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

It has been 42 years since missionaries Phil Masters and Stan Dale were martyred in the Seng valley of Papua, Indonesia, by members of the Yale tribe. Phil’s daughter Crissie Rask is today serving with MAF.

Phil and Stan’s sacrifice helped sow the seeds of the Gospel in that remote area. Those seeds have matured, reproduced and are spreading the Good News from generation to generation, including Kimyal people.

Im really not sure how Matt Preece (MAF engineer, PNG) gets involved in these sort of events, but Im not surprised either!

Here’s a clip he filmed on a recent “adventure” with a group of guys  - including Dan Perrett (did his wife know?) – digging up an unexploded bomb from World War 2 in Papua New Guinea.  Matt’s blog is always interesting – http://mattinpng.com

During a visit to a village at the peak of Cape Wom. We saw many WW2 artifacts, one including a Japanese bomb being dug up.

MAF pilots Dave Forney and Paul College, both based in Kalimantan, Indonesia, have written about there experiences and adventures doing some jungle trekking between villages that they would usually fly between.� Their experiences really affirm the difficulty that isolated people have when travelling in countries like this, which are identical in parts of Papua New Guinea.

From Dave’s blog:

“You might be intersted to know that even now, a month after initially leaving on the trip,

I’m still dealing with weird infections breaking out here and there on my body, as well as a continually painful and swollen knee. The shin no longer seems to be infected, but is lumpy and still quite painful. This all underscores the difficulty of travel the “old-fashioned” way out here in the wilds of Borneo, and the reason why MAF serves the national church at the ends of the earth. It is indeed a very valid ministry, and one that I’m honored and humbled to be a part of!”

read more on Dave’s blog

During World War Two there were plenty of amazing stories from this part of the world.� I read “The Airmen and the Headhunters” which tells the events following a US bomber crew escaping Japanese troops with the help of the local Dayak people, an awesome story which would make a great movie one day.�

There is a TV documentary on PBS which can be viewed here:

http://to.pbs.org/2ToXFi

MAF Australia is offering a�free book to those who would like to receive their fortnightly prayer letter “InFormation”. Simply fill out the�contact form and include your full name and postal address and the title of the book you would like sent to you.

The two books available for this free offer are:

Jungle Pilot:�� Russell Hitt’s missions classic. The history of MAF pilot, Nate Saint, martyred in Ecuador in 1956. A probing account of Nate Saint’s life, and whether his death at the hands of the Waodani (Aucas) had a purpose in God’s plan. Nate’s son, Stephen, helps to answer some of these questions in an epilog he wrote in for this updated edition of the book. Steve verifies Russell Hitt’s thesis that God was indeed glorified by the five martyred missionaries.

	Many Adventures Followed:� Autobiographical account of Roger Young’s experiences.��� Pioneer missionary pilot – tropical jungle – the joys, the trials, the fears, the frustrations, the humour, the horror, forced landings and happy endings, sickness and health, the blessings, the sadness. . . it’s all there. A true story of many challenges, and answered prayer.