The Story so far …

In the picture you will see me, I’m Robert, Yvonne my wife, and Raisha, our daughter. We also have two grown up sons living in the U.K. 

In 2001 we were both church going Christians with no ambitions whatsoever of serving God overseas. Then an appeal was made by Chrissie Chapman for teachers to work in her school in Burundi.  Burundi is a Kirundi/French speaking country, so it was difficult for her to find teachers because all the children she had rescued spoke English, just like her!  Burundi, at that time was at war so that was another reason it was difficult to find teachers. 

My wife Yvonne, who is a primary teacher, felt deeply stirred by this call for help and, after lots of prayer and discussion, she decided to go for one year and I would stay in England and support her financially. 

The following Easter I went out to visit her and an Aid agency offered me a job. (picture 3. Yvonne with some of the Orphans. Easter 2002) & (picture 4. Sports Day 2006)

My role would be to help people leave the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps, return to their ancestral lands and help them rebuild their lives and communities by building homes, schools and medical facilities.  

I enjoyed my job in England and I was reasonably successful at it, but I had visited these appalling camps (pics 5, 6 & 7. Mushara IDP Camp Nov 2002), and frankly I was angry anyone had to live this way, so I gave up the nice salary, returned the car and headed for Africa to join my wife.

In 2006 after the first Free and Fair elections, the emergency relief work of my Aid agency was considered to be done so they had to leave Burundi to relocate to other countries where the needs were deemed greater. 

In 2007 I joined Mission Aviation Fellowship (Aid Agency) as a Deputy Operations Manager.  My job was to organise and co ordinate the aid flights to outlying regions, areas which were difficult to access by any other form of transport.  The planes carry medical supplies, medical/dental teams, pastors, teachers etc.  Anything the community needs.  We also manage emergency medical evacuation flights, to get critically ill people to fully equipped hospitals when needed. (P 8. Operations & P 9 - 10 some of our planes at work) 

I have been asked to extend for another two years and challenged with a new role of Ground Operations Manager.  Now I spend my time ensuring that we operate within the civil aviation regulations and maintain a spotless record with the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authorities. Although we only fly little aircraft, we still have to comply with the same Civil Aviation Air Law as the major airlines.

So, what did MAF accomplish during 2011?

 With more than 135 aircraft, in ≈ 30 countries, we flew:

•          more than 54,000 hours.

•          84,000 flights.

•          more than 200,000 passengers and

•          7.5 million kg of freight [not counting passenger baggage]

•          more than 12 million kilometres – equivalent to 300  times around the world at the equator

•          MAF has more than 1,200 staff serving around the world

•          MAF flights serve nearly 1,500 organisations

•          we flew to around 3,000 destinations worldwide – which is more than any other airline.

 Why do we do it?

Our motivation is to transform the lives of people, spiritually and physically, using aviation & technology to reach people living in remote, “unreachable”, geographic areas.

 

My new role may not be quite as exciting as being part of the mercy team, but it’s an absolutely vital role.  Someone’s got to do it, or the planes don’t leave the ground. 

All MAF positions are funded by charitable donations, and the Ground Operations Manager role needs to be funded.  For the price of a daily newspaper (£5 a week) you could make a huge contribution to MAF’s work in Tanzania. You can make your donation on this site and I’ll keep you up to date throughout the year with news of our achievements. Donations of any size are gratefully received by MAF and the thousands of people who rely on the little planes full of essential aid, which your donations provide.

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