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!
