Praying for Students Exams
At Church today we prayed for local school kids who have their important end of year exams in the next couple of weeks.
Washing the Balus
There are 2 aircraft based at Telefomin, and with the majority of the Bush airstrips that we serve being grass, the planes often get muddy, which keeps the base staff busy washing them.
Welcoming friends home
When we visited Goroka last week we were fortunate to be there when 2 MAF families returned to PNG.
They were flown home by a Mt Hagen based plane, we had one of the Telefomin planes and Goroka has 2 planes of their own, so we had 4 MAF Caravans in Goroka at the same time (for about 30 mins), a very rare sight.
Mushroom Mushroom!
I found this massive Mushroom at Mt Hagen market just after our holiday. I bought it just to try it as you don’t often find fresh mushrooms at markets in PNG and I haven’t seen this large variety before.
Farewell Alex
The Hagen Base recently said farewell to Mr Alex Lewa who, after many years serving as the Base Manager, has been asked to step into the new role of Community Liaison.
COVID Protocols Reminder – PNG style!
Just in case you couldn’t remember the basic principles behind COVID prevention, just follow the instructions painted outside a compound along the highway heading into Mt Hagen. :-D
Wewak Base Visit
Some piccies of Shiv’s first “official” Base Visit to Wewak, on PNG’s north coast, back in March.
Happy 70th Birthday MAF PNG - TODAY!
Thank you all for enabling us to serve in PNG through your prayers, your kindness and your gifts to our work. You are all a part of the 7 decades of help and hope which has been flown to some of the world's most isolated people. That's such an amazing legacy, we are privileged to be a part of it with you all! Thank you!
Books for Bak Primary School
In our Easter Newsletter, we included a story about Mr Donifry, the Principle of Bak Primary School. Ryan also took a video of his short interview with Mr Donifrey, so we thought we’d upload it for anyone who may be interested to “meet” this bush-man who has a vision to improve his community at the grass-roots level through education of the children!
By supporting our work with MAF you are enabling books and teachers to reach some of the world’s most isolated communities so their children have a chance at a decent education! Thank you.
Happy Easter Newsletter!
Our Easter Newsletter went straight to inboxes just before Easter. If you would like to receive our Quarterly Personal Newsletters direct to your inbox, please sign up using the form at the very bottom of the page!
First Base Visit as D’GOM!
Two weeks ago I conducted my first “official” base visit as the “Acting Deputy Ground Operations Manager” (D’GOM). It feels great to be starting to get to grips with this new/old job!
Ryan flew me to Kiunga so I could meet with the 2 Traffic Officers who work there, find out their current struggles, and look into some issues at the Kiunga airport.
Happy Valentines Day!
St Valentine’s Day is not just a special day for us for the usual reasons. It was on 14th February 2017 that we met each other’s parents in person for the first time, and then, 2 days later, Ryan proposed with all 4 of them with us, so mid-February holds very special memories.
Christmas has come at last!
Last week we received our first Christmas Card in the post! IN FEBRUARY! I guess the international post from North America is working, just rather slowly. The post mark was dated 30-Nov-2020, so only just over 2 months to get here. Thank you Brownfield Baptist Church for sending us a Christmas card. Sadly nothing has come through from the UK yet, even though we are expecting a few things that were posted in November…
Shiv in the Newspaper
Towards the end of last year I was interviewed for a PNG Newspaper, The National. Click on the title to go to the article.
Day of Prayer
As a Christian organisation, every 6 months MAF holds a day of prayer, when we stop flying and all of our work, to ask God to guide everything we do.
Back at the start of Nov, we had both our full-time and part-time MAF team in Telefomin, come round our house to pray and share lunch.
We are home in Telefomin!
More than 8 months after we left, and more than twice as long as we expected to be away for, finally we have returned to our little cabin in the mountains!
We were greeted as we landed on Thursday afternoon, with flower petals thrown over us and flower necklaces draped over us. It was such a welcome reception, we felt so blessed…
Sunday up the Mountain
After a week in Mt Hagen which included a very loud party at 4am on Saturday morning, and a rock-fight in the neighbouring field on Wednesday evening (which was ended when the police shot tear-gas into the crowd), our Sunday afternoon at Rondan Ridge Lodge, overlooking Mt Hagen, was not only a welcome respite, but very relaxing.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends the Glass and Coker families, followed by a board game and a little walk amongst the animals. Ray even got to enjoy the Lodge with us (he is pictured in Shiv’s lap).
Ryan Passed his Base Check!
I (Ryan) did quite a lot of flying on Monday. The picture was taken from v2track, our aircraft tracking software, which showed everywhere I flew in P2-MAK in the morning, only half the day! This is not a normal route for MAF PNG aircraft, it’s all over the place because I had to do lots of drills to prove I can fly safely and deal with any situation which might arise during normal operations. Flying in PNG is some of the most challenging flying in the world, so ensuring all our pilots are safe and know all their procedures is extremely important and prioritized by Operations.
Saturday fun with friends…
Most of the MAF ladies currently in Mt Hagen spent Saturday morning glass painting, thanks to Fiona, who brought all the glass painting pens with her from the UK last year.
It was a fun time to spend together and rather novel to do a different activity whilst sharing a cuppa!
As we will only be in Mt Hagen for a couple more weeks, I (Shiv) am trying to make the most of these lovely social opportunities.
Ray the working Puppy
Ray has been coming into the office with Shiv once a week. He really enjoys seeing all the PNG staff and wondering from office to office. He’s very well behaved but sometimes he gets in the way of the door and has been bashed a few times.
Click on the picture, left, to watch a video of our friend, Nurse Rhema, one of the local health care workers who MAF supports and we fly out of Telefomin.