Urban Cowboys

"Flying the Rocky Mountains is a thrill for anyone. For me, working as a pilot, flying the mountains and valleys of the massive National Parks of Alberta and British Columbia, was a dream come true. ... but our life in Calgary as “urban bush pilots” did not prepare us for the rigours of flying in Papua New Guinea."

Here the full story by Canadian MAF-pilot Michael Dupuis (who was the TC flight examiner for some of my students during our time at Prairie) as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Wopasali sandwiched between ridges

A Week's Flying

Monday (Map 1)
2 SIL missionaries and 1 teacher fly from Kiunga to Yehebi. The missionaries will be teaching a new course on the subject of „Teaching the Bible in an oral culture“.
3 nurses return to Rumginae after a vaccination campaign in Mougulu. 1 teacher is travelling with them to Kiunga.
2 patients and 2 guardians (relatives accompanying patients in order to support them during their stay at the hospital) return to their village near Honinabi after being treated in Rumginae. / A pastor from Honinabi and one from Suabi travel together with their wives to Yehebi to participate in the above mentioned course from SIL.  / 2 teachers fly from Suabi to Kiunga.

Map 1

Tuesday (Map 2, white route)
A patient returns from Rumginae to his village near Hesalibi. As the hospital is unable to help him any further, he returns home to die. A teacher flies from Kiunga to Somokopa.
The family of a Community Health Worker (CHW) return to Kiunga as he is being transferred to another Health Post. / 2 walk-on passengers would like to travel from Hesalibi to Dodomona. As this was not in the original plan, I do not have enough fuel to take them that far. However, I can take them to Fuma cutting their travel time in half (from 4 to 2 days). / A medical student from Ireland on an internship returns from an outstation visit in Fuma back to Rumginae. / I pick up 2 teachers at Suabi and drop them in Kiunga.
With the last round, high school students, general passengers, and cargo is brought to Debepari and a similar load back.

Thursday (Map 2, blue route)
1 medical student from PNG and medical supplies are flown from Rumginae to Mougulu. 4 general passenger board in Kiunga for Suabi.
1 general passenger flies from Tari to Suabi and another 3 to Kiunga. In addition we have office supplies for the MAF base in Kiunga, vegetables and eggs for the doctors and other missionaries in Rumginae, as well as Christian books on board. / In Suabi I pick-up 2 teachers for Kiunga.

Friday (Map 2, red route)
Due to a medical emergency the originally planned program has to be changed. A woman with birth complications has to travel from Lake Murray to Rumginae hospital. Fortunately, a flight to Lake Murray has already been scheduled for that day; so, we can just add an extra round to accommodate all passengers.
On the first round, 2 employees of a power company fly to Lake Murray. The patient, a guardian, a nurse, together with 2 general passengers travelled back to Kiunga.
On the second round, a family and cargo from a local bank (MicroFinance) fly to Lake Murray, and a government worker and more MicroFinance cargo to Obo. The family of a patient in Obo, as well as a church worker in Aiambak travel back to Kiunga.
The last round for the day is straight Lake Murray and back with 5 general passengers.

Map 2

Lucien's Birthday

And in the blink of an eye our youngest turns two. Sorry, it's in Swiss German, but enjoy anyway.

Christmas in August

The first four days of August held more exiting events than all of 2015 up to now. Our Swiss National Day, August 1, we celebrated together with other Swiss people who happened to be in Rumginae. We all met for a brunch with everything a Swiss needs for a good meal: Zopf (our national braided bread) with honey, cheese quiche, eggs, etc.

Celebrating Swiss National Day with other Swiss

Two days after that, on August 3, Niklas celebrated his 9th birthday. We went to the river to BBQ sausages Swiss style and discovered a beautiful, sandy beach never seen before. To finish it off nicely we were surprised by a rain shower and returned home soaked to the skin.

BBQ at the river for Niklas' 9th birthday

Pick-nick once more with Zopf

And then the unbelievable happened: Though long thought lost, our X-mas presents arrived by MAF plane from Mt Hagen. Six parcels sent beween November 2014 and February 2015 as well as magazines and letters arrived. All were exited and enjoined the late opening of presents. Some sweets and especially the chocolate had seen better days, but so what, Christmas in August is special!

16kg of x-mas presents from November 2014 finally arrived in Rumginae

Easter Friday – Three Lives in the Balance

"Markus was planning on a leisurely Easter Good Friday, but was suddenly thrust into a full day of one challenge after another."
Here the full story released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Three patients and one doctor

Needless Death

There is still a very great need for the people in Papua New Guinea to hear God's liberating word. Especially in the remote villages the fear of spirits is still controlling a lot of everyday life. What secular anthropologists see as tradition and culture to be preserved (and not tainted with Christian believes), is the major cause of constant fear, suffering, and meaningless killing. Where the burning of a woman in Mt Hagen, who was accused of witchcraft, caused quite a bit of media attention in Switzerland, most similar executions regularly happening in PNG are not reported. Below is a story from MAF PNG showing what unfortunately is still wide spread practice in PNG:

"Several months ago, a MAF charter took the Enga Deputy Police Commander, several missionaries and pastors to Wanakipa and then on to Fiyawena. The purpose of the weekend was to bring awareness to the two communities of the same language group, that the killing of innocent women and their children because ‘someone’ called them witches under the ‘Pisai Sanguma’ [evil spirit] label, was wrong, illegal and against God’s word.
That weekend, all the talks, testimonies and the witness of a so-called "Glas-meri", who confessed that she “made all the accusations up to save her own life”, saved 17 lives (four women and their 13 children who had been identified for death). The outcome looked promising as the Wanakipa community broke their arrows in an oath that they would stop the practice, and the Fiyawena people sat in a prayer circle and collectively prayed to God to help them break the cycle of these “spirit” killings.
However, last month we heard that one of the four women, Mifila, was killed by men from another village over the river in Paiela who came to her Fiyawena home. They had guns, axes and machetes and held back the Fiyawena men with threats on their lives, while accusing Mifila of causing the deaths of several people in Paiela including two young children. When they finished what they came to do they ran off back to their clan over five hours away.
They intended to kill two more of the women and a girl whom they had captured and imprisoned in a small bush hut on their trek to Fiyawena in the morning, but fortunately these three were released when some passing men heard their cries.
Mifila’s family and the Community leaders of Fiyawena have chosen not to retaliate with the usual “payback” killing. Instead they are trying to follow the direction that was given to them in the January meetings, and hoping that the Government and Police will ensure that justice is done when those responsible are captured."

Mifila during the talks in January

Just a few Birthdays

During the last few months we had a couple of birthdays to celebrate. For both Gian and Joelle there was a little party.

Gian and his birthday cake

PNG-style BBQ for Gian's party

Joelle and her birthday cake (and some intruder)

A party with friends for Joelle

What happened lately...

These last months have been filled with lots of different things in regards to my flying duties. For one there was the training of Corné Noordhoek, a new pilot to PNG and an ex-student of mine at Prairie School of Mission Aviation. After a little hick-up with receiving a PNG license, he and I had a few days of training together in Mt Hagen. After that Corné came down to Rumginae and we did some flying in the flat lands of the Western Province.
For another I did some "regular" flying, which included bringing several persons to Dahamo for the dedication of a New Testament in Dahamo's local language, translated by SIL. Also I had the mandatory holiday medevac on Good Friday, with no less than three patients. One lady with a tubal pregnancy had to had emergency surgery only the day after she came to the hospital in Rumginae. The other two men had both wounds from a spear and a knife.

Corné and Markus during a fun flight

Corné on short final to Wawoi Falls, trying hard not to look

SIL translators and church delegate attending the New Testament dedication in Dahamo

A full plane load of patients

A Little Bit of Rain

Snippets from the Caravan

"Would you like to join one of our Caravan pilots on some of their flights? Take a seat and strap yourself in then read a few snippets of what they have achieved with this amazing aircraft over the last few months when carrying supplies, building materials or patients."

Here the full story released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Cessna Caravan taking-off from a bush strip

A Short Film from Niklas

Recently, our eldest got interested in computers. Now everything is done with this machine: from books to cards, from pictures to films. The following example was done during a date with his dad. Enjoy!

A flight to Mt Hagen

3 in 1 equals 4

"3 in 1 equals 4 – This does not make sense mathematically but this is what can unexpectedly happen to an MAF pilot when expecting a quite Saturday morning."

Here the full story released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Mother in labour waiting to board the plane