankunde. MAF pilots spent the next three days flying planeloads of expat missionary families and others to safety in Bunia. Then, MAF evacuated its own team as well.

Some of MAF’s Congolese staff—along with most of the 25,000 residents of Nyankunde—had already fled into the bush or to nearby villages.  A few of the men courageously elected to stay in Nyankunde after the evacuation to help protect MAF property and be a presence of hope for the few villagers who remained.

Over the next few weeks, MAF made the difficult decision to relocate indefinitely to Bunia.

The Lord had kept all of our Congolese co-workers safe from physical harm, but many of them grieved the loss of crops and household belongings—besides the emotional trauma of having to process yet another occasion of violence, threats, and uncertainties that had continued since a horrific attack on Nyankunde in 2002.

The stories they could tell

Each displaced person who enters the camps in Bunia brings a story with them.

Some stories whisper God’s power and grace strong and clear above the mayhem of violence from which they’ve emerged:

• Murefu, whose 13-year-old son was shot and killed after an attack on his village, is now a respected leader of one of the smaller communities into which his camp is divided.
• Mama Vive steadfastly continues with the Lord after losing her husband, mother, and children in an attack on her home town. She credits her mental and emotional healing to the ministry of the MAF sewing class.
• Then there’s the ex-militia camp liaison who had a radical conversion to Christ and now, through the mentorship of Pastor Bisoke, is training to become a pastor.

Other stories still await God’s intervention. Desperate women who have turned to prostitution, stuck in a Catch-22 between self-preservation and self-respect. The vengeful who have stopped believing in a just God. The raped and abused cowering in fear.

The power of lament

With little formal education and an abundance of faith, the counselors—many of whom process tragedies of their own—willingly minister to each person God puts before them.

The trauma they seek to address is multilayered and complicated.

Annaliese Jacobsson, daughter-in-law of MAF’s East DRC program director Dave Jacobsson and his wife, Donna, traveled to the DRC in February. While there, she visited all three IDP camps where MAF is serving.

Annaliese has a master’s degree in social work, with a minor in refugee studies. Most of her clients in the U.S. are experiencing either complex trauma or short-term trauma.

She cites research that shows that trauma in IDP and refugee camps is not only past, it’s also current. People are not always welcome in their new community. Ethnic conflicts are still alive and well, even inside the camps. Women and girls who must venture far from their homes to find a bathroom and privacy are at risk for sexual violence.

Then there’s the social reality of family breakdown and domestic violence as people expend monumental effort simply staying alive.

During her visit, Annaliese presented a two-day trauma-focused training for the MAF counselors, sewing teachers, camp liaisons, and others. Her goal was to give them tools both for their work with the IDPs and for their own healing.

Part of the training focused on how to allow oneself to feel the pain while also being anchored in the love of God and in community.

Annaliese explained, “As Christians we have the practice of lament for a reason. The Psalms and Job and Jesus’ story give us really beautiful roadmaps on how to feel these things well, without being consumed by them to the point of despair.”

When asked what she would like readers of FlightWatch to understand, she answered that it can be very difficult for the western culture to sit in pain—it makes us uncomfortable. She hopes that people will “just remember. Remember that the conflict in Congo is not over.”

God of justice

Throughout the crisis, MAF staff have sought ways to creatively and compassionately demonstrate to those in distress, “We see you. We grieve with you. We look to Jesus with you.”

In December, MAF staff member Sheryl Strietzel shared information from Christian psychologist David Riddell’s “Living Wisdom” course during the IDP workers’ monthly retreat.

The group was reminded that, though life may not be fair and just, God is just. He sees, and He will vindicate. They absorbed the truth that cycles of retaliation can only be stopped when we see perpetrators of evil as victims held captive by Satan’s lies, and that only knowing the Truth (Jesus) can set them free.

These are difficult concepts for any wronged person to assimilate. How much more so for those who have experienced violence beyond what most of us can fathom?

Yet those who attended received the teaching with tender hearts. They left deeply encouraged and invited Sheryl to return for future presentations.

Can you see it?

Mama Celestine thanks her visitor, Sheryl, for coming to her home.

She stands up from the bench and, with her good arm, deftly tightens the ties around her baby. With the other, she props him in place.

She walks through the door and out into the sunlight, down the dirt road, past a circle of boys juggling a ball on the backs of their hands. She greets a young woman washing a garment in a metal bucket.

At a building marked “MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP,” she stops. Even before she enters, she hears the happy banter.

Inside, women sit on wooden benches crocheting hunter green trim on white cloth swatches. Others pull bright-colored fabric through hand-cranked sewing machines.

The women make room for her, and Mama Celestine sees it on every face: Beauty, rising from ashes.

#

Story appeared in the FlightWatch Vol. 3 (summer) 2022 issue:

The post Out of the Ashes appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Natalie Holsten

Just over a week after a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked southwestern Haiti, MAF pilot Eric Fagerland landed in the town of Jérémie with a load of relief supplies.

As Eric prepared to unload the plane, Mark Stockeland of Haiti Bible Mission grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed to a group of injured people waiting nearby. Mark, a frequent user and close friend of MAF, was coordinating relief efforts in the area.

“They’ve been lying there for hours,” said Mark. “They just don’t have a way to get out. Can you do something about that?” Eric recalled.

Eric looked at the patients, some wearing rudimentary bandages and makeshift splints. He hadn’t prepared to do a medical evacuation flight that day, but after making a call to another partner organization in Port-au-Prince that agreed to accept the patients, Eric made the necessary adjustments to transport the patients to the hospital.

“It stands out as a neat example of being there and available to get these people out,” Eric shared later.

In the midst of challenging times in the Caribbean nation, MAF continues to make a difference in Haiti with flights like these.

Mounting Challenges

The August 14 earthquake, which caused the death of over 2,200 people, came on the heels of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, political instability, and widespread criminal gang activity. “It was like a pressure cooker,” Eric said.

Historically, Haiti has been a go-to destination for short-term mission groups. Its proximity to the U.S. and abundant need has made Haiti an ideal location for those looking to be involved in overseas ministry.

MAF Haiti country director David Carwell said MAF has traditionally flown numerous short-term mission groups, but with the current instability, many of those workers aren’t coming.

“For those who do come, flying is essential for their safety. The main road connecting the capital to the southern peninsula has been very treacherous or essentially cut off at times because of kidnappings taking place in gang territory. Because of that, we have begun to fly for some ministries that in the past always went by road.”

Many of the mission organizations that have stayed in Haiti are able to do so only because MAF is providing flights for them now that land travel in many parts of the country is not possible due to gang activity.

This “air bridge” service is vital, and it’s not just missionaries that are using MAF, but also Haitians seeking to find a safe way over gang territory.

“We have made connections with more Haitian diaspora that are visiting Haiti to visit family, and many appreciate our service to help make their visit possible,” David said.

Even with the increased demand for flights, MAF leadership faced the ever-constant need to evaluate the security situation, which limited mobility within the capital where MAF staff live, and was compounded by a fuel crisis.

Eventually, as conditions in Haiti continued to deteriorate last fall, MAF leadership made the decision to move spouses and children back to the U.S. while a rotation of pilots, mechanics, and other staff allowed MAF to keep providing its flight services.

Serving in Hard Places

Like many MAF missionaries around the world, Eric and his wife, Lynette, have had to grapple with serving in a volatile place. To an outsider, it may seem like foolishness to send families to countries where there are external threats.

But according to MAF’s global disaster and security response director (name withheld for security reasons), a love for Jesus and desire to see others come to know Him compels the ministry to serve in difficult places. “The question, ‘Is it safe for our staff?’ is balanced with the organizational call and mission to bringing help, hope, and healing in hard places,” he said.

Eric and Lynette believe MAF equipped them well for these uncertain times, with classes on security and helping them develop a theology of risk. “MAF does an amazing job of prepping us for what we’re going into,” Lynette said. “We are well-trained, well-prepared.”

Eric and Lynette face an additional challenge of having a young adult daughter, Erika, who has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism spectrum disorder, which has made her transition to life apart from her parents difficult.

“The idea of risk is not new to us,” Eric shared. “We go into this ministry prayerfully, with open hands, and also with the situation with Erika and how she’s going to get established in the U.S. You walk forward, you pray, you keep your hands open. And we say, if we’re being stupid, God, show us, close doors.

“But for now, in our personal lives with Erika and in the program with Haiti, it doesn’t appear that God’s moving in a different direction. The need is still there and it’s something that we can still meet.”

Eric is currently in Haiti, with the hopes that this spring, Erika will be well enough established that Lynette can join him on a more permanent basis. They are hopeful about the coming months and look forward to settling into their home to Haiti again, along with the rest of their team that has been uprooted.

For Eric and Lynette, as they move forward into the uncertainty of 2022, they are excited to see how God will work. “I come up with these themes each year,” Lynette said. “Our latest theme is ‘setbacks are set-ups for God to do the miraculous.’ And that’s what I keep coming back to because in our lives, every time I say, it’s impossible, God has made a way.”

An Opportunity for Growth

David Carwell also sees that while the instability in Haiti and exit of some mission and aid groups have left numerous Haitian ministries without international support, it presents the national church with the opportunity to grow in leadership capacity.

“While many programs are suffering or not the same as before, it has given nationals the opportunity to step up and take more leadership and ownership,” David said. “I feel like we have a ton of potential, in terms of MAF specifically, but also the church in Haiti. I think that we need an increased call to prayer, committing our program to Him, and as we delight in Him, we can fully trust Him with the results.”

Would you join us in prayer for Haiti? Pray for the protection of our staff, the ministry of MAF, and the growth of the Haitian church.

This story appeared in the Vol. 2 2022 edition of FlightWatch. Read the entire issue here:

The post Persevering in hard places appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

As most of you have heard, on August 14, devastation struck Haiti in the form of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has leveled hospitals, homes, and businesses.

Over 2,200 people have died with many thousands of families left homeless. With the assassination of the Haitian president in July, a new government is attempting to deal with this tragedy.

MAF has been bringing the hope of Jesus and help for physical needs to the people of Haiti since 1986. When a massive earthquake struck in 2010, and Hurricane Matthew hit the island in 2016, MAF responded with their airplanes, partnering with many to help people in need.

MAF airplanes once again took to the sky the day the earthquake struck, delivering medical teams and supplies where major damage was experienced. Return flights have evacuated the injured to Port-au-Prince. Even nine days later, some of the injured finally made it to an airstrip from the countryside, with injuries that included a broken back, broken arms, head trauma, and broken legs. Some had newer injuries from unsafe structures collapsing on them.

While MAF continues to serve the needs of the Haitian people with compassion and the love of Jesus, we need your help. Will you please pray?

• Pray that shelter, food, water, and medical care reaches those who need it most.
• Lift up our staff who are putting in long hours with difficult decisions to make. Pray that they may be strengthened so they can continue to help those in need.
• Pray for the Haitian survivors as they deal with their trauma and daily needs.

Thank you for partnering with us through prayer.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

The post Pray for Haiti appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

“We were blessed to serve those suffering from extensive wind damage, flooding, and landslides that affected hundreds of thousands of people. Homes were gone, crops destroyed, and livelihoods lost in many areas,” said John Woodberry, Mission Aviation Fellowship’s director of global disaster response.

A few members of MAF U.S.’s disaster response surge team were already on the ground in Guatemala to bring relief after Hurricane Eta hit Central America on November 3. They worked with MAF affiliate AGAPE to deliver family food packs, provide evacuation flights, and fly a search and rescue team into an area destroyed by landslides.

As Hurricane Iota approached, the MAF team hunkered down in Honduras and waited for it to pass. Then they were in the air again, conducting aerial surveys in Honduras and the border areas of Nicaragua to assess the damage.

One destructive hurricane is hard enough to imagine, but a second hitting two weeks later in the same region . . .  There are no words for the desperation that 5.5 million people are experiencing, 400,000 of whom have been displaced from their homes. Many have lost everything.

Friends of MAF had compassion and gave toward the MAF Hurricanes Eta and Iota Disaster Response, for which we’re so grateful. You cared about “the very least of these” and enabled MAF to deploy a Kodiak aircraft from its headquarters in Nampa, ID, to Nicaragua, to further aid in the response. Here are a few examples of what your gifts contributed to:

• One flight for eight Nicaraguan pastors enabled them to train 63 local pastors in trauma counseling.
• Another flight carried 2,000 lbs. of relief packages, including food supplies and clothing.
• Food and supplies were transported to a local orphanage.
• Equipment and supplies were delivered to a local fire station.
• Medical personnel and equipment were flown, plus malaria medications, and other medicine.
• Five flights for the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, delivering over 7,000 lbs. of water filters, basic relief packs, and clothing.

The MAF DR surge team finished up over the weekend, and finished well—because of you! Thank you to the compassionate, caring friends of MAF, whom God is using to share His love and hope with the lost and hurting.

The post MAF Responds in the Wake of Hurricanes Eta and Iota appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

That Saturday night seemed like any other. It began raining around 5:30 p.m., like it had for many weeks during this extreme rainy season. Even though I had a scary experience with running into some flooding while taking a friend back up to school around 8:30 p.m., I was able to get home and had no idea what other terrors would transpire that night. Our family awoke the next morning to the disturbing news that a severe flash flood and landslide had happened not long after we had gone to bed. Houses had been swept away, and thousands of people were displaced. Those who had lived in the valley behind the school climbed the school hill in search of safety, but many of them had lost family members as well as their homes.

The next week was a blur as our mission community worked hard to care for the needs of the refugees who had fled to the school. Some cooked, some sorted and distributed donated clothing, some cleaned bathrooms. Others from Indonesian churches brought clothing and stayed to help. Several restaurants from the local community brought delicious meals for the refugees. Each time a new group would show up, it made me want to cry. There was something beautiful in their coming to help. It made me feel like we weren’t alone trying to care for the needs of these hundreds of people. God was there. He was sending help. He was sending comfort. He was answering prayer.

As the week went on, I lapsed into doubting God’s goodness. There was so much suffering, so much loss. More stories surfaced each day. How could God allow such suffering? I finally just told Him how I was feeling. I had tried so hard to be strong and to keep a good perspective. But immediately I felt a release. I just needed to be honest about my doubts. And then I could feel Him close to me again, like He actually enjoyed working through my doubts with me. He reminded me that through the hard things and the hard times, we get to see God’s heart. I thought back to all the people who had come to help and bring comfort to the destitute, and I realized I had seen His heart—even through the flood.

The post Beauty in the Flood appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

In this episode, we talk with John Woodberry & Rick Emenaker, members of MAF’s Disaster Response (DR) Team, about how MAF is able to quickly and efficiently respond to a natural disaster or crisis—and be the hands and feet of Jesus to comfort those who are suffering.  We also talk to James McDowell about the partnership MedAir has with MAF, and what it’s like to work together in a disaster response situation.

The post The Disaster Response Team appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

It was heartbreaking to fly over and see people trapped on their rooftops surrounded by floodwater, waving at us, and to know we could do nothing to help them in that moment. My husband Dave, who was flying the Caravan, recounted seeing a man all alone on a grass roof, with kilometers of water all around him, waving madly at the airplane. We shared his geographic coordinates and those of other stranded individuals with our partner, Mercy Air, but their helicopter could only rescue a few at a time.

When we returned to our hotel each night, where we were safe from the elements and could enjoy a hot meal, my mind was haunted by those spending the night on their roofs. One evening it was pouring rain and we got soaking wet running from the building to the car. Despite the heat and humidity, I shivered a little in my wet clothes. I couldn’t fathom what it must be like to spend the night out in the rain, hungry and without shelter, not knowing if help was going to come.

Thankfully, as the days passed the waters began to recede and we were able to transport tents and shelter kits to Beira to be used by those who had lost their homes. We partnered with Mercy Air to help do food drops from their helicopter. Aid organizations arrived to deliver food and medical care. It was a chaotic mess and yet comforting to see so many people coming together to help.

It will no doubt be a long-term recovery, with all the crops and structures that have been destroyed. Please remember to continue to pray for, and support if you can, the people of Mozambique.

The post Processing Cyclone Idai appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Thank you for making it possible for MAF to respond to the people of Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. We’re grateful for your partnership! Our crew has been busy on the ground and in the air these past few days.

Members of the MAF Mozambique team and disaster response (DR) staff, continue to do aerial survey flights for the many government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) joining the relief efforts. World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, World Food Program, and Red Cross are just a few that have arrived on the scene.

“A week ago today when we arrived in Beira there were only a dozen or so people,” reports MAF’s Jill Holmes. “Today, there are hundreds involved in the response. At this morning’s briefing meeting they announced that the UN has classified this response as a system-wide response, meaning it is their top priority crisis.”

One of the main roads between Beira and Chimoio is now open, and some aid can be moved by road and boat. But aircraft are still needed for areas that remain unreachable by road.

MAF is transporting food, as well as tents and “family kits,” while partner Mercy Air continues to do food drops of high-energy biscuits from their helicopter.

Rick Emenaker, a member of the MAF DR team, accompanied Mercy Air on one of its flights. He reports seeing a small camp set up at a farm on the north bank of the river. But on the south side, people were cut off.

Rick learned that the farm had lost 45 of its workers in the flooding. “They have been using a boat to rescue people and deliver aid, and today was the first day the boat was able to access the south side. One lady with a newborn baby had been stuck on the south.

“The farmers are anxious to get seed because they believe if they can plant within the next two weeks (still rainy season), they can still get a crop and prevent further food security issues in the future,” added Rick.

MAF’s ability to be there for people suffering because of Cyclone Idai is only possible because of generous donors like you. We can’t thank you enough!

Here are the flights you made possible through March 24:

MAF Flights
MAF flights: 31
Flight hours: 26.8
Passengers: 107

MAF-Assisted Mercy Air Flights
Mercy Air flights: 22
Flight hours: 16.5
Passengers: 67

Here’s a quick update on our team in Papua, Indonesia and the clean-up efforts there.

People are starting to dig out after the floods and landslides that devastated many in Sentani, Papua. The city water system is down and MAF has been taking a truck around with a 1,100-liter water tank, filling up containers and storage tanks for our local employees and their neighbors as well as for different mission agencies and the local church. We’ve also passed out several Filter of Hope water filters at various locations around Sentani.

Many of our local staff have been helping others dig out homes that have been buried, in some cases with over four feet of sand and mud! This is being done completely by hand and is a painstaking process.

There is a big need for cooking fuel and MAF staff members have been working on getting and distributing that. In the meantime, MAF has supplied about 100 liters of AVTUR (jet fuel) that can also be used in stoves.

Here’s how you can be praying for our staff and those affected by these natural disasters:

• [In Mozambique] Cholera and other diseases are starting to be a concern. Please pray that the people in the area will be protected.
• Pray that people will be able to plant soon to prevent long-term food insecurity.
• Pray that people won’t have to be long in temporary camps or shelters but will be able to return to their homes soon.
• Pray for the fortitude of our teams (in both locations).
• Pray for the local staff families in Sentani, some of whom experienced a great deal of trauma.
• Pray that the hearts of unbelievers will be drawn to Christ through the outpouring of love and help being shown by the body of Christ.

Thank you for your partnership with us to bring help and the love of Jesus to those who have lost so much. We appreciate you!

The post Bringing Hope to the Suffering appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

According to Mike Brown, MAF program manager in Papua, “Roads are getting cleared, but there are long waits to go just a few miles. The death toll I’m hearing is between 50 and 80 right now, but that will probably be rising. We are getting reports that at least five of our national staff have had flood damage to their houses. Some with a couple feet of mud inside their homes. Several others with just a bit of water that started to come into that house.”

“Today was a great team effort by all the mission orgs and the national church here in Sentani,” said Mike. “It was awesome to see our staff and their kids jumping in and helping out in any way they could. A lot of people in the community received shelter and food in their time of need. Christ’s love was shown by our MAF team and the mission community as they served tirelessly from early morning to well into the evening.” 

MAF Disaster Response funds will be available to address some of the immediate needs that the MAF team and community are facing.

MAF’s Linda Ringenberg wrote, “There are around 300 or so refugees who have been staying at the school gym since last night, and many more who have been staying at the Wycliffe complex where we hold church. Both areas have been quite busy today caring for the wounded, giving clothes to those who needed them and feeding them breakfast, lunch and dinner … The government, churches, and even local restaurants all were at the school today evaluating needs and bringing boxes of donated clothing, food, and other supplies for the people. Many of these people have lost loved ones, and tonight our school official has authorized the authorities to bring up the bodies of those who have been found from the local neighborhood to have a wake tonight and a mass funeral service tomorrow before they are buried. It is very sobering to see so much loss and sorrow.”

Prayer Requests

• Pray that God would comfort the hearts of all who have lost not only their homes, but their loved ones.
• Pray that God would be glorified as He fills and works through his servants who are providing aid.
• Pray for the whole disaster relief effort to run smoothly, even though there really isn’t one leader, but many working together to care for the needs of these people.
• Pray for the neighboring town of Doyo, where the Adventist Aviation complex is located. Most of their complex and runway and hangar are completely destroyed and many people on that complex lost their homes.

The post Update: Flooding in Sentani, Papua appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Rick Emenaker of the MAF Disaster Response Team reports that the storm did damage, but flooding is the bigger concern.  At least another meter (three feet) of rain is anticipated to fall in the next couple days (18-19 March), adding to the already devastating flooding.

On Saturday, 16 March, MAF did a survey flight and was able to help Mercy Air and INGC deliver two loads (1,400 kg) of rice and flour from Caia to Marromeu. INGC is the Mozambique government disaster response management agency, Instituto Nacional deGestao de Calamidades in Portuguese.

Sunday MAF picked up three INGC officials in Caia and flew them to Beira. A survey flight for INGCis planned for Monday. As the situation evolves, MAF will be working with INGC and other groups to determine how we can best assist.

Here is a situation report from the UN OCHA.

Please pray that the people in the affected areas will be protected from flooding and other danger, and that they will turn to Jesus through this crisis. Pray also for the injured and those who have lost loved ones. Please ask the Lord to protect our MAF team in Mozambique.

The post Cyclone Idai Disaster Response appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.