Pray for our LFDS/MAF Team

On Wednesday afternoon there was a MAF airplane accident at one of the mountain airstrips called Methalaneng. We praise God that no one was injured (Pilot and 4 passengers). I was not on the airplane. It was NOT pilot error and is was NOT an airplane malfunction. It was a sudden burst of air from the side just at the point of landing. The MAF pilot did an outstanding job of preventing a potentially disastrous outcome.

An official MAF USA accident investigation team will be arriving on Monday morning. They will go to the airstrip via helicopter on Tuesday. We will not be flying until the investigation team gives the go-ahead to resume flights. For life threatening emergencies (what we call 'Code-1') the Lesotho military will use their helicopters to cover for us.

Please pray for the team as we all deal with this accident, with people's fears, with trusting God every moment. We are so grateful that He is in control of all things. We know that God is in control of all things and we are trusting that His name will be glorified in all of this.

As I sat with our LFDS staff today and talked through this, I shared with them Psalm 23. I asked them to listen to it anew as they reflected on what had happened. What was so cool was that their primary concern was how was the pilot and the passengers, and what were we going to do about the emergencies. They were not thinking of themselves but of others, just as the Lord instructs us to do. We closed our meeting with a prayer by one of the staff. Although I could not understand all that she prayed (remember we are still learning Sesotho) I did pick up enough of it to hear her passion regarding how good God is, how much we need His help, and how thankful she was.

Thanks for joining us in prayer...

31 Villages Desperately in Need of Health Care

On Sunday we (Sally, Danny Hulls - MAF Chief Pilot, and myself) drove about an hour from home to the mountain area of Mohale Dam. We

met up with the three men from Berea District who were instrumental

in identifying the area we were planning to visit. We mapped out our plan and set off on Monday morning further into the mountains.

It was paved road for about 20 minutes then gravel that deteriorated to 4WD only. After one hour we reached the village of Sekolopata where we left our trucks and hired Basotho Mountain Ponies.

We headed off up the Senqunyane River Valley towards the village of Ha Thaba Bosiu. It was up and down, four times having to cross small streams and the larger river. We passed by several villages and met a few people along the way. As it is Spring here, we passed by fields that were being plowed by oxen teams (4 oxen, one man guiding the plough, and one man driving the oxen).

At one point we had to dismount our ponies and lead them across a rocky stream as they refused to cross with us on them. Turns out they are pretty smart as we found it very slippery. I also found out that getting back on a horse while wearing a back pack was not easy. The horse decided it was time to take off and I found myself looking up at the sky, flat on my back (actually, flat on my back

pack) with the horse happily walking away. I'm sure it had a smirk on its face... A second attempt found me on the horse, trying to get my foot in the stirrup while I held on tight to his neck. Sally found it quite amusing, and I guess I'm learning about riding. (We really should have taken riding lessons while we were in the US last year.)

After nearly two and a half hours of riding we reached the area we had identified as a potential spot for an airstrip and the village of Ha Thaba Bosiu. As you can see it looks pretty flat, but remember we would like about 2,000 feet of runway.

We were about an hour behind schedule and so we decided to split up our team. MAF Pilot Danny and Sally stayed at the airstrip area and the four of us headed on to the village (it was down a rather steep path towards where two rivers meet). Danny began to assess the area for the airstrip. It involved walking up and down the area to find the optimal angles for approach and takeoff, most favorable winds, and the most level area. He took a bunch of GPS locations and used an inclinometer to measure the rise of the terrain. Meanwhile, Sally was spending time walking and praying for this area while watching over their two ponies. She met a young woman with

a child on her back and talked a bit. The lady told Sally that she was on her way walking to the closest clinic which was where we had come from that morning. Recall we had driven 1 hour by truck and 2.5 hours on pony and she was walking! Come to find out, people would even walk the whole day to reach the closest health center. Sally spent more time praying for the people of this area and praying that God would give us wisdom on how to minister to their physical and spiritual needs.

The three men from Berea and I got to the village and were fortunate to find Chief Majara there. As there really is no easy way to get a message there (no cell phone coverage), the chief and those in the village were surprised by our visit. We sat at his homestead with two other men as well as the chief's wife and friend and explained who we were and why we were there. We enquired as to how many villages were in the area and if he

thought they would benefit from a health post and airstrip. After some discussion, they came up with a list of 31 villages that would directly benefit. They agreed to get us the names of all the villages and a census of those living there.

I also shared with them that I was both a doctor and a preacher of the gospel. They were curious as to what church I belonged to and if I planned on making them change their religion. I explained that I was not interested in that but in teaching them about Jesus Christ and following His ways. They were interested and like the idea that we could provide both medical care and Biblical teaching.

After an hour we headed back up the hill to find Sally and Danny to find out if the area looked promising for building an airstrip. We were happy to hear that the preliminary assessment looked good, although it would involve leveling one area and moving dirt to another part to make the airstrip. There's much more to building an airstrip (MAF has clear guidelines on it) but at least it looks like a favorable area that would give us access to the villages. We all got back on our ponies and began the long trek back to Sekolopata. I don't know horses well but I sure sensed that they were glad to be heading to their home and we were ready to go back. It was a beautiful ride back. We reached Sekolopata where we had left the trucks and then drove back to Mohale. It was just getting dark as we arrived there. We had supper together and talked about the survey trip. We were all pretty excited about the possibility of opening the area not only to health care but to the gospel as well. It was back to Maseru the next morning for Danny, Sally and I, and on to Teyateyaneng (Berea District) for the other three.

We are so thankful for what God allowed us to do and to see. We continue to pray for wisdom on how to proceed. I want to start building next week but I know that we have to go through the proper government channels for approval and for funds. It may be possible to ride into the area once a month to do a mobile medical clinic and evangelism while we work on building up the airstrip. I know we need patience, but I also know the desperate needs (both physical and spiritual) of the Basotho living in the 31 villages in the Ha Thaba Bosiu area. Please join us in praying for the people of that area, and for what we will do next.

All for His glory...

Building and Airstrip and Opening a New Health Post

As you know, I serve as the director for Lesotho Flying Doctor Services (LFDS).  LFDS has the mandate though the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to provide health care in remote areas of the Maluti Mountains in a coordinated effort with the Mountain Districts and their District Health Management Teams.  This Sunday through Tuesday, Sally and I, Danny Hulls (MAF Chief Pilot) and two from Berea DHMT will be heading deep into the Maluti mountains.  We’re off to do a site evaluation for a possible new health post and airstrip.

This has been a real learning process so far.  I met with the Berea District DHMT two months ago to hear about their proposal.  They had done an analysis of the health coverage of their district and found that the far Eastern portion was in desperate need.  On the map it was designated as a "Cattle Post" which meant it was only temporarily inhabited when the herds boys would take the animals there to graze.  Late last year they sent in a team to do an analysis of the area and found that it wasn't just a cattle post but had many villages.  In the process of visiting many of the villages and talking with people they discovered that there was no health care available in that area and that people were walking anywhere from 4-6 hours to get to a health facility!  Can you imagine walking that far, let alone that far when you are sick?  Basotho are strong and tough people.  

To reach this area, you have to take the paved road from Maseru to the Mohale Dam area, then switch into 4WD to take the gravel road/path to the end.  Then if the road hasn’t washed away you are at Ha Thaba Bosiu, a village at the junction of two rivers.  From there the valley extends NorthEasterly and contains several villages that desperately need health care. (If you like Google Earth do a search for “Ha Konyama or Maime, Lesotho” and you will find yourself part way up that valley.)  Once we get to Ha Thaba Bosiu we will take mountain ponies up as far as Ha Mothakathi to assess the villages and to get a better estimate of the catchement area for this health post.

Our task is three fold - Airstrip placement, looking for a place to put a Health Post, and Spiritual Assessment.  I have zero experience in building an airstrip and so we are really blessed to have Danny as part of the team.  He will be evaluating the spot near Ha Thaba Bosiu that looks to have potential for an airstrip.  We would like at least a length of 2,000+feet with a good approach and departure path for the aircraft.  I have flown over the area many times on the way to other clinics and it appears to be a good area to build.  Several of the MAF pilots have flown over the area to do what is called an ‘airstrip evaluation’ to see if it looks promising.  Several factors play into picking the site such as altitude, obstacles, slope, and especially prevailing winds.  So if it looks good on the ground, then the area chief of Ha Thaba Bosiu would have to ‘give’ that land to be used as an airstrip.  In Lesotho, all land belongs to the King (King Letsia III) and his spokesmen are the area chiefs.  They have the kings authority to allocate land for various use.  Then begins the job of surveying the airstrip and clearing the area to make a gravel or grass airstrip.  (More on that when we actually begin the process).

 The second task is obtaining permission to begin a health post. The plan is for our LFDS Doctor Team to fly in once per month to provide diagnosis and treatment.  We would carry in all the medicines and staff to conduct the clinic.  In addition, our Public Health Care team will come once per month to provide immunizations to under 5 children and to do prenatal/post natal care.  We would space those visits about two weeks apart.  Twice per month doesn’t sound like much, but it is will provide on-the-spot care and preventive services that they currently don’t have.  The long range plan would be to develop it to a health clinic with full time staff.  

So you might ask, where will you conduct the health post activity?  Good question.  In the two health posts that LFDS currently operates we use what is available.  In one we use a vacant shell of a house and the other is a two room building  (roughly 10x20) that belongs to a village church.  One of the Berea DHMT members said that the village would likely allow us to use one of the buildings or we will work with them to build something.  It’s all up in the air right now, but also part of what we will talk about during this visit.  I did have a meeting recently with the Ministry of Health where we discussed finding funds within the Lesotho government to build these new health posts and to put up some structures in the two existing health posts.  How ever it happens it is essential that the villages served 'buy into' the plan so the health post becomes theirs.  That might involve providing labor, providing stones, carrying water and various other ways to contribute to the health post.  We will also be assessing whether the villages have village health workers and what level of basic training they have.  It is an area that Sally will be involved in doing health training evangelism and total-health storying that has an evangelistic and discipleship component.

The third task that excites Sally and I even more is the opportunity to get into this area to begin a spiritual assessment with the goal of a total health package.  We firmly believe that true health involves physical, emotional, and spiritual care and healing.  We would ask you to pray with us as we do this assessment and consider whether or not we will begin to go to this area once a month (even before the airstrip is done) to do a mobile medical clinic along with evangelism and discipleship. 

We are asking that you pray for our safety as we do the 4WD, Pony, and hiking to this area.  That we will have clear spiritual discernment as to the situation on the ground, where God is already at work, and where we might join in. We will take lots of pictures and post something as soon as we can next week.