Flying a group of missionaries

Last week I flew some missionaries from Malaumanda airstrip to Hewa airstrip.

That might not sound particularly unusual, but let me tell you who they were, and why it was such a privilege to fly them.

The group, led by pastor Jim Balus, are locals from Malaumanda who will spend the next 2-4 months at a village two days' walk from Hewa airstrip, running a literacy school in the local language (i.e. teaching people how to read in their own language) and follow-up courses teaching people the gospel and the Bible.

Jim explained: "We are going to the Hewa tribe in a small village, it’s called Minim. But God’s word has not come there. So they asked us to come up. Last year in January, from January to March or April we finished course 1 and course 2. Now this year, it’s a new year, we want to go again and continue to course 3 and course 4, plus a tok ples [local dialect] literacy school. Once they can read in their tok ples, they can fully understand God’s word. We are helping the New Tribes missionaries by going up to help with the Bible course.

"Please pray for the tok ples literacy school and the Bible course 3 and course 4, that the people in Minim would hear God's word and learn well. Pray that they can appoint their own leaders in the church and be strong."

Please pray also for the group while they are away from home for such a long time.

Jim Balus (r) with members of the group, at Malaumanda

The group after landing at Hewa airstrip. Minim village is beyond
the hill behind them.

On a map, Malaumanda and Hewa airstrips are only 37 km apart, but there is a 13,000' mountain range between them. Jim explained it would take them over a week of hard walking to get there, if they couldn't fly. Although I couldn't fly in a straight line either (due to the aforementioned mountain), it took much less than a week - 25 minutes, to be precise.

Later that day as I was praying for Jim and his group, I marvelled at their dedication and how it far surpassed my own. They didn't take a lot of cargo - a big tarpaulin, one small bag of personal belongings each, a small amount of food, and two boxes of Bibles. They are relying on God to provide for them through the generosity of others, from a different tribe. They are undertaking a mission to bring the word of God to people who had never heard it. They will certainly face opposition for doing so... and will be richly rewarded in heaven.

Update (17 July): MAF PNG recently published this story, which includes additional information.

Celebrating life (part 2)

I wrote previously about doing a number of flights for the Min Baptist Women's conference, where hundreds of ladies came together to worship and fellowship.

In a different kind of celebration of life, I recently flew three body charters in four days. In PNG culture it is important for a person to be buried in their home village. The more status the person had, the bigger the haus krai (funeral), to show respect, so often the coffin will be accompanied by hundreds of kilos of food.

When I land at a bush airstrip with a coffin on board, there is usually a big crowd waiting. Different places have different customs - some are subdued, while others mourn loudly and publicly. If it’s the latter, the passengers in the plane often start wailing just as I am preparing to land - a distraction I don’t need at that point!

At Wanikipa, a group of ladies wearing white tunics were singing and waving tanget leaves as I taxied up to the parking bay. After shutting down, I did what I needed to in checking over the aircraft, remove the cargo straps holding the coffin in place (and the other cargo accompanying it), then opened the door and move away from the aircraft to allow the community to do their thing.

One of the locals approached me to shake my hand. He often did this when I came to that airstrip, so I obliged. Like the other mourners, he had smeared his face and arms with mud. I suddenly found I was turned from observer into participant, as he grasped my hand, pressed his face into my shoulder and started wailing. He continued for a minute or so, then let go and proceeded to the next person, as others lifted the coffin out of the plane and carried it up the hill to where a noisy crowd was waiting.

“It’s just their custom,” explained a teacher standing nearby, who I would be flying out.

“I know,” I replied, feeling a little awkward but also honoured, in a way, to have been included.

 

Tumolbil airstrip, destination for one of the body charters I flew this month

This story was published on the MAF PNG website.

Celebrating life (part 1)

“Balus i pulap tru!” I remarked (‘The plane is really full!’) - and the nine ladies on board laughed. They were joining hundreds of other women from Baptist churches throughout the Min area for their annual ladies’ conference at Tabubil.

Telefomin, Eliptamin, Oksapmin, Wobagen, Ok Isai - the response was the same when I got out of the plane and people saw that a lady pilot had come to take the ladies from their village to Tabubil. “Ooweee! Meri pailot! Meri balus! Ooweee!”

Since these were special charter flights, the women weren’t limited to the usual 16 kg assigned to seat fare passengers. The weight limit was a combined one for the whole plane, so they brought bags of vegetables to share at the conference - sweet potato, taro, kumu (leafy greens), spring onions, bananas. Most of the time there was too much to fit in the cargo pods, so I ended up strapping a lot of it down in the cabin. Balus i pulap tru!

The conference, the mountains of vegetables I flew, and the reception and gifts I was given at the different airstrips (including a bird-of-paradise headdress by the ladies at Wobagen), were a celebration of life. This is one of the foundations of Papua New Guinean culture. If we’re going to have a party, let’s make it a big one! The ladies’ enthusiasm was contagious and I truly enjoyed flying them to Tabubil.

Wobagen ladies with vegetables they were taking to share at the conference

Oksapmin ladies in the plane

Another group of Wobagen ladies after landing at Tabubil

 

This story was published on the MAF PNG website.