PCM News: May 2009

13 May 2009

From bush to clinic

Five years ago Ron and I took a team from Times Square Church, New York, to a site south of Inhambane, Moz, where we spent a week clearing an area of land and digging foundations. Two of the only pictures I now have of that are of Ron attacking trees with his chainsaw and one me taking a coconut break.

Yesterday we flew a team of eight people representing the various medical donor companies out to the same site where they inspected the clinic and maternity unit that has recently been completed.

From the above photo to the one below - a complete contrast. Doctors for Life and Medical Mission International were the main partners.

Despite its remote location, the clinic has modern facilities - two consulting rooms, a pharmacy and a maternity unit.

One of the doctors attends to a local child.

We saw the sun set over the remoteness of Mozambique on the way back...

And landed in the dark at Maputo to drop the passengers off and refuel before flying back to South Africa.

It was good to go back and see the transformation from what we had experienced five years previously. It bought a sense of completeness having seen the contrast of the finished product, a product that will now give so much more to the community.

Thanks again to those of you who help make things like this possible.

Paul

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.