PCM News: A belated hello

21 July 2003

A belated hello

We are feeling a lot more settled in now than when we last wrote, due partly to Paul having spent all of July so far at home in Nelspruit (he was away for 16 days in June on four separate mission flying trips). This has meant that we have been able to make the house look far more presentable and it is beginning to feel like we actually live here.

Life at home is possibly busier than when on trips and Paul has getting to grips with flight operations in the office. This is all the ground work in making a flight happen right from taking the telephone enquiry to preparing the aircraft for flight. Applying for permits and visas and all the other logistics can be quite a mission in it self in Africa.

Talking of visas, our application for a three year extension is now in the hands of the Dept. of Home Affairs. They have told us to come back this Wednesday…

It’s not all paper pushing while at home though and Paul has done some local flying to get ratings on two of the planes Mercy Air operate. This is a legal requirement before he can do mission flights on his own and even then the first couple will be with another pilot. This is more an orientation to some of the more awkward airstrips as well as introduction to various people and procedures at places we visit. The next bout of away-ness is due to take place from 1st to 11th Aug when Paul will be flying a group to six different places in Mozambique.

Cathy is in the process of applying to be registered with the SA nursing council as she need this in order to do any voluntary or paid work. She has been out with a group of nurses that provide home based care for people living with HIV and AIDS.

Matthew has returned to Lesotho for a month to join with a Dutch YFC team so the house is unusually quite right now. We have balanced this though with a steady flow of visitors mainly from Lesotho who are now including us on their holiday itinerary – now could it be us or the fact that we live only 20 mins from Kruger National Park!?

Please excuse our scant correspondence recently – it’s not best going through the office mail system. We won’t bore you with the phone saga save to say that Telcom are ‘working on it’. The latest news is that we should be connected two or three weeks from now – or was that what they said two or three weeks ago!? We know some of you have written and we’ll get personal replies out as soon as we can.

pcm

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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.