The Smythes @ MAF

MAF Airvan - P2-MEW, Papua New Guinea

MAF has been flying into remote jungle areas of Papua New Guinea for 60 years. P2-MEW is one of MAF’s GA8 Airvans based in Papua New Guinea. It is the newest aircraft – a turbo charged airvan – to be based in PNG.

These were the first 4 days of MEW’s service in the Western Province in Papua New Guinea. Not all days are quite this action packed, but you can see that in the course of only 4 days with MEW we were able to provide an invaluable ministry to national pastors, teachers, and health workers, missionaries, and save the lives 4 four people in serious need. Thank you for your gift of P2-MEW it has already made a difference in the lives of many here in PNG and will serve countless more through the course of its life here in PNG.

18/06/11

Loaded up all of my family in MEW and headed to Rumginae to provide a week of coverage in the area for a pilot on leave. After the trip to Rumginae I headed back to Muluma airstrip to bring another mother with a retained placenta to the Rumginae hospital. This young mom had had and lost the baby 3 days earlier and was still bleeding. She had been carried for 4 hours to get to the airstrip that afternoon. As we loaded her on the aircraft we noted that in addition to the problem of blood loss she also had a fever from the toxins in her body. I flew her and her husband 55 minutes to Rumginae Hospital. The doctors at Rumginae commented to me that they were glad I had brought her in she was in very bad shape and would probably not have lasted much more than another day in the bush. The trip to the hospital by ground would have required over a week of trekking and crossed two major rivers that terrify even able body travelers. It was a relief to see her husband at the aircraft a few days later reporting that she was well and looking for a flight home.

19/06/11

Matthew Scheurich was speared in the chest by two arrows after stepping in to protect his girlfriend from a tribesman

Enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon at Rumginae when a radio call came in for a medivac from at Suabi. A French anthropologist and her boyfriend from New Zealand were studying in the area and he had been attacked. The initial report was that he had been stabbed, had lost a lot of blood and was having a lot of trouble breathing. I readied the aircraft for the 45 minute flight as Dr Daniel and Dr Sharon from the Rumginae Mission Hospital boarded the aircraft with their medical equipment. Upon arrival at Suabi we found the young man had been speared in both lungs and in the stomach as well as having been beaten in the head with a rock. As the doctors assessed him and stabilized him for the flight I provided the aircraft oxygen tank and pilots oxygen mask from the plane to help him breath for the 50 minute flight to the Kiunga Hospital. We left Suabi with two doctors, the anthropologist, the patient on a stretcher and one more empty seat to spare, had we needed it. By Gods grace there were doctors, surgeons, a pilot, and a capable aircraft all in the right place to save this young man’s life that day. The doctors commented on the way home that evening that, had we been an hour or two later he would likely not have been alive.

20/06/11

I flew 3 pastors and their wives from Rumginae to Obo, the pastors and their wives had just completed a course on marriage with about 50 other couples. At Obo there was another patient in bad shape. The day before this young mother who lived about 5 hours up river from Obo had successfully delivered a baby, but it’s twin was still stuck inside and refused to come out. With no other options she canoed 5 hrs down river to the Obo aid post. The community health workers at the Obo aid post could do little to help her, so called for the aircraft to take her to Rumginae Hospital for surgery. Upon arriving at Rumginae doctors spent over seven hours in surgery to remove the unborn baby and repair the damage inside.

Drs Daniel Priest and Sharon Brandon from Rumginae tend to Matthew Scheurich

As the doctors worked on her I flew another plane load of pastors and their wives (who had completed the same course at Rumginae) to their villages at Suabi and Hesalibi. As I left Rumginae I was advised by the doctor that a lady had been bit by a death adder (snake) at Hesalibi. As he had been unable to get radio contact with the community since the initial report that morning, Doctor Daniel said “examine the patient when you get there and if she shows any signs of envenomation bring her in”. As I flew from Suabi to Hesalibi I was relieved to hear via radio from Rumginae that the patient was doing much better and I would not be required to bring her into the hospital, or examine her for symptoms of envenomation.

After Hesalibi I picked up Sr. Missionaries Tom and Salome Howey from Mogalu to Kiunga where they would depart on an international flight for Australia the next morning. With them I also carried 4 Papua New Guinean teachers and health workers who were headed out to Kiunga for supplies for the next term at the remote school at Mogulu.

Nick Swalm

MAF Pilot – Papua New Guinea