Dear Friends and Family in Christ,

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well? …Take up your bed and walk.’” (Jn. 5) With those two sentences, a man’s whole world was changed. A man who had been sick for 38 years was healed. Made whole. Redeemed. He had waited a lifetime for his life to intersect with that of the ‘Master.’

Transitions are a part of life, and can sometimes be as natural as falling asleep or waking up in the morning. Or they can be tragic, violent and traumatizing. AIM AIR has experienced a year that spanned a rather wide portion of this spectrum in 2008.

The year started off with Kenya’s presidential elections, which brought violence on a scale Kenya had not seen for decades. Tens of thousands of people were deeply affected and in need of critical help. In the first two weeks after the elections, AIM AIR transported over 600 people to safety, among them many who had narrowly escaped being burned to death in their homes and had no method of reaching safety overland. In January and February, our planes flew over 28,000 pounds of food to families who could not buy even the basics locally.

AIM AIR experienced two changes in the position of General Manager in 2008. Matt Olson, who did an exemplary job for many years, followed the Lord’s lead in his life and moved back to the States in April. And in a few days, Denny Dyvig will take over as Manager as I return Stateside for a furlough. Denny is a man who demonstrates professional excellence as a pilot and, more importantly, spiritual excellence as a man. He and his wife Sue have lived and ministered in Africa for close to 32 years. They are easy people to look up to.

This year we lost one of our aircraft in an accident, but thankfully, the physical injuries to those on board were minor. That aircraft was quickly replaced, and another, a ‘new’ twin engine King Air purchased by Samaritan’s Purse for ministry with AIM AIR, will be arriving soon. AIM AIR was also blessed with several new pilots this year, one of whom is our first female pilot.

While AIM AIR has experienced a wide range of transitions in 2008, our strength continues to be that we are still all about providing air transport for the Lord’s servants in this area of the world. In doing so, we—and you as our partners in this work—help make a way for the lives of thousands in Africa to “intersect with the Master,” sooner rather than later. And as they meet HIM, lives are changed, people are redeemed, and the broken are made whole.

Thank you for your sacrificial, consistent, and intrinsic support both prayerfully and financially as you have partnered with us this year in Serving Those Who Serve.

—Jim Streit
General Manager

Maybe you have seen the photo which has circulated on the internet of the pride of lions basking in the shade beneath the wings of a twin engine airplane in a Kenyan game park. Well today, fellow AIM AIR pilot John McNeely and I have our own version of the tale (tail) to tell; this is the scene which awaited us when we returned in another plane to retrieve 5Y-BLG which had been left overnight at a game strip. These two husky brutes seemed nonplussed as we approached in our large Caravan plane and were only persuaded to move off after I turned my prop blast on them and kicked sand in their faces. Even at that, they only waddled off about 30 meters and plopped down again to stare lazily at us and our now arrived passengers. The local tour drivers explained that they had seen these guys earlier in the day feasting on a hippo carcass, which would explain their sated behavior. Fortunately they only used the convenient shade of the plane to cool themselves under and didn't gnaw on the tires or try to play on top of it like Pride Rock. The whole drama provided some comic relief to the team of visiting ENT doctors who we picked up and flew back to work at Kijabe hospital.

—Andy Keller (AIM AIR pilot)

"I can hear the buzz of cast saws, the wailing of scared infants, and the quiet murmur of doctors and patients talking in the rooms beyond where I sit and type this letter. Antiseptic, hospital smells fill my nostrils making me glad that God has given me a different calling, but one that is none the less usable for His kingdom. What a privilege to play the small part that I do in the whole process"

Nothing in this life, except maybe death, is as heart wrenching as seeing a child who is afflicted with a severe, debilitating birth defect, disease, or injury which they had no part in bringing upon themselves. Hydrocephalus, Cleft Palate, Club Foot, Spina Bifida, Scoliosis, and skin trauma due to severe burns, are all examples of conditions which can severely damage the life of a young child. Not only does the physical impediment make life extremely difficult for the child and family, but scorn, ridicule, and shame add emotional and spiritual trauma as well. Seeing a life that has been stunted in its youth which has never known the simple joys of running, walking, kicking a ball, or smiling is heart breaking for me personally. That's why I am so supportive of the ministry of Cure International.

Cure International operates a handful of hospitals around the world which specifically focus on treating children suffering from orthopedic conditions like those mentioned above and at the same time providing Christian spiritual counseling to heal the deep wounds that many patients and parents suffer from. More specifically, Cure has a hospital at Kijabe, Kenya and this week I was with a team from that hospital on one of my absolute favorite "safari" flights. Although I get very little flight time during our three day trip, the results of using the airplane to facilitate this ministry are as rewarding as anything I could do for AIM AIR. The team is comprised of orthopedic doctors, technicians, and spiritual counselors who will see about 400 patients in the course of the three days we are together. Qualified orthopedic doctors are extremely scarce in Kenya and almost non-existent in the areas where I fly this team. Parents will bring their children from hours away to get an opportunity to receive the help and hope this team has to offer.

Today I had had the opportunity to sit in on several patient exams, almost all of which brought tears to my eyes. The tears were at first of compassion and empathy, but more so they became tears of joy to know that God was reaching out to these young lives through hands and hearts dedicated to bringing the hope of Christ. Hope that starts with reconstructed bodies and overflows into reborn spirits.

–Andy Keller

This is what a typical clinic looks like:



About half of the team are comprised of technicians who deal with casts, braces, and molds for making orthopedic devices.


Ethiopian doctor Tewodros Zerfu and American surgeon Tim Mead examine the children for possible treatment or follow-up on previous procedures. Patients are referred to the Kijabe hospital for surgery.

by John McNeely



1900 Miles in 36 hours… The long days are oh, so worth it!

I recently made a trip to a remote village in southwestern Sudan (just south of Darfur) called Nyamlell, to bring a media team from Focus on the Family. Their purpose was to visit an orphanage started by a Sudanese “lost boy” named James Lual and to hear first-hand stories about the human trafficking that has gone on for years in the region and still exists today.

Flying over I couldn’t help but notice that the swollen river that normally trickles past on the outskirts had flooded half of the village. What difficulties these people seem to suffer! First drought and famine, then flooding and rampant disease! Such are the cycles of life and death throughout Sudan and much of East Africa.

Upon landing on the short, rough, and muddy airstrip, we were greeted by James and several others from the orphanage as well as the director of Make Way Partners, one of the Christian NGOs that supports James’s work in Nyamlell. AIM AIR, over the last couple of weeks, had been delivering hundreds of new water filters and shoes—yes, new shoes—for all the children in the orphanage as well as the workers that help there.

What a site to see as we entered the orphanage compound. Over 450 children of all ages were tooling about…. all with new shoes. Some were carrying them around and I was told that this was because they had never worn shoes before. Some had played so hard in them the first day that they had rubbed blisters on their feet. Nevertheless, the shoes were displayed proudly either on the feet or in the hands of every child there.

Since we traveled 9 hours in the airplane to get there, I would need to stay overnight, which afforded me the opportunity to attend an annual celebration that James puts on for the children at Nyamlell. The children he works with are all orphans of the long war in Sudan— a war that also claimed the lives of most of James’s family members. You see, as a child, James himself had fled, walking over 500 miles to escape the horrors of the war, only to see death at every turn from starvation, violence, or by wild animals.

Upon finding his freedom and education in Kenya, James gave up an opportunity to move to the United States, and instead went back to his home village to help his people know the love of Christ. Today James, along with his new wife, runs the orphanage as well as a primary school. James knows there is no future for the children without education.

So this day was all about the children. There were two slaughtered bulls, over a thousand loaves of bread, and cold sodas for every child (did I mention there were over 450) as well as all the community leaders who would come out for the celebration. Most importantly, against every grain of African culture, James insisted that no adult would have even a bite of food until every child’s stomach was full. I must admit I was moved to see the dedication of not only James, but the community leaders. Without hesitation, they came forward and served the children until they were “filled to the fullest”! I was privileged to be able to stand alongside James and hand out food in the 110° heat.

Before the meal we heard testimonies from many community leaders. They told of how James had come to the area completely destitute, and under the very tree where we sat, how he vowed to every orphan he saw that he would love and care for them. At the time the community elders largely ignored James. But as James, under that tree, began teaching them about Jesus, their interest slowly grew into what has become the largest orphanage in South Sudan. Christ is front-and-center in all that happens here with New Life Ministries—which is the name that James so aptly gave the orphanage.

After a very hot, muggy, and mostly sleepless night, I said my goodbyes and loaded up my little Cessna 210 with the return passengers. I had to look around one more time and ask myself “how can one person really make this big a difference in so many lives?’ I don’t really know the answer, but I do know that only Jesus Christ can move a person’s heart to this depth of love. With one last wave and a rock of the wings as I flew over the orphanage for the 1000 mile trip back to Nairobi, I knew that the hundreds of hands I saw waving back up at me were all blessed with a second chance because of one very good Samaritan. I look forward to my next meeting with them and to any opportunity to assist James in his efforts to change the lives of orphans in Southern Sudan.

A new photo set has just been added to the AIM AIR Flickr library. Jon Hildebrant, one of AIM AIR's pilots based in Lokichiggio has sent in a mosaic of our ministry in Sudan... the chaos, the crowds, and the people we serve - view a slideshow here.