Travel Update 05-12-2020

Dear Supporters, So, how far did we get? I'll tell you a bit later... When I arrived at the hospital in Arusha to collect our results at 3pm, I could not get any more information than to come back from 5pm onwards...So, I went home to help pack and sort things out around the house until 5pm. When I arrived back at the hospital the office was shut, but at least there were other waiting on a promise that it would open in 30 minutes. So, I waited... The office did open again, but it was clear that many of Wednesday's test results had not come through yet. Some were told that they paid too late. We received a call after 8am on Thursday and were told to pay before 9am, our last payment went through at 8:58:22!!! So, I waited... Those who did not have flight tickets in hand for Friday evening or Saturday morning were asked to come back on Saturday morning or call after 9pm. I had bus tickets for Saturday morning. So, I waited I finally managed to get our names on a shortlist that was being followed-up with the National Lab in Dar es Salaam, and told to wait. So, I waited... Until 19:30 when I walked away with four certificates that cleared us to travel!!!

This morning (Saturday), we boarded a very empty shuttle bus to Nairobi and it was great to have a row for each of us, all went well until we reached the border...   There it was a 'process' of back and forth, checking and filling and stamping and signing and queueing. After two hours we crossed into Kenya. The rest of the journey was uneventful and we safely arrived at our accommodation very close to the airport, ready for 4.30am departure tomorrow! The boys have been great and very patient (better than dad and mum at times). Thank you and please continue to pray

 

Travel Update 04-12-2020 Dear Supporters, As you know, we are planning/hoping/praying to travel to South Africa this months and as you also know, things change a lot this year. We were supposed to take the shuttle bus to Nairobi this morning and leave from there this afternoon. KQ cancelled todays flight and moved us to Sunday morning, at least with enough time to re-plan... So, we planned to take a taxi late Saturday evening to arrive it the airport in time for checking, but thankfully a friend reminded us that Kenya has curfew between 10pm and 4am. So, we would need to get there much earlier and spend about 7 hours at the airport before we could board. Then we changed the plan again and should be taking the shuttle bus tomorrow morning, spend the night at a hotel close to the airport to be there by 4.30am. That meant we had to take our Covid tests a day earlier (the boys were very brave) and now I'm waiting for the results! Please pray that it comes through in the next couple of hours, otherwise we will need another new plan...

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MAF communication for family and ministry partnership team

Dear All

What we are globally experiencing in relation to the Corona virus is unprecedented, and we’re all affected by it in some way. The same goes for our dedicated staff working in various countries worldwide.

I want to reassure you that we have teams working around the clock to review, assess and make decisions about how best to respond as this situation continues to develop. It is a complex task with so many different countries involved, but I have every confidence in the ability and commitment of the teams overseeing our response. One of our greatest priorities is the welfare of all our staff around the world, whilst simultaneously taking steps to mitigate possible transmission of the corona virus to beneficiaries and partners as well.

You have no doubt been in contact with your family and friends serving in MAF, concerned about their welfare. I wanted to update you on measures taken by MAF to date:

• We have established a Crisis Management Team (CMT) to lead our response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Each country programme has an Immediate Response Team (IRT) to evaluate the situation in their location and feed that information to the CMT.
• Acting on the advice of various authorities, travel restrictions now exist to keep people safe. Until further notice (to be reviewed fortnightly), international travel is prohibited unless approved by our CMT.  This includes visits to home countries or visitors to our programmes.
• We have assessed which staff and families may be in higher risk categories, due to underlying health conditions and/or age, and considered the most appropriate action to keep them as safe as possible.
• Staff are being advised to keep local travel to a minimum where possible.
• Risk assessments are being constantly reviewed and updated to help us make wise and responsible decisions about staff welfare.

As well as taking good care of our staff’s physical safety, we are committed to looking after mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. MAF has a good system of pastoral care for our field staff and this will continue to operate, albeit in slightly different ways for the time being as our pastoral carers are also currently unable to travel and visit programmes in person.

You’ll appreciate the situation is constantly changing. Please join us in offering whatever support you can to your family and friends serving with MAF through regular contact, encouragement and prayer.

MAF is an organisation committed to reaching and serving isolated people all over the world. We couldn’t do this without the faithful commitment of our staff supported by their families, friends and partners like you. Thank you for the part you play in making our work possible.

Psalm 46 reminds us to take refuge and find strength in our God. Though the whole world is shaken at this time, the Lord Almighty is with us. He is our fortress and our sure foundation.

Forward in Faith,

Dave

Dave Fyock

CEO

Mission Aviation Fellowship International 

Family

Once again it has been a while since I have posted an update, so just in case people are starting to forget what we look like. Here you go...

As you can see, the boys are growing up quickly. Johann really enjoys learning and Amelia does a great job and puts in a lot of effort with home schooling. Louis is active (as most boys, I guess), he's adventurous and loves being outdoors.

We were blessed with a Christmas and New Year visit by my sister and brother-in-law from Abu Dhabi and Grandma visited at the end of January for a couple of weeks (it was like having Christmas twice!).




This was a great time to rest and recharge with family after a busy end to 2019. 

2020 is in full swing and a new pilot family has transferred from MAF Arnhem Land to Tanzania to replace our pilot who is leaving in July. They are settling in and we are working on pilot's licenses, language learning, orientation and flight training to get him operational.

The short rains at the end of last year was not so short and we basically went straight into the long rainy season. This carries with it the blessing of potentially good crops and beautiful green landscapes, but too much rain can also be bad for the harvest and of course the danger of flooding is very real. As always the rainy season brings with it some challenges to our flying operations and the conditions of some airstrips can deteriorate quickly if not maintained properly. We continue to do our best to reach the village with medical care and to share the love of Christ, but sometimes it is just not possible. 

Please continue to pray for our family, our team and the other families who serve with us here in Tanzania.