Mission Aviation Fellowship aircraft damaged by motor shell fragments in Congo conflict.
The fighting in Kinshasa also affected Mission Aviation Fellowship, says MAF's Congo Program Manager Garth Pederson. "Fortunately none of our staff were there. We were able to flee (the office). All of our families -- five missionary families -- as well as our 13 national staff. In some of our national staff neighborhoods, there were some mortars that fell, but fortunately we're very thankful that all of our staff are safe."
However, Pederson says MAF aircraft didn't fair as well. "Two of our three airplanes were damaged in the fighting last week. And, although they were in the hangers, a couple of stray rounds came through and damaged the airplanes."
According to Pederson, quite a few flights were canceled, which was devastating. "There was one lady that we had planned to do a medevac flight for in the northern part of the country, and we were unable to do that because of the damage--and the airports were closed. And, unfortunately, I just found out that this lady passed away."
The MAF team has returned to Congo. While MAF is flying again, the missions are limited because of the damaged aircraft. "One aircraft we did some temporary repairs and then ferried to another location--another one of our bases --where we can do further repairs. The other one we were able to do some initial repairs to keep it flying, but we'll do the further repairs at the next inspection."
Funding is needed to help pay for the unexpected repairs to the airplanes and to their headquarters.
