Page 14 - MyFaith Mag August 2016
P. 14
Safaris to Save
People from all around the world can say they have to improved breastfeeding practices, IMCI and high
experienced the thrill of a holiday safari, but only immunization coverage”.
those living in the most rural parts of Tanzania know South African mission pilot Kirstein Combrink reflects
the hope of a life-saving safari flight. on the time before the medical safaris to one of the
The word “safari” means “journey” in Swahili. The areas, Haydom, and the importance of continuing
journey of a Mission Aviation Fellowship safari in flights to Endanyawish. “There was such a high infant
Tanzania is not in a 4x4 driven by a game ranger, mortality rate. If we draw back and they don’t get
but rather in a Cessna 206, flown by a mission pilot. vaccines, and there’s a polio outbreak two years from
MAF’s vital flights transport medical professionals now, is it better for us to respond to a major crisis or
and evangelists to socially and economically margin- assist immediately? It’s prevention at the end of the
alised people in Tanzania, to those who are otherwise day.”
completely isolated from the truth of the gospel and Help, hope and healing don’t stop with the medicine,
medical care. medical education and doctors that our aircraft bring.
Rural Tanzania is defined as the wilderness for good A mere 20 years ago, there were only a handful of
reason. Thousands of kilometres are inhabited by Christians in the Malambo area.
sparsely spread semi-nomadic tribes living in arid
lands susceptible to drought. This makes life difficult. “MAF is concerned about eternal
The Maasai are easily recognised by their bright- value and not just meeting the
ly-coloured dress that has benefited the catwalks
and Tanzanian tourism, but how many realise their immediate physical needs of people.”
plight? The Maasai are faced with many challenges. It
is common for them to walk long distances to receive One of the Maasai evangelists, Elisha Moita who flies
medical care at a clinic, if there is a clinic in walking with us to bring the Word of God, reports the in-
distance, as well as collect water for their families crease since we began working, “MAF is now serv-
and herds. They face many medical issues, some of ing an area of over 60 000 people and over 10 000
these include women having to give birth at home af- Christians of different denominations in the north
ter being in labour for days, and no access to vaccines side of Maasailand. Malambo, particularly, is serving
for their children. over 5000 Christians through
Mission Aviation Fellowship, a Christian organisation ten airstrips in ten villages,
that uses aircraft to help transform people physically which makes Malambo the
and spiritually in the name of Jesus, set out to attend source of evangelism all over
to the Maasai’s plea. We began medical safaris in the Maasailand.”
late 1970s that now attend to thousands of semi-no- ”The Maasai are a people
madic people. In 1990, the infant mortality rate for who are traditionally ani-
children under the age of five was at a frightening mistic believers and many
level of 166 per 1000, but in 2014 it was recorded still battle with witchcraft.
that this number had reduced to 41 per 1000. This is Recently this year, Kirstein
partly due to the lifesaving vaccination flights pro- reported an unusual occur-
vided by MAF. The World Health Organisation has rence that stopped flights for
recorded that “this decrease can be in part attributed four months.
14 | AUGUST 2016 CLmyfaithmag.com
