East Timor

East Timor (or Timor Leste as it is known within the country) is hot and humid, but very beautiful. Formerly a Portuguese colony, later invaded by Indonesia, it is the world’s second youngest country - 10 years old in May. There is a noticeable UN presence, to support this young nation in building government and infrastructure. The UN will withdraw at the end of this year.

The capital, Dili, is located on the northern edge of the country, looking out over calm blue waters that seem to merge with the sky in the absence of any visible horizon. The various islands in the distance seem to just hover in the blue. The city is small and cleaner than many places I’ve been to. Most buildings are one storey high. Amongst the crowds passing along the roadside are individuals carrying a pole over their shoulder, an assortment of produce to sell hanging from either end of the pole, like freshly caught fish strung up with reeds. Elsewhere are market stalls lining the road, with neatly arranged piles of brightly coloured strange shaped vegetables or exotic fruits - purples, reds, greens.

Having landed at about 7am (and only managing an hours sleep while overnight in Darwin airport) the schedule for our time in Timor Leste is packed - we begin interviews with partners at 8:30am. There are numerous NGOs working here, and those who fly with MAF include World Vision, Oxfam, Pradet, and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).

Friday I flew down to Oecusse, a part of the country which is cut off due to it being surrounded by Indonesia in Western Timor. Options to access Oecusse include: a 12 hour boat trip; a long overland drive that requires a lot of paperwork to cross the Indonesian borders; or by air with MAF (or the UN until they pull out of the country). The MAF flight to bring in a RACS plastic surgery team from Adelaide enabled the team to practically immediately hold the pre-operation clinic to review the cases planned for the week ahead, despite them only having arrived in Dili early that morning. 26 operations were planned, mostly cleft palette in children and two women, but there were a couple of limb deformities for surgery too.

In Oecusse I also met with representatives from Caritas. They took me out to the village of Aos Ero where they had been working on a number of projects with the people, including food sustainability and a microfinance. The villagers had been informed of our visit in advance and were all gathered to greet us and present us with gifts – woven scarves – on our arrival. Their warm and generous welcome was humbling, their poverty clearly evident along with their excitement and smiles over our visit. While the majority of their subsistence crops had already been harvested their maize grew high and close to their palm-roofed huts. Underneath the maize they were growing pumpkins as ground cover and food (including the leaves), some of which they sell at the market in town. There was a real sense of pride over what they had been able to achieve with their microfinance programme, the village having a small cooperative bank from which members have been able to take loans to buy a cow, or for assistance with children’s school fees, or to purchase medicines. It is what I love the most about these research trips – meeting people who ultimately benefit from what MAF does; who have so little but who are so welcoming to strangers. But I was also told that our visit meant a lot to the villagers too – that there are people from far away who care about them.

And so I come to the end of another overseas trip. It has been interesting to visit three separate programmes back-to-back, and as a result see such striking differences between the people and the work that MAF does in each. During my trip I’ve been reading Max Meyers’ book ‘Eyes Turned Skywards’ – a great and thought provoking read – to learn a little more about the work of MAF in this region over the past decades. I work for a Christian mission organisation which is motivated by God’s love to help meet the needs of people in isolated places, most often in a very practical way by providing access. It’s an organisation where hi-tech (aviation) meets poverty and basic human need. The role I have seems very small in the grand scheme of things, and staring out of the plane window enroute to Darwin this morning I was considering this – the privilege of meeting so many isolated people, and those that serve them, and wondering why God had given me task. But Max’s book reminds me of the importance of telling the story – the many stories – to inspire others who cannot visit the places but who ultimately fund the work of MAF, many of whom are inspired to help unseen strangers because of the Gospel – the greatest story of good news. God has a plan, and a love for people that cannot be quenched. I am thankful that I have just a small part to play in telling stories too and sharing God’s love with others.

Elcho Island

Yesterday I flew out to Elcho Island. The population on Elcho is about 2,300 and is made up of about 17 different clans, though only 3 of these have homelands on the actual island (i.e. they originate from there). So the small town around the airstrip is called a ‘community’ rather than a homeland. Here, as elsewhere across Arnhem Land, the people are hunter gatherers – obtaining much of their diet from their surrounding environment. But I wouldn’t have guessed this as their homes are not of a traditional design, and look both permanent and quite a good size until you learn that large extended families live in them altogether. I was informed that only one man had a ‘green thumb’ in the community, unusual in that he had a garden where he was growing fruit and vegetables for his family.

I visited one of our partners, CSIS (Co-ordinating Support for Indigenous Scriptures), which comes under the overarching umbrella of the United Church of Australia. Having completed translation of the New Testament in one of the aboriginal languages, the CSIS team is now using it as the source document for translation work into a number of the other indigenous languages in Arnhem Land. But what do you do with the translated work (quite a sizeable book) in a place where a high percentage of the population are illiterate? Recognising the problem, CSIS also has a team – Mary and Sandra - working on ways to share and teach their people, with illustrated and digital resources (many people have mobile phones – a tool for reaching them).

I also visited Lake Evella, another outpost where two MAF families are based. Here I met pilot Daniel Roth’s adopted mother Lucy (actually, she’s just one of his mothers). Daniel has been based there for 6 years and what was lovely to see was the genuine concern and care Lucy had for her adopted son and his family.

Having flown back into Gove, this evening I attended the children’s outreach in Yirkala, facilitated by the MAF ministry team. From experience they have learnt that none of the children arrive until darkness has fallen, so we didn’t rush dinner. Having set things up under a spot light on a grassy area, and with music playing, about 50-60 children appeared and had a load of fun – playing games, tug-of-war, action songs, Bible story and teaching, and a supper of sausages (possibly the only protein they’ll eat in the week), bread and bananas. It was the first time I’ve seen children here really enjoying themselves. I sat talking with Eunice who had brought her grand children along to participate – for her it was really important that they hear about Jesus, and she shared how she and other women in the community gather each week to pray together for their people.

During my time here in Arnhem Land I’ve discovered the term ‘Fourth World’, used in relation to minority populations or sub-cultures existing within a first world country but with a standard of living of a third world population. It is a term that is helping me to realise that in such circumstances, where you find a strong sub-culture existing where another dominant culture has control, there are some unique challenges. There doesn’t appear to be any common ground between the two. For example, for the aborigines attendance at funerals (which can last for days if not weeks) and ceremonies is much more important than work responsibilities. So if there is a funeral within the extended family, an employee will be absent from work for its duration. Then consider how strong, in western society, the work ethic is. You can imagine the potential difficulties that arise when the two meet. It’s been fascinating!

Tomorrow I head off to East Timor. Hopefully there’ll be easy access to internet to share a little of what I see there.

Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia

I am now in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. First impressions: it’s HOT, HOT, HOT and HUMID, and therefore a physically demanding place for MAF pilots to work. Thankfully the MAF houses and offices have air conditioning. The land is pretty much flat – flat, red and covered in thin bush land with spindly trees. A complete contrast to PNG.

The programme in Arnhem Land is presently MAF’s biggest, but it’s quite different to other programmes. Part of this relates to the partnership with Laynha Air – an aboriginal company that owns seven small aircraft to service the Yolŋu homelands (settlements) - MAF pilots fly their planes. There is one MAF plane based at Gove (the programme’s base) and additional MAF planes located at outposts throughout Arnhem Land.

Friday afternoon I flew with a team to Baniyala – a homeland on the edge of the sea, about a 35 minute flight from Gove along the coast. The first thing that strikes me is how small the homeland settlements are – there seem to be only a handful of homes, and Baniyala is one of the bigger ones. As we flew I saw a number of airstrips below. Unlike other programmes, the airstrips don’t service a widely dispersed population – just the small community in the immediate area.

Another noticeable difference is that no crowd gathers to meet the plane upon arrival – no excited children come running – in fact no one at all met us when we landed.

Our visit to Baniyala was to hold an outreach event in the evening, following meetings last year at Christmas and Easter. With two aboriginal Christians from Yirkala (near Gove) the MAF staff provides support with travel, equipment and one pilot speaks for a short while from the front of the meeting. Perhaps more importantly, staff have developed close relationships with the aboriginal Christian leaders seeking to reach their own people with the Gospel, investing time outside their duty hours in Bible study and discipleship. In many places, since earlier missionaries were all expelled in the 1970s, the practice of Christianity has included much of the traditional beliefs so many still live in fear of sorcery and witchcraft. Helping to ensure clarity over what is Biblical teaching and what is not is an important part of what the team does here, and recognition of this side of the role has increased the job satisfaction that many of the staff now have – many pilots joined MAF with the specific desire to be ‘missionary pilots’, and sometimes struggle with the absence of overtly sharing the Gospel in their day to day jobs.

Stephanie Gidney's Research Trip to Papua New Guinea

Check out the latest photos from Stephanie Gidney's research trip in Papua New Guinea.

Stephanie Gidney's Research Trip to Papua New Guinea, a set on Flickr.

Reflections on my time in PNG

My time in PNG is drawing to an end. The last couple of nights have been in Goroka, a town of about 10,000 in the Eastern Province. Part of MAF’s work here is to fly sacks of coffee beans grown in remote villages to the processing plants in Goroka. Coffee is the only cash crop the villagers can grow. There are only two options to transport their harvest to market: walking for a number of days across rugged terrain with 50kg sacks, or MAF. I joined a flight to collect 16 sacks of coffee beans, and spoke with the people about the service. The plane (Twin Otter) had been in the week before and carried out about 2000kg, flying back and forth. In so doing, MAF supports the economy of these communities, enabling people to more easily support their families and earn money to pay for school fees.

Back in Goroka I visited Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship (CRMF), an organization that has served in PNG for about the same time as MAF (six decades), and an important partner for MAF: their radio network has been incredibly valuable for MAF. Each day the different locations report in about the weather and airstrip conditions. With advanced warning of such conditions, in a country where weather can change quickly and dramatically, such communication can save a lot of inconvenience for the pilots (as they can know in advance if conditions aren’t good enough to land in). The main focus of CRMF’s work has been installing and supporting an HF radio, but with developments in technology new opportunities have arisen and they now also provide an IT service. The team is also branching out into providing learning technologies that fit with the aural traditions of the majority of people in the remote communities. With so many expatriate missionaries having left the country, this is potentially a very effective way to support rural pastors and the national church.

Radio communication is essential between the different organizations and with remote communities. Another substantial part of MAF’s flying here are medevacs (medical evacuation flights), and the need for such a flight is usually communicated via the HF radio system. The top two categories (i.e. most numerous) for these are: complications in childbirth and snake bite victims. The impact of these flights – literally saving lives by enabling patients to get to hospital – is clearly evident. During the week there have been at least two medevacs – a lady from Ambunti in labour, and a man in heart failure returning to Telefomin.

The highlight of my visit was staying in Mogoulu with the Hoeys, who I mentioned before. A really lovely couple! What I didn’t previously mention is that the people they have lived among and worked with for over 40 years were formerly cannibals. The government worked hard to end this practice over the past decades, and where people have discovered the love of God the transformation has gone deep. I spoke with a number of the local people, including three women (many speak English), and asked what difference the missionaries had made. One example they shared, quite animated, was that one of them gave birth to twins. In the past this could have been highly dangerous for the woman, as their people weren’t familiar with twins and she would have been considered as having been unfaithful to her husband. Now it is accepted and understood, and she has two beautiful 9 year old daughters.

Afterwards, Tom Hoey explained that in the past it would have been likely that these three women would have still been alive. The people used to believe that when someone became ill it was due to sorcery practiced by women (a weaker form of sorcery compared to that practiced by men, which was associated with people’s deaths). So in the event of sickness a ‘perpetrator’ would be hunted out, killed and eaten. Not surprisingly their lives were full of fear, and they were feared by other tribes (as enemies were treated in a similar way). As I spoke with the people and listened to their stories I was conscious of the emotional challenge of handling what the tradition of these people formerly involved (and I do emphasize formerly) – such an extreme form of violence – with the fact that none of us can fall beyond the reach of God’s love and grace. How easy it is to judge people, particularly when there are vast cultural differences. But of course we are not meant to judge others, and through it condemn them. The individuals I met were gentle and shy, and belong to the same family that I do: we have been given the right to be called children of God.

Arriving and exploring in PNG

It is hard to believe that I am visiting Papua New Guinea (PNG) – a country that I would never have dreamed I’d visit.


After four separate flights, and around 2 full days of travel, I finally arrived in Mount Hagen on Sunday morning.


Mount Hagen is the main base for MAF in PNG. Even here there is a sense of being remote.


Mount Hagen is a small town set on a small plateau surrounded by rugged hills, with the mountains not so far behind. What first strikes me is the lush, vibrant greenery of the vegetation, with splashes of bright red leaves and numerous exotic flowers. Being at 5800ft above sea level the air is fresh, and it’s certainly not as hot as I expected.


Monday I spent at the hangar and MAF offices, meeting the staff and absorbing a whole lot of information about the work here. In the evening I met Tom and Salome Hoey, missionaries to the Bedamuni people for 44 years. When asking them about the difference MAF has made for their work the very first thing Salome listed is that MAF brings the mail – and has done for decades. Salome wasn’t sure she would have lasted for so long without being able to hear from her children.


Communication remains as important today. Every time I do a research trip I hit problems with communicating with people in the UK. Conscious of the cost of phoning long distance (and my mobile has completely died since I arrived in PNG), I rely on skype and email, but there aren’t always internet connections where I’m staying. Even if there are there are frequent down times or the connection is poor. For staff whose children, grand children or elderly parents are overseas, the ability to regularly communicate is still hugely important.


Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were packed full of flying out to remote locations (Kompiam, Ambunti, Wewak, Mougolu, Rumginae, Kiunga, Telefomin, Yenkin) to meet partners and the local people ultimately benefiting from the work here. I have spoken with doctors, patients, teachers, missionaries, villagers, students and a government official. Spontaneously, people are commenting how critical MAF is to their work and lives in incredibly remote locations. There is no road network in the highlands. The only alternative is walking, or if you’re lucky going by canoe for part of a journey if you’re near a river. But the distances are also great - Western Province alone is huge. Looking out of the plane window the dense jungle covering rugged terrain stretches to the horizon in every direction – though stunning in its beauty, it also seems impenetrable with the absence of any visible tracks.


Another thing that is clearly evident is that this programme needs more pilots. A number of partners I have spoken with have spontaneously commented as much. The programme is considerably smaller than it used to be, primarily due to staff shortages.


The pilots I’ve chatted with have a huge sense of job satisfaction – a combination of using their aviation skills to serve God and people in need, with the challenges that come with ‘bush’ flying. So if there are any Christian pilots out there who have been considering mission aviation (or if this is the first time it’s come to mind as an option) – please do contact our HR department to investigate further! We want to hear from you!

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