PCM News: June 2006

08 June 2006

Chimoio Moz medical

A quick update on our trip last week.

Cathy and I flew an American medical mission team into central Moz for 8 days.
Amazingly there was fuel available at the one stop in Moz for us to fill up on the way there, but that had already ran out by the time we came back. Fortunately we had one drum of fuel stored at the destination and that was just enough for us to make it back home.

The accommodation was ‘sparse’ and we stayed in tents on the porch outside a missionary, Tracy’s house, and shared one toilet and a dribbly shower between 15 of us. The house is part of an orphanage for 25 children that she is involved with, and another task the team completed was to paint a mural on an outside wall.

The team was a seven strong group of Doctors and Nurses who were supporting Tracy in her work in the area. Most days we travelled for about an hour and a half by 4x4 to well out of the way places, where we ran clinics in churches that Tracy has helped plant over the last few years. She initially planted four churches, but six others sprung from those original ones within a year.

A young girl peers through a window.

Consulting inside a church.

While we used the church as a clinic, the villagers held a pastors conference and meetings outside.

We also visited the local prison where Tracy has been working for a while now. Conditions here were rough also and there were about 130 men sharing a room of about 5 x 5 metres. They are often in there 24 hours a day and only get one cup of corn meal and a cup of water per day. The inmates are in there for anything from murder to stealing bread, and some can be in there for up to two years before their trial is even heard. She usually visits twice a week and we were able to offer medical consultations, present the gospel and then hand out oranges and pray for the guys afterwards.

Cathy also helped at another orphanage as well as doing house calls in the local villages.

Paul was also able to help with some running repairs to the missions Land rover.

Tomorrow Paul has his instrument renewal flight test (please pray for that), and then Friday we are off down to Grahamstown to visit Matthew and attend the arts festival which is held there each year.

Thanks

Paul and Cathy

A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.