PCM News: MAF/Flying for Life Dental Flight Limpopo

07 February 2020

MAF/Flying for Life Dental Flight Limpopo

Last week Paul flew the first of 2020's MAF/Flying for Life visits to the Limpopo province in the north of South Africa.

Landing at Tshikondeni gives an idea of the remoteness of the area we visit.

The team on arrival.

This was one of a regular series of flights where we fly dentists up to work in a mobile dental unit in the rural Vhembe district. This time the dental truck went to a primary school that Flying for Life also work with, to screen classes of children for a subsequent visit.

But first there is a 1hr long taxi ride to get from the airstrip to the school. We always have the same friendly driver who looks like he may a candidate for future dental care!

At the school, the kids were happy to see us...

.. and after a brief introductory talk, showed their newly learned skill of opening their mouths for the screening.

Then down to the serious business of checking their oral health.

We're not sure whether they were happy to see us go, or just showing their appreciation for our visit!

Whilst the dental screening was taking place, some other members of the team visited the disability centre. Mercy Air and Flying for Life are working at improving the facilities here in the coming year.

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.