From the Manager
March 22 2007
Whenever I am asked to write or speak about AIM AIR, I usually don’t have to go back very far to remember an interesting story or event. This is an exciting place to work and there is always something happening. Always.
* In February, former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse (SP), were here visiting Heads of State, touring SP Projects, and seeing the horrors of Darfur firsthand. We flew them for ten days.
* The World Health Organization declared a meningitis outbreak in Sudan an epidemic. The disease (an infection of the brain), hits small children and the weak the hardest. So far, we have flown 7000 pounds of medicines to the worst hit areas.
* Six expatriate missionaries called us late one Friday evening from Sudan. The local soldiers were threatening violence and things were very tense. As the sun arose the next morning, we landed one of our Grand Caravans, kept the engine running, and with a total ground time of two minutes, had them safely out.
The above and many other recent flights can really be thrilling. However, sometimes it is the uneventful, routine flight that makes a lasting impression. Not long ago I made a trip from our home base in Nairobi, with nine short-term Norwegian missionaries bound for the Congo – home of the second largest jungle in the world. For literally hours, we flew over the thick green carpet of the Ituri Forest. The only gaps in the landscape were the broad, brown rivers of central Congo, teeming with crocodiles and temperamental hippos.
As I stared out the cockpit window, looking at the end of the earth, I began to see a few open spaces in the dark forest canopy that hung over the land. People. It was startling to see signs of humanity this far from the known world. How did they get here? My destination was a sizeable village named Likati, but there are no roads in or out of Likati, only footpaths. I landed on an isolated grass strip cut out of the forest. An aircraft comes here once or twice a year.
It had been a long day. I was tired, and I took my time securing the airplane for the night while the missionaries went ahead. As the sun was setting, a local church member led me into the jungle down a small trail. We didn’t go far when several imposing buildings came into view. They were built by the Norwegian church many years before but were abandoned during the war in the late 1990’s. As I took this all in, it hit me square in the chest. Yes, these people were at the end of the line, as far from civilization as you can get. But the Gospel had come to them. It was here, not just with the buildings, but in their hearts. The love of Jesus Christ had come looking for them, seeking them out, even here. Our Lord has commanded us to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” It is happening.
~Matt Olson