Baby Born at 2,000′

“Sixty seconds later I looked back to see a little blue-faced baby passenger lying on the floor”

Date: 6 August, 2001
Jack Sluiter

Ya’ know, it started out like any other day. Up at 5:00 am to get the airplane ready and off the water by 7:30. Everything was going as planned and nothing was going to set this day apart as anything strange or unusual. That was until I called in to our home base at noon. I was sitting in a little jungle village (five or six houses) eating my lunch while I waited for passengers. They were coming by canoe from someplace unknown and would maybe be another hour before they arrived.

So I called Lisa on the radio to update what was happening. When I contacted her, the flight coordinator advised me that there was a medical emergency in Atsakus, another small jungle village (as if there was anything other than small jungle villages around). It happened that there was a women who had been in labor for three days and still had not given birth. They needed to get her to a hospital today or she may not live through the night. Since Atsakus was a river village without a runway, and I was sitting in the only float plane flying in Peru, it dawned on me that I might have to change my schedule.

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First term missionary family adventures

Guyana

Adventure (verb):
1.  an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
2.  an exciting or remarkable experience

There is no question that our family’s first year in Guyana met all of the definitions of the word adventure. By God’s grace we (the Wickwire Family) have come through relatively unscathed.  As for exciting and remarkable, we could write a book, and perhaps almost have if we look back at the stories posted on the website.

So what are some of the highlights and challenges?  Waking up with a rat sitting on the headboard six inches from my head; chasing a snake down the stairs and out of the house with a broom; discovering that by closing our eyes and using our imaginations, a lot of local foods can taste a lot like something familiar at home.  For example: breadfruit fries = French fried potatoes; cooked ripe plantain = apples in oatmeal; soursop = sorbet; whipped coconut milk = whipped cream; dried five finger (starfruit) = raisins and so on.

Making close friends among the local people takes time.  This has been particularly difficult for Jacob and Zack as they interact with the local boys.  We come from such different life experiences and world views. The people are wonderful though; nearly everyone knows us and greets us cheerfully. We struggle to learn everyone’s names or at least recognize who they are.  They assume we remember everyone. I will often get phone calls that start like this: “This is the mother of the girl that fly with you in the yellow plane, she ready to go outback.”  Often it can take quite some time to ascertain who they are talking about, where they are, and where they need to go.

The monthly AWA boat trips 30 miles up the Barima River to the village of Blackwater have been very rewarding. We have watched the villagers become a more cohesive group as they grow in the understanding of the message of salvation. They now meet every Sabbath with the guidance of a resident Bible/health worker we placed there. Just this week we took delivery of a brand new 24-foot dugout canoe that will be used to transport the Bible worker to homes as well as collect people for meetings at the church.

The impact of AWA’s yellow, Cessna 182 airplane on people’s lives has been immeasurable. I would love to post a list of how many lives have been saved, but that is impossible to know. However, this is what we can state for certain: 207 patients were transported to advanced medical care, 63 of which were critical cases where loss of life or limb was probable; 107 Guyana Ministry of Health personnel were taken for clinics, vaccinations or patient care; 131 patients who had completed treatments were returned to as close to their home villages as we could take them. Church workers, ministry and outreach personnel and AWA’s Wings for Humanity staff accounted for 110 seats. In total for the last 12 months (August 2007 to August 2008), we carried 763 passengers on over 450 flights logging just over 400 flight hours, all with one Cessna 182 and two pilots.

One recent case involved a 12 year-old boy named Godfrey Rammit from a village called Red Hill. He had a compound fracture of the radius and ulna, and it is common to see people here with permanent disabilities from fractures that don’t get properly set.  Godfrey was being sent to Georgetown alone. He had never been to the city before and was ill-equipped to deal with getting through the system of complete treatment. Our AWA Guyana Project team was concerned that he could simply fall through the cracks.

Laura LaBore, AWA’s Guyana Project pilot/nurse, asked for permission to send him to Davis Memorial Hospital under Davis Interior Medical Emergency Service (DIMES) program, which provides free treatment for patients from remote communities. The initial attempt to set the fracture was unsuccessful so he had to have surgery to have pins and screws put in place and then a cast.  He spent a few days at the hospital before we could take him back to Mabaruma, where he spent a few weeks hanging around the local hospital very patiently.  We then flew him back to Georgetown where he spent another couple of weeks at the Amerindian Hostel until he was able to get the pins removed. At that time, AWA’s Guyana Project team and its yellow Cessna 182 took him back to Mabaruma where he was able to catch a boat back home. It was a long process, but in the end our team sent a boy back home fully recovered and able to live a normal life with no disability.

After one year in Guyana, we are looking forward to God’s plan for us and his work here.

Short Term Missions Trips – Africa

From the four corners of America to the mysterious reaches of East and Central Africa… Professionals, students, moms, and every variety of church lay-people pack their bags and brave the vaccinations. They come to Africa on a mission.

For some it is a repeat journey, but for most it is the very first time. Their mission is often well planned and clearly defined, but what lies ahead is pretty much unknown. Maybe that’s part of what draws them here each summer, the teams of volunteers, coming to give something of themselves to a land they know very little about. The uncertainty, the apprehension, and lack of control are part of the package. But, even at the onset, there is a suspicion that what a person takes away from two weeks in Africa will be much more than what he leaves behind.

At some point in time, all of the planning and packing comes to a juncture on the ramp at Wilson Airport in Nairobi – as the team circles around the airplane for a group photo, and the bags (minus the three that British Airways sent to Australia) are weighed. The team will gather here bewildered and jet-lagged – so far from home, but so excited for what’s ahead. It’s a mix of joy, fatigue, and some small concern that the pilot for this harrowing flight into the African bush looks like he’s sixteen and just got his pilot’s license yesterday.

As I meet them at the plane, the tool of my ministry, I introduce them to the idea of a pilot who is really a missionary.

We work together to get all the baggage aboard while I entertain questions… “Yes, I’ve been here awhile… I’m actually thirty-three… from New Jersey… Well, I haven’t lived there recently, so that’s why I don’t talk funny. Yes, I’m married… Here’s a picture of my wife and kids. It’s a Cessna… About 700 horsepower. No, the weather won’t be a problem.”

In the process I find out that they are from a church in west Texas, or that they are students from different schools across the country brought together for this trip. I discover that some of them are still a little apprehensive, and I try putting their fears to rest with a confident word and a pre-flight prayer. The copilot seat is then offered up, as a bonus of sorts, to someone in the group who has always wanted to learn to fly, or to the one most unsettled about small airplanes. The front-seater gets a photo at the controls, a headset, and a new friend from north Jersey.

I am optimistic for these new acquaintances and kindred hearts because I know some things that they do not yet know.

For instance, I know that the plane will indeed pick them up in two weeks from the little unreachable corner of Kenya or Sudan that we dropped them off at. And I know that they will most likely come back a different person. They will be appalled, and amazed at what they see there. They will lose some sleep under a mosquito net, imagining every manner of creepy crawling thing in God’s creation. They will sit with lifelong missionaries and discover that they are not all that different from themselves. They will come to love the African people there, and the children will especially capture their hearts. They will cry because of the world that these children grow up in — for the first time in their lives having a picture of “what it means.” What it means to need, what it means to suffer, what it means to fear. They will take a moment sometime in those weeks to examine their own lives and their own faith. And they will inevitably fall short.

After fourteen days or so, the airplane will arrive overhead a mixed blessing. For it is the sound of relief… the sound of a good meal, a hot shower, and a decent night’s rest. But also the signal that this is goodbye. In sweat and time and love they have given everything they had to give. And now they know for sure that they could never give enough. The flight back to the city is different from the one out. My passengers are looking tired. Most are quiet; gazing out the windows, writing in a journal, or fast asleep.

One is up front with me on the headsets again. I query him about the trip and am encouraged. And then I hear him say it – words I have heard so many times, in so many ways… “I come away with so much more than I gave.” I smile and nod and think, “I know what you mean.”

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AIM AIR website: www.aimair.org

New Tribes Aviation to the rescue again

When a Palawano woman’s medical condition was beyond what the missionary clinic could handle they called for a flight to transport the patient to another medical facility.

After missionary pilot Ben Hart landed Wednesday, close to the small remote village in the Philippines, he heard a fascinating story about the couple he was transporting.

While Ben helped the woman and her youngest daughter into the plane he noticed that her husband did not look like a typical mountain person. He looked more like a person from the coastal area.

Asking the missionary about this, Ben was told how the couple met.

Her husband of many years is a former rebel from another area. During one of his raids on a village in years past, he spotted a girl and attacked her, smashing her mouth with the butt of his rifle and taking out several teeth. He dragged her off into the jungle and she became his prisoner.

The young woman, about 30 years of age, and her husband now have nine children.

As the plane taxied to the other end of the runway, Ben saw that the woman had her eyes covered with the barf bag. He didn’t see her eyes open again until the plane was safely on the ground at their destination.

During the flight he also noticed something that seemed unusual to him.

“Her husband was patting her in a comforting way the whole flight,” Ben wrote. “Well, comforting of some sort. He was thumping her chest with his hand. It seemed ironic to me that this man, in particular, would be showing a public display of comfort to his wife. I have flown out many sick tribal people and have never seen that before.”

This young mother is now scheduled for surgery and Ben believes he will soon be flying her back home to recover.

“Maybe this year she and her husband will be introduced to Jesus,” Ben wrote.

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Story by David Bell (04/09/2009)

New Tribes Website

Gaston Ntambo-National Missionary Pilot-Congo, Africa

Gaston Ntambo is a national missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries (United Methodist Church) assigned to work in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the North Katanga Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Based in Lubumbashi, Gaston serves as a pilot and mechanic with the Wings of the Morning flight ministry.

Gaston shares a rather dramatic story about one of his flights:

“The Wings of the Morning aviation ministry provides vital transportation to many of the hard-to-reach areas of Congo, which is especially important in emergency situations. I believe God is using me as a tool to often reach out and save lives, but there was one time in particular that was especially memorable.

During the recent Congo civil war, I flew to the village of Kafakumba in southern Congo to rescue missionaries stranded there when rebel troops cut off road access.

I didn’t realize when I landed that the rebels had already taken the village, but it didn’t take me long to find out. The aircraft was immediately surrounded by soldiers and I was put under house arrest with the very missionaries I had come to rescue.

The situation was looking very grim and we were seriously wondering if we were going to survive the ordeal.  Two days later, it just “so happened” that a new commanding officer arrived in the village.

Figuring there was nothing to lose, I took a gamble and forced my way out of the house to go appeal to the commander for our release. The commander questioned me sharply to find out just who I was – and then smiled and introduced himself as an uncle who I had never met.

He secured our immediate release and I was able to fly the missionaries out of the war zone to safety.”

This is just one example of the protective cloak the Lord provides over our brotherhood of missionary aviators around the world.

New Tribes Aviation: Halfway Between Somewhere and Nowhere

Two days after Christmas missionary pilot Paul Wilhelmson found himself “halfway between somewhere and nowhere,” waiting in Indonesia for the arrival of a missionary family.

Paul rested in a hotel near the closest available airstrip to the missionaries’ jungle home while the family endured an 11-hour road trip that included mud holes, break downs, walking and pushing their vehicle. The weary family finally arrived after dark.

The trip that took a full day for the family would have been covered in less than ten minutes if the village airstrip had been ready. The family was spared another eight hours on the road by meeting the plane at a “halfway” point.

Please pray that the village airstrip can be completed, and continue to pray for endurance and encouragement for those serving in remote locations.

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This story taken from the New Tribes Missions website.

Africa Inland Missions in Sudan

About a year ago, Franklin Graham, the President of Samaritan’s Purse, decided his organization would rebuild the churches of Sudan that had been destroyed by the radical Muslim government in the North during the twenty year civil war.

They have identified about 500 churches so far. Eleven have been rebuilt and I am currently at the main “factory” where they are mass producing the supplies to build many of these churches. The large generator, planer, table saws, welders, and hammers are working loudly in the background as I type this. However, it is not noise, it is hope.

I was at the reopening of a church nearby. It was packed with smiling, emotional, war-weary Sudanese with hundreds more standing outside; all singing and praising God. It is exciting to be part of such a worthy undertaking.

My aircraft is parked a few miles away at a dirt airstrip. The officials at the strip have just raised the rates and now want $100 per landing and $10 an hour for parking. AIM AIR is being told by many of the places we fly in Sudan that we will now be charged anywhere from $20 to $250 per landing.

Local officials are growing greedy as the central government moves too slowly. There is still a lot of hope here, but it is complicated and the frustrations and hassles of dealing with corruption are unending.

SURGERY IN C.A.R.
A few weeks ago, one of our pilots was flying in Central Africa Republic. He called me on the radio and asked if AIM AIR could absorb a free flight for a sick woman who needed help. I told him to do the flight and we would find the funds. Later, he told me he flew this young woman to a local pastor who had worked with a missionary doctor.
The girl was four months pregnant, but the baby had been dead for at least two weeks inside her. After removing the baby, the doctor had to remove much of her insides as an infection had developed and spread. The pastor told us she died three times on the operating table, but somehow she survived and is now doing well. With few resources, the church here still labors on, miracles happen and they cling to the hope of heaven.

MENINGITIS OUTBREAK
There has been a devastating outbreak of meningitis (an infection of the brain) in a number of areas here in Sudan. The World Health Organization has declared it an epidemic. The disease hits children the hardest and hundreds have died. AIM AIR has scrambled to get seven thousand pounds of medicines to these areas but the stories coming out of the villages have been heartbreaking.

It is so bad in some places that, after one of our pilots landed, the personnel on the ground didn’t even wait to get the meds back to the village. They pulled the medicine off the aircraft, ripped open the boxes and immediately began giving injections right there at the airstrip.

THE HORRORS OF WAR
In one of the towns hardest hit by meningitis, there lives a woman named Mary. Dr. Dick Bransford, an AIM doctor, told us her story. She returned to her village after serving as a slave in the North. She and her children had been taken captive and when the “master” wanted to give her 10-year-old daughter to an older Arab, she decided to escape with her five children.

The “master” came after her and located her in a grassy field. She sent her three older children on while she moved more slowly with her two smaller ones. The field was intentionally set on fire, and her two younger children were killed. She escaped but had burns on her arms. An AIM hospital was able to help Mary with her burns as her arms were frozen into place by the untreated scar tissue.

VISITORS
In early February, AIM AIR flew former US Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, his wife Karen, Franklin Graham, and several others on an eleven-day tour of Uganda, Sudan, Darfur, Kenya, and Rwanda. They met with heads of State, visited many SP projects, saw first hand the suffering in Darfur and even toured the AIM AIR hangar.

It was encouraging to the team as both Dr. Frist and Franklin spoke highly of what we do and the way in which we make it possible for them to travel so safely and confidently in such remote, insecure areas. It meant a lot. We have flown Dr. Frist about four or five times now, but this was by far the most I have gotten to know him.

I was with Dr. Frist at a mission hospital for a couple days as he performed surgeries. My job one day was to take lots of pictures in the operating room with his little camera.  He said that a few years ago, on a trip to Tenwick Hospital, a mission hospital in Kenya, a conversation he had with a doctor there about HIV/AIDS spawned the idea that eventually led to President Bush designating 15 billion dollars to Africa to fight the disease.

At Tenwick Hospital alone, they currently receive $270,000 a year for AIDS medicine which keeps hundreds of infected people alive. What an encouraging thing to know that AIM AIR had a tiny part in impacting so many lives.

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This story came from the Africa Inland Missions website.

Story by Matt Olson