Natasha Tordoff - with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF)
You can find out about Natasha's work at https://www.maf-uk.org/get-involved/support-our-staff (...). Please find below some extracts of her latest newsletters. ("PNG" = Papua New Guinea)
January 2024 - "Establishing Operations in Bougainville"
At the beginning of January I said goodbye to my mum, who flew on to Perth, Australia to see my older brother. I then got ready for the programme trip to Bougainville to conduct our feasibility study for establishing operations in this region.
On my last letter to you, I touched briefly on the political context of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, an atoll island to the east of PNG that still remains a part of it, but desires to be independent. The island is abundant in natural resources; oil, gold and other mining. After much request from local leadership for our presence to be established in Bougainville, we finally made the long anticipated trip by MAF Airplane all the way from Goroka to Buka Airport, stopping at Hoskins (West New Britain) to refuel. (Pictured above, is one of the 2 major and active volcanoes on the island, taken from our flight).
From 1988 to 1998, Bougainville suffered a violent civil war that left many of the population devastated. Though MAF vows to not involve itself with political ideologies or issues, the aftermath of this war has left the people of Bougainville crying out for development and resources, and our mission, is to now bring help hope and healing. (Click on the picture to the left for more info).
The feasibility study saw us travelling to different locations around the island to meet with government officials, NGOs, church leaders and the local community, to gain a better understanding of the needs on the ground. It was a historical moment for both MAF Aviation and MAF Technologies, as MAF have not touched down on the island for 30+ years since before the civil war. For Technologies we are excited to expand our HF Radio, solar services and biblical resources to those in need in Bougainville.
The project is now underway to establish operations in Bougainville. I am privileged to be on the project team, leading HR and recruitment.
Prayer requests:
1. Upcoming Home Assignment Trip to the UK where I will be visiting my supporters!
2. MAF Technologies "Establishing Operations in Bougainville" Project.
3. For Me, for spiritual strength as I navigate both personal and work challenges!
5 Nov 2022
7.6M Earthquake rocks the Eastern Highlands on Sep 11!
Sunday morning, I'm sitting in church, listening to the sermon, when the ground suddenly begins to shake. This is the third earthquake I have felt since arriving in PNG, but this one is much bigger than the rest! As the ground rumbles beneath my feet, I tilt my head backwards and gaze up at the high beams above, rocking to and fro. "Uhhhh ohhhh - shouldn't we all get outside?" I think to myself. But no one does anything, no one is moving; the congregation sits silently, waiting to see how bad it will get. I too, sit, with my eyes wide open and no movement. Then, as the trembling gets worse, people start to panic. No one wants to be the last one left inside the church when the building falls down! In a mad rush, the congregation scampers outside to open safety to await the rumbling as it passes.
We were very lucky in Goroka to have experienced only a mild shaking. Very little damage was done to the church house and surrounding buildings and the same could be said for the rest of the town. The epicenter, about 200km away at a village called Hoperang and closer to the eastern coast, radiated damage as far as Morobe in the north and Hambia in the south (place names on google maps), with multiple villages destroyed, landslides sweeping the hillsides, and a number of casualties and deaths.
This is a perfect example of why MAF Technologies exists in Papua New Guinea for the remote communities. Monday morning, the day after the earthquake, the team went straight about to putting together an earthquake response plan. We were instructed to, "be prepared for med-evac emergencies and try to contact as many remote communities as possible to assess the damage". As Corporate Services Manager, the task of responding to medical emergencies and catastrophes falls to my team in the admin office where our main radio operator stands-by to receive incoming emergency calls.