Finally Flying

Today was a very exciting day for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Chad. We had our first operational flight for our new airplane - the Cessna 182.

The plane arrived in Chad in March and it has been a long-journey for the whole team to get to this point. Registration, modifications, approvals, training and seemingly never-ending paperwork have all had to be painstakingly worked through in order to get the plane operational.

It is a journey that seemed well worth the effort today as we flew Dr Ann and her Chadian colleague Doumi to Ba Illi (a village about 150 miles to the south-east of N'Djamena) where they were to spend the day treating patients who otherwise would not get the chance to see a doctor. Tomorrow we will fly them on to another village where they will treat more people.

At the moment these villages are unreachable by road due to the recent heavy rains that have caused extensive flooding in the south of Chad. This type of flying is at the heart of what MAF does - enabling others to reach isolated people with help and hope.

Doumi and Dr Ann with the C182 at Ba Illi