PCM News: ASAM, Mozambique

20 October 2019

ASAM, Mozambique - October 2019

This week Paul was back up in Mozambique with a team for a few days.

The team about to board

Taking off from Mercy Air

On the descent into Beira we flew over Buzi, where we had spent much time earlier in the year when we helped with the cyclone relief efforts.

Looking a lot better now than in March/April

At ASAM it was a game of aeroplane Tetris getting a helicopter, a Cessna 182 and our Kodiak into the hangar.

Not much room to swing a prop!

Each day we attended the familiar morning meeting.

Paul flew Nigel and his wife Erin from Mercy Air, who were preparing to help with an intensive pastor training the following week.

Should be fun!

Also on board were Jeremy and Janet Boddington who are with Mercy Air for three months with a view to stay longer. He also took Allan Luus (CEO of Mercy Air) and Anton, an engineer from South Africa, who looked at options for installing new electric and water services to help with longer term strategic planning for the mission.

Anton and Jeremy surveying the missions dammed river

The day of departure

It was a good few days except for the fact that four of the ASAM staff came down with malaria! They are well on the mend now though.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

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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.