Mercy Air and YWAM Marromeau:
Ministries work together to reach those in need.
Many of the villages in Mozambique are separated by days of travel across swamps, down rivers and through forest. Shephen Mbewe, director of YWAM Marromeu in Sofala, Mozambique, recently received a solution to these mosquito, mud and misery travels. A helicopter.
In a letter telling of these recent events, Shephen said that two years ago, a friend who had been praying for the work among the Aluwawe people, which began in 2000, said a helicopter was needed to reach the villages. Laughter was Shephen's response to this serious statement. A helicopter would cost thousands simply for one trip. It seemed an impossible dream.
Then, a couple of months ago, he received an e-mail from a friend of fellow YWAM worker, Elias Santos. Santo's friend knew someone with a helicopter and asked if Shephen could use it in the work he was doing for the Aluwawe. It would come fully funded for an outreach of eight days and a total 38 flights.
Mercy Air pilot, Matthias Reuter, heard of YWAM's work with the Aluwawe people through his friend, Doctor Colin Pfaff, who he met flying in eastern Mozambique with Doctors for Life.
Pfaff had forwarded Reuter a report by Elias Santos of an outreach to the Aluwawe. In it, Santos told of the four-day journey just to reach the village of Luwawe.
'We were in a strip of water one and a half meters wide and very deep, so we decided to get out and push, we just wanted to be out of that place, Elias said. The water level went down and we were in a swamp surrounded by trees, mud and mosquitoes. We started to push from the sides, slipping in the mud. During this pushing I slipped and fell, becoming stuck between the boat and mud wall of the river, my head was just above water. Thankfully the rescue team was strong and swift so that I didn't drown.'
In Luwawe there is no school or doctor, and the drinking water, Santos reported, was darker than tea.
'The difficulty in getting to this place means that only those who really want to do something will go there,' he said.
After reaching the Aluwawe and ministering in the village, the return trip was just as difficult. The team began with a three hour canoe trip, then hiked through swamps and hot sun, avoiding a herd of buffalo in one area.
Santos finishes his report with these words: 'How many live in extreme poverty because they don't have the presence of the Kingdom of God? Jesus never said it would be easy to follow him or easy to proclaim his kingdom, but he promised to be with us until the end.'
When pilot Matthias Reuter looked at an aviation map of the area, he saw that the four-day journey by land would take only 20 minutes by helicopter.
For the year 2006, Reuter said Mercy Air had sponsored helicopter flight hours available for worthwhile ongoing projects. So from Sept. 9-16, a Mercy Air helicopter was used for an outreach to the Aluwawe.
The cost of an eight-day outreach is about 9,000 USD. Following the September outreach, Mercy Air has been requested to come during four outreaches in 2007. The government is in full support of the program, Reuter said, but funding for those flights is not yet secured.
In 2005 Mercy Air flew a distance nearly equal to four times around the world. Of those flights, 82 percent were for outreaches.
The Mercy Air base in South Africa started in 1991 and is the only MA base in Africa. Its crew consists of five pilots and two mechanics for their one helicopter, two six-seat airplanes and one 11-seat airplane.
Reuter said that by God's grace, the team was able to 'Do unto Him, what we did unto others,' by treating the sick, helping the blind and giving the captives God's truth, so that they might be set free.
'God gave man the ability to fly and maintain aircraft,' said Reuter. 'But it is our responsibility that we not only use them for sport, pleasure or war, but that God's kingdom may grow and people in need are blessed. When I use the skills he has given me and the equipment he has entrusted us to be a blessing to his suffering people, I can feel God's pleasure in me.'
Shephen said the 20-minute flight to Luwawe, instead of 3-4 days of travel, was hard to believe.
'I actually got disoriented,' he said. 'I could not work out where we were. It was too quick and so hassle free it was unreal. In my head I have become so accustomed to the hardships of going to Luwawe so much so that to get there without a single mosquito bite just did not seem right.'
After ministering to the people in Luwawe, he returned the next day in the helicopter with a doctor. Also, four government officials, including the district administrator, asked to go to Luwawe. A dentist also was flown to Luwawe and Ibo, two villages in the delta on which the team is focusing. Three people were transported out of Luwawe so they could receive further medical care.
'God used YWAM and Mercy Air as a means to bring his truth to people who feel unloved and uncared for,' said Shephen. 'We were able to show that God will go where the people are, at whatever cost, and will reach them with His love where they live.'
To learn more about Mercy Air visit www.mercyair.org. For information on YWAM Marromeu contact Shephen.Mbewe@senasugar.com.
Report by Toni Jabas, October, 2006, AfriCom, http://www.ywam-africom.org
