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January
15, 2010
All MAF missionary staff safe; non-essential
personnel withdrawing |
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Follow Canadian MAF pilot, Jason Krul,
based in Haiti: |
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Personal Reports from MAF Staff in Haiti (updated
Feb. 11)
MAF remains at the center of international rescue, relief and
recovery efforts following the Jan. 12 earthquake that struck
Port-au-Prince. The following are first-hand accounts from the front
lines:
John Woodberry, MAF Disaster
Response/Security Manager:
-
Feb. 8: USAID has seen us moving out cargo from the ramp in
under 24 hours to missions, hospitals and Christian relief
agencies. This government group has approached us about moving
even more. USAID food and other essentials will fly out on the
KODIAKs and also be distributed by the truckload to Operation
Blessing and other partner agencies.
-
Feb. 8: Flight trends into Haiti have moved past the
evacuation flights and rapid influx of passengers. No longer are
swarms of people trying to get in and out. There are still more
passengers than we can fly, but transit between Port-au-Prince
and the United States is becoming a scheduled operation where
passengers book flights for specific days. The Saab airplane of
NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing will fly with us again on Thursday
and Friday. Commercial flights into Haiti are tentatively
planned to resume Feb.18.
-
Feb. 8: The seaport still has only one dock open, creating a
real bottleneck in the flow of relief supplies.
-
Feb. 7: While the MAF team was taking a much-needed break to
watch the Super Bowl, recovery crews arrived at the airport.
They were bringing the body of a US citizen who died in a
collapsed hotel. The protocol and respect for the body was
moving to watch.
-
Feb. 6: I was awakened at 4 a.m. by the sound of the MAF/MFI
forklift running around the yard. It was James, our amazing
forklift guy. The US military has given us five pallets of rice
and other goods that we will transport to outlying areas on
KODIAK flights.
-
Feb. 6: In less than three weeks of the MAF Haiti earthquake
relief effort, we have flown around 2,500 passengers and 500,000
lbs of cargo.
-
Feb. 6: A Southern Baptist team from the Dominican Republic
is in one of the large tents in our logistics yard. The team is
building family-sized 15-gallon water filters. They have brought
in and distributed 4,500 so far. There is great need for clean
water.
-
Feb. 6: Both KODIAKs are loaded and ready to fly out early
tomorrow morning. The morning will start at 6 a.m. with a C-130
that will arrive with 46,000 lbs of food, tents, medical
supplies and other essential items.
-
Feb. 6: I received an e-mail from a Boeing 707 captain who
sent us pizza: “You have no idea what a blessing it was to see
the MAF staff at the Port-au-Prince airport this week. I hope
the pizza found your folks well! It's the least I could do, you
all deserve so much. Keep up the good work. My spirit leaped
when I talked to Will White yesterday. I know the LORD is
working through you all in Haiti. Please continue spreading the
Word through all that you do, and know that you have prayer
partners in my wife Shannon and I.
Jason Krul, Pilot, MAF Haiti:
-
Feb. 6: This afternoon I coordinated several KODIAK relief
flights bringing much-needed food and water purification systems
to outlying villages. One flight was bound for a region called
Anse Rouge, which was suffering severe drought prior to the
earthquake. We loaded the plane full of 100 water purification
systems and around 1100 lbs of rice and beans for Anse Rouge.
While organizing the flight, I tried unsuccessfully to contact
missionaries Judy and Manis Lemuel whose mission compound is
near the airstrip. Lemuel Ministries is involved in many vital
programs including community development, environmental
improvement, youth outreach, feeding programs, and church and
spiritual growth projects. Once we landed in Anse Rouge, we were
immediately met by the Lemuel family! They were stunned to
discover what we had brought them. Judy and Ginger cried for joy
and couldn’t stop thanking MAF for remembering them. They told
us water was obtained by sending boys by donkey 1.5 hours each
way to draw from a river. They were overjoyed as we showed them
how the water purification systems work. What a rich blessing to
serve this mission community!
David Carwell, Pilot/Mechanic, MAF Haiti:
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Feb. 6: Years ago, I took a helicopter ride to survey a site
in Fond de Blanc for missionary Jean Thomas, who leased land to
build an airstrip. But we had many problems getting approval for
landing there as the process involved much politics. The project
had been at a standstill for years but praise God that flights
have begun on this airstrip.
We have heard from Pastor Labady that this area needs food. Many
refugees and wounded from Port-au-Prince have relocated there. I
pray that the opening of this airstrip will assist Jean Thomas
and those who are doing the work of the Lord, bringing physical
and spiritual life in that area.
Frantz Angus, Administrator, Double Harvest,
Haiti:
Fred Wall, Missionary, Word for the World
Baptist Ministries:
-
Feb. 6: The manna you sent us is definitely an answer to
prayer. We have been trying to find ways to get nourishing foods
to people in need, to buy rice, beans and oil needed and pay to
transport it. Our income is limited. Then you called. We are
just overjoyed at God’s goodness. Thanks for thinking about us.
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MAF, Operation Blessing Working Together for Haiti Relief
Ministries Deliver Aid, Get Medical Help to Quake Victims
NAMPA, Idaho—02-04-10—For years, MAF (Mission Aviation
Fellowship) and Operation Blessing (OBI) have served together in
disaster zones around the world. Now, once again, MAF is
assisting the Virginia Beach, Va.-based evangelical relief
ministry’s efforts following one of the worst earthquakes to hit
the Western hemisphere.
Relief cargo from around the world arrived at the Port-au-Prince
airport soon after a 7.0 earthquake struck Haitian capital
Port-au-Prince Jan. 12. MAF assumed a central role in receiving
disaster supplies at the overwhelmed airport. Operation Blessing
initially used the MAF hangar at the Port-au-Prince airport as a
key logistics support center and its base of operations. The
relief ministry is a major provider of foods, medicines,
supplies and doctors to disaster victims in Haiti.
Additionally, Operation Blessing used MAF's facility as a
warehouse, and its team members slept in the hangar at night.
Each day trucks picked up Operation Blessing cargo for
distribution. Operation Blessing has used the MAF GATR
communications satellite to transmit and receive data files
vital to supporting its work in Haiti. Because many roads
throughout the country are difficult or impossible to use, and
access to Haiti is extremely difficult following the devastating
earthquake, MAF serves as an essential airbridge of relief for
Operation Blessing and other ministries until Haiti's port is
completely repaired.
Bill Horan"The synergy that results from the confluence of our
mutual efforts has saved many lives and alleviated suffering in
the lives of countless disaster victims," wrote Bill Horan,
president and chief operating officer of Operation Blessing, in
a letter to John Woodberry, MAF disaster response/security
Manager. "In the current Haiti earthquake disaster, MAF has been
on the front lines from day one and provided priceless strategic
support for OBI in our efforts to help the people of Haiti." The
Operation Blessing letter may be found here.
MAF and Operation Blessing also worked together following the
2004 tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia, and, more recently several
smaller quakes in the same area.
"Without (MAF's) help, we really wouldn't be so well positioned
to be able to respond and save lives," said David Darg, director
of international disaster relief for Operation Blessing. "John
Woodberry has also been busy coordinating relief flights from
the US which have contained essential medicines that have been
used by our doctors to treat victims of the quake," he added.
"We are honored to work in partnership with Operation Blessing,
a major player in disaster relief that faithfully assuages
misery with food and medical supplies," said John Boyd, MAF
president.
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Personal Reports from MAF Staff in Haiti (updated
Jan. 29)
MAF remains at the center of international rescue, relief and
recovery efforts following the Jan. 12 earthquake that struck
Port-au-Prince. The following are first-hand accounts from the front
lines:
John Woodberry, MAF Disaster
Response/Security Manager:
-
Jan. 15: We received a call to go to the airport to receive
aid workers, but ran into a traffic jam on a primary
thoroughfare. We detoured on an unfamiliar side street, which
forked. I was about to go left when a motorcycle passed me. Its
rider wore a white medical mask against the stench of death over
Port-au-Prince. He waved me to go right instead. I followed him
through a complex maze of back hill roads. He kept looking back
to make sure we could see him. Finally we came to a familiar
road clear all the rest of the way to the airport. He stopped,
and I waved my thanks. He simply waved back…an angel?
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Jan. 18: The Lord allowed 26 Haitian children from the Three
Angels Orphanage to come home to their American and Canadian
families. Abbey McArthur, director of Homeschooling at Three
Angels, rescued the children and accompanied them on a Hendrick
Motorsports NASCAR team aircraft donated in partnership with
Missionary Flights International (MFI). MAF coordinated
logistics for the MFI flight which carried the orphans to their
new families. The adoptive parents had waited and prayed for six
hours after the quake to hear whether their children had
survived. Some had waited three years for Haitian government
paperwork to release them to their new families. Monday morning
the parents learned that the Haitian government had approved the
adoptions. Through a series of miracles, including free
chartered jet flights, most of the parents arrived outside of
U.S. Customs in Fort Pierce in time to receive their children.
By just after midnight the last set of available parents
received their little one.
-
Jan. 20: We started early with MAF facilitating its first
C130 flight at the general aviation ramp of the Port-au-Prince
airport. The MAF crew unloaded 46,000 pounds of urgent cargo in
one hour. The forklift itself was flown in for our use on the
aircraft and will be used tomorrow on the 6 a.m. DC4 arrival.
The cargo of food, medicines, wheelchairs, and other vitally
needed equipment is right outside the MAF hangar. MAF has been
asked to make sure the cargo goes where is it is needed. A
doctor/surgeon team we had transported on an MAF plane a few
days ago came by as their hospital had run out of supplies. We
helped them load relief we had just received into two trucks for
the hospital. We also distributed food and tents to an orphanage
with 140 children living outside.
-
Jan. 21: The grassy field in front of MAF’s hangar has been
a hive of activity as our facility is the center of operations
for receiving and coordinating delivery to many missions and aid
organizations. Relief continues at a rapid pace. At 7 a.m. we
unloaded our first DC-4 with some 30,000 pounds of medicines,
food, and other relief cargo. At the end of the day, our grass
is almost empty, signifying that life-saving food and medicine
is being supplied to hundreds of thousands of desperate
Haitians. Cargo from a C130, a DC4, and a Cessna Caravan has
been delivered to orphanages, hospitals, and a mission station,
all of which had run out of supplies.
As I write this at 11p.m., our forklift remains in constant use.
It has not stopped hauling medical cargo for Operation Blessing,
covering the grassy field in pallets loaded with provision for
starving Haitians. MAF coordinated 16 flights and around 130
passengers today.
-
Jan. 25: We carried around 200 total passengers today and
handled 35,000 lbs of cargo. Meanwhile the military took 150,000
pounds on more than 100 pallets with MAF painted on all sides to
Miami, where it will be loaded on a freighter. Much of it is
undesignated so MAF will have cargo to help distribute.
Hopefully it will arrive in the next few days.
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Jan. 26: MAF was mentioned in an article posted on ESPN.com.
Hendrick Motorsports, which owns the top three teams in NASCAR,
donated use of three private aircraft that rotate in teams of
two, flying relief personnel and supplies between Haiti and Fort
Pierce, Florida. The Hendrick aircraft have run this shuttle
since shortly after the Jan. 12 earthquake. The article notes
that MAF has provided ground and logistical assistance in the
earthquake rescue, relief and recovery.
Will White, MAF pilot:
-
Jan. 20: Eight missionary doctors were stranded in Les Cayes,
Haiti. On Jan., 19, Mark Williams and I flew in two MAF planes
to pick them up. A Hawker 900 was coming to Haiti to evacuate
them. Via satellite phone I informed the Hawker their passengers
were safely in Port-au-Prince. They were overjoyed with the
service MAF provided them.
-
Jan. 21: MAF released to missionaries Bill and Marylin Fair
emergency food and supplies brought into Haiti via Missionary
Flights International. Here’s what they wrote us:
"We
were able to get supplies from MAF/MFI and gave them to the
hungry Haitians. Among provisions we delivered were six boxes of
food to a woman we know, to deliver to her friends. She started
crying: 'You are a blessing! Beni swa etenel!' Praise the Lord!"
"Thanks to MAF and MFI for working such long hours together.
Because of their dedicated work, we are able to get food,
supplies and tents to people who have lost their homes or cannot
find food. We appreciate the hard work in getting us back home
to Haiti so we can help the Haitian people. Once again we thank
you very much, MAF, for all you are doing."
-
Jan. 21: I was able today to fly more than 2,000 pounds of
food to the island of La Gonave. Because La Gonave receives its
food supply at the beginning of the week from Port au Prince,
these 100,000 islanders have been cut off from food for the past
week.
-
Jan. 21: A mission group that evacuated most of its workers
following the quake contacted me from the United States about
getting food to their people. I flew two plane loads of MFI
relief to them. While it was enough for his staff, it was not
enough for the more than 400 people in his churches. The food
was accepted at the landing strip by the ministry group WISH,
which will distribute it.
-
Jan. 22: This morning MAF was to take a team of doctors to
Pignon, but last night someone called to cancel the flight. I
told the doctors who showed up today at about 9 a.m. that they
would have to wait until after a previously scheduled flight to
Lagonave, an island northwest of Port-au-Prince, with a film
crew and food supplies. We flew back with a team that was
inspecting the Wesleyan hospital for earthquake damage.
When we arrived at La Gonave, mission director Dan Irvine said
he had with him a 9-year-old girl whose feet had been crushed in
the earthquake. Her feet looked like "ground beef," and if
infection set in, it would be quickly fatal. The island hospital
had done all they could. They needed to find an orthopedic
doctor in Port-au-Prince for surgery. I agreed to wait for her
at the plane.
But knowing the huge strain on the field hospitals in
Port-au-Prince, however, I was not hopeful of finding an ortho
unit to operate on the girl. While flying back with her and Dan,
I thought about the doctors waiting for me in Port-au-Prince.
Hadn't they said they were orthopedic surgeons?
I taxied the plane to my parking place where ALL of the doctors
were standing with their supplies. I introduced Dan to the
physicians.
In no time the medical team was examining the girl and making
plans to take her directly to the Pignon hospital. We removed
her from the plane to fuel. The doctors were able to start an IV
and examine her more before I flew three doctors, the girl and
her mother to Pignon. I asked the medical team to let me know
how the surgery went and to follow up about her.
It was so exciting to see how God worked the events of the day
to bring these two groups together. I was humbled to be a part
of it.
-
Jan. 22: Today Mark Williams walked by a police woman we
knew. Yesterday I had given her a tent. Mark said to her, "Take
me to jail so I can get some rest." She replied, "NO, pa bon pou
peyi sa." (“That would not be good for this country.”)
-
Jan. 23: Today we flew the C-206 and C-207 to Jacmel to pick
up doctors and medical workers whom we transported to Port au
Prince. We shuttled medical workers fresh in country from Port
au Prince to the hospital in Pignon.
The exciting news is that the KODIAK has arrived in Haiti. We
unloaded the plane’s cargo that included the two boxes of
supplies collected by a child in Nampa who had been adopted from
a Haitian orphanage four years ago.
The KODIAK was quickly put to work as an air ambulance. Behind
our hangar is a large field hospital run by the University of
Miami. A doctor there asked me if we could transport passengers.
The doctors I had just flown to the Pignon hospital had told me
they could do surgery on closed fractures. Meanwhile, the
doctors at the field hospital specifically said they needed a
place to send people that could do closed-fracture surgery.
Immediately we loaded earthquake victims who needed surgery into
the KODIAK and flew them to the Pignon hospital. We may be
transporting more people to Pignon soon.
-
Jan. 23: Today the KODIAK made a triangle flight to Jacmel
to drop off two people for MedAir and a mission group with cargo
to Lagonave. Earlier today I was contacted by Danita Estrella,
who runs Danita's Children in Ouanaminthe (www.danitaschildren.org).
She was in Port-au-Prince visiting collapsed orphanages
collecting children she could transport to her place in
Northeastern Haiti. She said three children could not go with
the rest by road. One young boy had just had a metal plate put
in his leg (both of his parents were killed in the earthquake),
a young girl had an amputated right arm, and a boy had an
amputated left leg. We loaded the kids and two workers and took
off for Ouanaminthe. Upon arriving in OAN, there was a large
crowd and several staff from Danita's Children to receive the
children. They are now in good hands in a Christian environment.
Without MAF the children would have had a very difficult and
painful overland trip, bumping across the unimproved roads of
Haiti for several hours.
Mark Williams, Program Manager - MAF
Haiti:
From the MAF communications team:
-
Jan. 19: We received an urgent appeal from the UN Disaster
Assistance and Coordination (UNDAC) for use of MAF’s inflatable
GATR VSAT communications system to aid Search and Rescue (SAR)
groups. In response, the GATR system was relocated.
Among groups the GATR is assisting is Instead, which receives
SMS messages from Haitians and aid workers in the streets. These
messages are encoded onto electronic maps for UNDAC, which sends
relief or SAR teams. Also using the GATR is MapAction, a team
that creates maps during emergencies to help coordinate relief
efforts. MapAction’s high-resolution imagery is too large for
the group’s own VSAT to handle efficiently, so they requested
extra bandwidth through the MAF GATR. Maps show where SAR teams
have already cleared buildings, as well as field medical
hospital locations, collapsed bridges and obstructed roads.
MapAction daily distributes maps pinpointing vital areas of
need, to relief groups.
-
Jan. 20: The GATR is up and running at the UNDAC area where
satellite images are guiding plans for the transition from
rescue to relief. We plan on being stationed in the UN compound
for several days until the UN’s own systems can be flown in. We
hope we can then move back to the World Concern office to assist
with the "internet cafe" for other NGOs. An additional GATR is
set to arrive.
-
Jan. 20: While setting up the GATR communications system,
our MapAction contact came by, distraught. One of his staff
members who had previously worked at an orphanage just learned
the orphanage building had collapsed, killing everyone inside.
David Darg, Director of International Disaster
Relief, Operation Blessing:
-
Jan. 18: Our base is at the Mission Aviation Fellowship
hangar at the Port-au-Prince airport. MAF’s Disaster Relief
Director John Woodberry has kindly allowed Operation Blessing to
set up tents and use their infrastructure, including water and
electricity. Without their partnership, we wouldn’t be so well
positioned to respond and save lives. John has coordinated
relief flights of essential medicines used by our doctors to
treat victims.
-
Jan. 18: This morning our team left the airport for an OB
clinic set up at the soccer stadium. Each time we exit the
airport we find more people desperate for help gathered at the
gates. Port-au-Prince’s narrow streets are strewn with crushed
cars and collapsed buildings. On our way we encountered a tree
branch roadblock manned by Haitians desperate for food. Our
interpreter explained we only had medical supplies. The Haitians
pulled back the branches and allowed us to proceed.
Karen H. Carr, Director of Community
Coalition for Haiti:
-
Jan. 21: With the help of MAF, CCH's trauma team and medical
supplies are in Jacmel helping heal the injured, hurt and
hopeless. MAF has been a constant source of hope for all of the
relief organizations trying to get supplies and medical
personnel into Haiti. For the Haitians who are suffering and
those bringing help, hearing the MAF flights overhead gives us
more reason to believe that things will recover here and that
more help is on the way. Without MAF, our ministry here to those
in need in Jesus' name would not be possible. For the lives that
have been saved, we owe MAF an eternal debt of gratitude. For
those who will hear and see Jesus touching them through our
medical volunteers and MAF's efforts, our appreciation on their
behalf is infinite.
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MAF Sends New KODIAK Aircraft, Crew to Haiti
Relief Effort
NAMPA, Idaho – MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) has
deployed a new KODIAK airplane and four crew members to join its
fleet of three aircraft already serving the relief effort following
the massive earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12.
The deployment marks the first-ever use of this
specially designed airplane in disaster relief work.
Following a brief dedication ceremony yesterday
afternoon, the KODIAK took off on its 3,000-mile, 18-hour flight to
Haiti.
The KODIAK, which can carry more cargo and
passengers than the Cessna planes currently in use in Haiti, will
support the MAF relief efforts.
The KODIAK runs on jet fuel, which
is more readily available than costly aviation gasoline, or "avgas,"
which fuels Cessna’s and is in short supply in Haiti.
"The KODIAK is the next-generation bush plane and is
made for such a time as this," said John Boyd, president of MAF-US.
"It can land on short, unpaved airstrips to get essential
humanitarian help to its destination quickly and safely in the
absence of viable roads. The KODIAK will greatly expand our ability
to quickly take aid where it is most needed."
This deployment of its finest aircraft is the latest
MAF response to the tragedy that has claimed some 200,000 lives and
damaged most of the buildings in the capital city of Port-au-Prince .
Disaster response has been an MAF area of expertise
for more than 60 years. In past disasters, including the Indonesian
Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Felix and Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and the
Haitian hurricanes of 2008, MAF provided communications systems,
delivered relief supplies, transported medical teams and assisted
humanitarian organizations in reaching people and areas that had
been otherwise cut off from assistance.
MAF flights bring desperately needed relief supplies
to outlying towns and return to Port-au-Prince with expatriates who
had been working in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating
the country.
MAF, which has been serving in Haiti for 23 years,
has set up a Port-au-Prince communications center connected to a
GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth
communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups.
The ministry is also helping coordinate the arrival and distribution
of relief through its hangar at the airport. This service is
valuable to relief organization as MAF staff know the country, the
culture and the language.
"With the help of MAF, CCH's trauma team and medical
supplies are in Jacmel helping heal the injured, hurt and hopeless,"
said Karen H. Carr, director of Community Coalition for Haiti. "MAF
has been a constant source of hope for all of the relief
organizations trying to get supplies and medical personnel into
Haiti. For the Haitians who are suffering and those bringing help,
hearing the MAF flights overhead gives us more reason to believe
that things will recover here and that more help is on the way.
"Without MAF, our ministry here to those in need in
Jesus' name would not be possible," Carr said. "For the lives that
have been saved, we owe MAF an eternal debt of gratitude. For those
who will hear and see Jesus touching them through our medical
volunteers and MAF's efforts, our appreciation on their behalf is
infinite."
The cargo aboard the KODIAK included two boxes of
aid collected by 9-year-old Moise Salois of Nampa, Idaho. Young
Moise, adopted from an orphanage in Haiti four years ago, still has
two brothers and a grandmother living in Haiti. Among items Moise
sent to Haiti on the MAF flight were medical supplies, infant
formula, food and clothing.
Additionally, MAF is partnering with Hands of Hope
and World Concern to provide relief supplies to Haiti. Among items
collected for distribution in Haiti are food such as Power Bars,
peanut butter and cooking oil; medical supplies including surgical
gloves and orthopedic braces and splints; and other supplies such as
blankets, solar-powered flashlights, large tarps, nylon rope and
bungee cords.
This aircraft is the fourth MAF KODIAK. Three others
are already serving overseas in remote areas.
The KODIAK is manufactured by Quest Aircraft Co. of
Sandpoint, Idaho, which was founded to provide rugged, backcountry
aircraft for remote operations for mission aviation organizations
around the world.
Over the next few years, MAF will place 18 KODIAKS into service,
replacing many of its Cessna 206s. Because this revolutionary
aircraft can carry nearly twice the cargo of the Cessna 206, which
makes up most of MAF’s fleet, the amount of medicine, food and
disaster relief supplies MAF delivers at half the cost per cargo
pound.
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MAF Sends New KODIAK Aircraft, Crew to Haiti
Relief Effort
NAMPA, Idaho – MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) has
deployed a new KODIAK airplane and four crew members to join its
fleet of three aircraft already serving the relief effort following
the massive earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12.
The deployment marks the first-ever use of this
specially designed airplane in disaster relief work.
Following a brief dedication ceremony yesterday
afternoon, the KODIAK took off on its 3,000-mile, 18-hour flight to
Haiti.
The KODIAK, which can carry more cargo and
passengers than the Cessna planes currently in use in Haiti, will
support the MAF relief efforts.
The KODIAK runs on jet fuel, which
is more readily available than costly aviation gasoline, or "avgas,"
which fuels Cessna’s and is in short supply in Haiti.
"The KODIAK is the next-generation bush plane and is
made for such a time as this," said John Boyd, president of MAF-US.
"It can land on short, unpaved airstrips to get essential
humanitarian help to its destination quickly and safely in the
absence of viable roads. The KODIAK will greatly expand our ability
to quickly take aid where it is most needed."
This deployment of its finest aircraft is the latest
MAF response to the tragedy that has claimed some 200,000 lives and
damaged most of the buildings in the capital city of Port-au-Prince .
Disaster response has been an MAF area of expertise
for more than 60 years. In past disasters, including the Indonesian
Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Felix and Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and the
Haitian hurricanes of 2008, MAF provided communications systems,
delivered relief supplies, transported medical teams and assisted
humanitarian organizations in reaching people and areas that had
been otherwise cut off from assistance.
MAF flights bring desperately needed relief supplies
to outlying towns and return to Port-au-Prince with expatriates who
had been working in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating
the country.
MAF, which has been serving in Haiti for 23 years,
has set up a Port-au-Prince communications center connected to a
GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth
communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups.
The ministry is also helping coordinate the arrival and distribution
of relief through its hangar at the airport. This service is
valuable to relief organization as MAF staff know the country, the
culture and the language.
"With the help of MAF, CCH's trauma team and medical
supplies are in Jacmel helping heal the injured, hurt and hopeless,"
said Karen H. Carr, director of Community Coalition for Haiti. "MAF
has been a constant source of hope for all of the relief
organizations trying to get supplies and medical personnel into
Haiti. For the Haitians who are suffering and those bringing help,
hearing the MAF flights overhead gives us more reason to believe
that things will recover here and that more help is on the way.
"Without MAF, our ministry here to those in need in
Jesus' name would not be possible," Carr said. "For the lives that
have been saved, we owe MAF an eternal debt of gratitude. For those
who will hear and see Jesus touching them through our medical
volunteers and MAF's efforts, our appreciation on their behalf is
infinite."
The cargo aboard the KODIAK included two boxes of
aid collected by 9-year-old Moise Salois of Nampa, Idaho. Young
Moise, adopted from an orphanage in Haiti four years ago, still has
two brothers and a grandmother living in Haiti. Among items Moise
sent to Haiti on the MAF flight were medical supplies, infant
formula, food and clothing.
Additionally, MAF is partnering with Hands of Hope
and World Concern to provide relief supplies to Haiti. Among items
collected for distribution in Haiti are food such as Power Bars,
peanut butter and cooking oil; medical supplies including surgical
gloves and orthopedic braces and splints; and other supplies such as
blankets, solar-powered flashlights, large tarps, nylon rope and
bungee cords.
This aircraft is the fourth MAF KODIAK. Three others
are already serving overseas in remote areas.
The KODIAK is manufactured by Quest Aircraft Co. of
Sandpoint, Idaho, which was founded to provide rugged, backcountry
aircraft for remote operations for mission aviation organizations
around the world.
Over the next few years, MAF will place 18 KODIAKS into service,
replacing many of its Cessna 206s. Because this revolutionary
aircraft can carry nearly twice the cargo of the Cessna 206, which
makes up most of MAF’s fleet, the amount of medicine, food and
disaster relief supplies MAF delivers at half the cost per cargo
pound.
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January 20, 2010
Although our piston fleet has been doing a number of flights to
outlying areas, the supply of AvGas is a concern. This morning
there was a three-day supply on hand. Denis Haglund will be working
with MFI to try to find a solution.
A
Kodiak was dedicated in Nampa (MAF-US headquarters) at noon today,
and departed shortly after. This Kodiak will later go to Papua
Indonesia, but for now is meeting a critical need in Haiti.
Brian Shepson and Scott Channon will take the Kodiak to
Port-au-Prince, and stay for several weeks to fly it.
Paul
Dukes and Amos L will depart Nampa in the next few hours,
meet Brian and Scott in FL, and go on to Haiti to help with the
Kodiak maintenance.
Dave
Jacobsson is “established” for now in Fort Pierce, FL, to handle
logistics from that end.
Our
guys in Port-au-Prince are asking for mosquito nets and air
mattresses. We have sent what they have asked for. A rotation
is being worked out to relieve those who are currently in Haiti.
We
received an update on our national staff today. One man is
still missing, presumed dead. All others are accounted for. Two
have left for the countryside to be with family. Four others are
coming to the airport daily to help.
Please pray for:
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A safe trip for the Kodiak.
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Rest for our guys in Haiti. Enough breeze to get rid of the
mosquitoes for a few hours so they can sleep.
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A solution to the AvGas problem.
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Wisdom for leadership as decisions are made on how to proceed.
Thanks. Never stop praying.
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MAF opens
critically
important satellite communications centre; facilitating work of relief
agencies hampered by
loss of
local
telecommunications networks
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship)
missionaries have set up a Port-au-Prince airport communications
center connected to a GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly
needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16
international aid groups that have arrived since the Jan. 12 Haiti
earthquake.
Huntsville, Ala.-based GATR Technologies donated the use of the GATR
system for the communications center, which is located at the
offices of World Concern, a relief agency operating out of the
airport. Dedicated phone lines are providing telephone service for
the relief agencies, facilitating the distribution of emergency
supplies to the millions affected by the quake. The center also
allows wireless communications, Skype, voice-over-Internet protocol
and email.
“The
earthquake destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and communication
problems have so hampered relief efforts,” said MAF-US President
John Boyd. “The GATR satellite and communications center is greatly
facilitating the distribution of aid to the injured, homeless and
suffering in Haiti.
“Logistics and coordination that MAF is providing to the emergency
relief effort is crucial to saving lives, especially in these early
days following the Haiti earthquake and later as rebuilding begins,”
Boyd said.
MAF pilots resume Flights since Devastating Quake; bringing aid to outlying
towns
For
the first time since the earthquake struck, MAF pilots in Haiti have
resumed flights using the ministry’s three aircraft. MAF flights
bring desperately needed relief supplies to outlying towns and
return to Port-au-Prince with internationals that had been working
in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating the country.
The
United States Air Force, which controls the Port-au-Prince airport,
is sending many humanitarian cargo flights to the MAF hangar there.
MAF is helping planes refuel and clear cargo through Haitian
customs, as well as unload the cargo into the MAF hangar, ready for
distribution.
MAF
missionaries’ homes sustained little damage and are housing relief
workers from many agencies. Other MAF and relief staff are sleeping
on cots in the ministry’s hangar. Cargo shipping containers are
serving as offices.
Founded in the U.S. in 1945, MAF
missionary teams of aviation, communications, technology and
education specialists overcome barriers in remote areas, transform
lives and build God’s Kingdom by enabling the work of more than
1,000 organizations in isolated areas of the world.
Incorporated in 2004, GATR Technologies (www.gatr.com)
provides deployable satellite solutions, including a patented
inflatable antenna, advanced material research and development, and
custom engineering services to military, broadcast and public safety
markets.
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MAF coordinates delivery of
vital aid to devastated Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The
MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) hangar at Port-au-Prince’s small
international airport is playing a vital role in facilitating dozens
of relief flights into devastated Haiti that otherwise would be
turned away.
As the airport was having
difficulty accommodating all the aircraft trying to enter Haiti, MAF
workers approached Air Force controllers to offer logistics support
as well as space at MAF’s hangar, said John Woodberry, MAF manager
of disaster response and security. As a result, the many more
relief flights are now arriving at Port-au-Prince’s otherwise
maxed-out airport.
The MAF hangar has become crucially
important to the work of major international relief ministries. It
is serving as a cargo warehouse for Operation
Blessing, Baptist Haiti Mission, Samaritan’s Purse and others.
It also has become a key logistics support base for Operation
Blessing and Samaritan's Purse, both of which have staff sleeping at
the MAF hangar to support and manage their relief operations and
coordinate trucks that pick up relief for distribution.
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Saturday alone MAF facilitated
69 passengers and 20,000 pounds of relief supplies, beginning
the arrival of a flight carrying 23 relief workers from World
Vision, the Mennonite Central Committee, Christian Reformed
World Relief Committee and others. Relief supplies handled
included food, tarps, blankets, hygiene kits, water treatment
systems, and medical equipment and supplies. These planes then
departed Haiti with 43 evacuated children and short-term
missionaries that had arrived before the earthquake struck.
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Also Saturday, MAF aircraft
began relief flights within Haiti, evacuating a U.S. work team
that was stranded in the town on Hinche, 60 miles north of
Port-au-Prince. This group from Richmond, Virginia, had arrived
in Haiti on January 7. MAF pilots Mark Williams and Will White
flew the group to Cap Haitian and helped them find a place to
stay before the team departed for the U.S.
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Sunday morning flights into
Port-au-Prince from the U.S. brought medical and surgical teams
and medical supplies to the MAF facility.
Much emergency relief cargo arrives
in Haiti not designated for delivery to a certain group. MAF has
been asked to coordinate getting it to the most worthy
organizations.
MAF pilots and planes will continue
relief flights within Haiti, transporting relief supplies, relief
workers, and medical teams to remote areas. |
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MAF disaster team ramps up relief efforts in Haiti as ministry's
history in Haiti and knowledge of the land, culture and language
invaluable to outside groups bringing aid
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The MAF presence in the devastated
nation of Haiti has transitioned into full disaster response mode,
as the team began working with Samaritan's Purse to provide relief
to the suffering people.
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Ongoing MAF work in Haiti
MAF has served the missionary community and the people of Haiti
since 1986. Presently, five MAF missionary families, nine national
staff members, and four aircraft serve 16 airstrips from a base of
operations in Port-au-Prince.
To enable the work and
maximize the effectiveness of Christian workers and agencies, MAF
provides missionaries, medical staff, and community development
workers the means of ministering to the people of Haiti through
light air transportation services, communications networks, and
distance education.
Evangelism and Church
Nurture
In northwestern Haiti, MAF provides transportation to church leaders
attending intensive three-week training seminars. In the central
plateau, MAF transports missionaries and their supplies to villages
for evangelism. Throughout Haiti, MAF provides secure email
connections Haitian church workers and more than 20 mission
organizations.
Medical Assistance
MAF provides the only air ambulance service and
transportation for dental and medical teams traveling to the central
plateau, serving more than 250,000 people. As needed—usually several
times a week—MAF flies doctors and patients to and from the island
of La Gonave, where one hospital serves more than 100,000 people.
These flights also support World Vision and other agencies.
Without MAF, these travelers would be exposed to the dangers and
delays of frequently rough seas.
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"MAF has been ministering in Haiti since 1986. We know the country,
the culture and the language," said John Boyd, MAF president. "This
experience and knowledge will be invaluable to groups coming to
Haiti to help. What's more, MAF will continue to minister here in
the months and years following this disaster."
John Woodberry, MAF manager of disaster response, arrived in
Port-au-Prince Friday afternoon to aid in the ministry's relief
efforts. MAF is ramping up its assistance to aid agencies by
coordinating the storage, distribution, and transportation of food,
water and medical supplies, as well as tarps and water purification
systems.
"Our first priority is to establish a reliable communication
structure, which will allow us to more effectively collaborate with
aid groups trying to bring relief supplies to the people of Haiti,"
Boyd said. MAF will install a GATR Technologies inflatable satellite
terminal at the Port-au-Prince airport, which will provide reliable
internet and wireless data connectivity, including VOIP (internet
telephone service), to aid organizations.
In past disaster situations, including the Indonesian Tsunami of
2004, Hurricane Felix and Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and the Haitian
hurricanes of 2008, MAF provided communications systems, delivered
relief supplies, transported medical teams and assisted humanitarian
organizations in reaching people and areas that have been otherwise
cut off from assistance.
Woodberry also reported the following from Haiti::
Wives and children of the seven MAF missionary families have been
evacuated to Florida for counselling and debriefing.
MAF is committed to providing assistance to the families of Haitian
national staff members, as well as to the communities in which they
live. Of immediate concern is ensuring that aid goes where it
should.
MAF is ramping up efforts to assist aid agencies, networking with
relief agencies such as Samaritan's Purse and World Vision.
A Samaritan's Purse DC-6 has finally arrived carrying 25,000 lbs of
relief supplies. The MAF hangar at the Port-au-Prince airport is
being used as a logistics point for this flight and will likely be
similarly used for other flights.
Although small aircraft are still not allowed to fly out of
Port-au-Prince, MAF continues to ready its fleet to contribute to
the relief efforts.
MAF staff housing is being used to accommodate MAF staff as well as
relief workers from other agencies.
The situation in the already poverty-stricken nation is
heartbreaking. And the needs seem overwhelming. Thousands are dead,
and thousands more are suffering from injuries following the
devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that stuck Jan. 12. Millions of
people who survived the quake in Port-au-Prince are now suffering
without food, water or shelter. Fear remains high that already
desperate people will turn to violence.
To view photos from Haiti, click
here.
How You Can Help:
"We are touched and encouraged by the hundreds of supporters who
have contacted MAF to offer their prayers and assistance," said John
Boyd, MAF president. "We are grateful to God for this overwhelming
show of love."
To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the "Haiti Disaster and
Recovery Fund." Donations can be made by clicking
here.
Many have also inquired about volunteering to assist MAF in the
relief efforts. Currently, MAF is unable to bring volunteers into
Haiti. There may be a later need for those with specific technical
skills in logistics and communications, coupled with disaster
response experience.
Watch the MAF website for more information.
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All MAF missionary staff safe; non-essential personnel withdrawing
as MAF sets up 'Haiti disaster and recover fund'
NAMPA, Idaho (Jan. 14, 2010) -
MAF is withdrawing its non-essential staff and dependents from
Haiti, Wismer said. A team of key staff members will remain to
coordinate relief efforts. MAF has sent ministry directors to Haiti
to assess the needs and set up the ministry's response.
"We are grateful to God for his protection of our missionary staff,"
said John Boyd, MAF president. "We do not yet know the exact status
of all of our Haitian staff members, and ask for your prayers for
them and for all the people of Haiti during this time of great
sorrow."
To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the "Haiti Disaster and
Recovery Fund." MAF expects to work with other relief agencies as
they begin providing disaster assistance.
Disaster response is an MAF area of expertise. After an initial
needs assessment is completed, Wismer said the ministry will
coordinate logistics and provide air transportation for aid agencies
working within Haiti. In times of disaster, MAF often takes
government and relief officials on flights to survey and assess
damage and develop a response plan.
Casualties of the quake, Haiti's worst in more than two centuries,
may run into the tens of thousands, relief sources estimate.
Wismer said that the MAF hangar and airplanes were undamaged in the
7.0 quake, which flattened entire neighborhoods of wealthy and poor
alike. But because the earthquake's epicenter and heart of the
devastation was in the capital, Port-au-Prince, none of the planes
in MAF's fleet of three aircraft have been used.
Missionary staff homes sustained only moderate damage. One home's
security wall collapsed on two sides, Wismer said. Missionaries,
however, have slept on porches and outside their homes in the past
two nights because of ongoing danger of aftershocks.
Haiti's communications infrastructure sustained severe damage.
Cellular phone service is sporadic. Some staff members' homes are
equipped with VSAT internet connections. "Skype works if you can
find somebody with an Internet connection," Wismer said.
MAF has served the missionary community and the people of Haiti
since 1986. Currently, seven MAF missionary families, seven national
staff members, and three aircraft serve 16 airstrips from a base of
operations in Port-au-Prince. MAF also has one email hub in
Port-au-Prince, supporting six clients.
To enable the work and maximize the effectiveness of Christian
workers and agencies, MAF provides missionaries, medical staff and
community development workers the means of ministering to the people
of Haiti through light air transportation services, communications
networks and distance education.
Founded in the U.S. in 1945, MAF missionary teams of
aviation, communications, technology and education specialists
overcome barriers in remote areas, transform lives and build God's
Kingdom by enabling the work of more than 1,000 organizations in
isolated areas of the world.
With its fleet of over 130 bush aircraft -
including the new KODIAK - MAF serves in 31 countries, with an
average of 101 flights daily across Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin
America. MAF pilots transport missionaries, medical personnel,
medicines and relief supplies, as well as conduct thousands of
emergency medical evacuations in remote areas.
MAF also provides
telecommunications services, such as satellite Internet access,
high-frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems.
To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the "Haiti Disaster and
Recovery Fund." Donations can be made by clicking
here. |
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