Recently, Joel Driscoll, an MAF pilot in Kalimantan, Indonesia, had a sobering encounter—one that reminded him just how isolated the people he serves are.
He was about to hop into the pilot seat to take off from an interior village when a local woman came running up to the airplane. She was sobbing, so it was hard to make out what she was saying. Finally, Joel pieced together what she needed:
“Please,” she begged, “my son is in the hospital in Tarakan. I need to go see him. Please help me.”
Because the plane was completely full, and there were safety protocols to follow, Joel was not able to add her to the flight—which made this interaction all the more heartbreaking.
Joel flies over jungles and mountains every day, and he says sometimes it’s easy to forget:
- That flying drums of diesel into a village is the only way people can have fuel to run their farming equipment.
- That flying boxes of medicine and medical supplies to isolated clinics is the only way for some patients to receive life-saving treatments in time.
- That flying Bible translators into remote communities is the only way they would be able to do their work efficiently to translate God’s Word into the heart languages of remote people groups.
“It is such a privilege to be able to serve so many people through MAF. Whether it’s patients with medical emergencies without access to the care they need, or isolated people who require food, fuel, and resources to support their community, we have such a great opportunity to help in the name of Jesus,” says Joel.
Similar situations to those listed above are true of other remote communities served by MAF around the world. MAF is reaching the unreached is remote areas of the world.
Mission Aviation Fellowship is a faithful partner of The Bolick Foundation.