Local Aviators and Foreign Aid

Every once in a while I read a good news story. A retired veteran nursed an injured bird back to health and the two became best friends. A woman spent countless hours tracking down the owner of a photo album she found in her attic. The album helped estranged family members reconnect. Stories like that are encouraging.

I’m even more encouraged when I find out that I have neighbors who are consistently and selflessly working to improve the quality of life for people around the world. I’m not talking about scientists, doctors or politicians. I’m talking about folks in the aviation community, working right here in Bonners Ferry and the Idaho Panhandle.

I recently spoke with Dave Parker, owner of Northern Air Aviation. Over the last year, he and his team contributed time and resources to a float plane for Samaritan Aviation. This plane, number two in Samaritan’s operation, will be used to further their existing medical aid operations in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.

I asked Parker what motivated him to contribute to such a project. He was casual at first, saying that it was “a good year, we wanted to do a good thing.” He went on to say that the project was a good fit for his organization, as he has three pilots who are bound for the mission field. “Working on an aircraft like this gives them a taste of what they’ll be doing in the field.” Parker explained.

He reflected a bit more; telling me that such work is the “heart of the company, if we could do this for a living that would be cool.” Essentially, Parker was saying that he works to develop resources so he can give to people in need. That attitude appears to permeate his business.

I was able to speak with one of his mission-bound pilots, Phil Negaard, who told me, “Flying is where my heart is.” The project was fun for him and educational as well. Negaard told me that Northern Air, along with volunteers from outside their organization, showed great concern for each detail of the aircraft and took the time to do it right.

Doing it right in this case is about making sure the plane is ready for service in a remote location. That means replacing any component that is not suited to the task and making alterations to allow for maintenance in the field, where the availability of parts is limited, to say the least.

One of the key advisors on the project, and the driving force behind the do-it-right mentality, is a local man, Bruce Johnson. Johnson is intimate with Samaritan Aviation’s operation, inside and out. He contributed firsthand experience, with special knowledge of the aircraft and piloting, along with knowledge of the geographic and social conditions pilots will meet in Papua New Guinea.

Johnson has been involved with Samaritan Aviation for the last five or six years. He is an aviation consultant; an advisor who helps Samaritan identify, obtain and prepare planes for their operation. He and his wife, Bonnie, accompanied the first Samaritan Aviation plane to Papua New Guinea where they spent several months reassembling the aircraft. After that, they flew to Wewak, a small coastal town near Indonesia where Samaritan Aviation maintains its Papua New Guinea headquarters. Wewak served as their base camp for several months as they flew to a dozen remote villages up the Sepik River – villages they’d located on a map – met with chiefs, and worked to establish health aid outposts.

There are an estimated 500,000 people living in remote villages along the 300 miles of Sepik River. These people live in remote villages along the river and its tributaries. Those twelve villages initially explored by Bruce and Bonnie represent one-third of the villages currently served by Samaritan Aviation. Enter a second aircraft.

In humble terms, Bruce explained, “The airplane is just a tool that we use because there are no other forms of transportation, other than boat, primarily dugout canoe, over hundreds of miles of tributaries and the main Sepik River….” Even so, there are places the float plane cannot even reach. Bruce continued, “You could have a family paddle their way down river for a day or two just to get to a part of the Sepik River where we can get to them.”

The latter comment, for many Americans, is shocking. Perhaps we understand remote locations better than most, living in the Idaho Panhandle. Still, it is difficult to imagine a dugout canoe as your rig, your primary means of transportation. Moreover, a couple of hours seems like a long ride to the hospital; it’s hard to conceive of transporting an injured family member for a couple days. Bruce assured me, “We always look at things through Western eyes. These conditions are quite prevalent.” In order to understand the real needs of people in Papua New Guinea it is important to gain perspective.

The lifestyle in rural Papua New Guinea is not entirely a matter of limited resources; it’s more about culture. Rural Americans should understand that to some extent. Bruce explained, “You can’t necessarily look at things through Western eyes in terms of making their situation what we enjoy as a normal, routine way of life.” As such, Samaritan Aviation is not motivated to change the culture of people in Papua New Guinea. Instead, they have a mindset to provide for the physical and spiritual needs of the people. “We can help…. A lot of people would lose their lives if it weren’t for ministries like Samaritan.” Bruce stated.

Samaritan has partnered with local churches, the Global Community Health Network, and the government of Papua New Guinea to provide medevac style aid to remote villagers. They routinely assist individuals suffering from pregnancy complications, snake bites, and wounds sustained from machetes and spear.

Through their health aid outposts, and because of the integrity of their organization, their services have been engaged by the government of Papua New Guinea to distribute medical supplies.

All of this is possible because of local contributions, our friends and neighbors offering their skills and resources. Sometimes we think nothing is happening in small town America, that all the important decisions, all the necessary fixes, come from the state capitol, or Washington D.C. I think the real change starts a lot closer to home, in the heart of one person at a time. In the immortal words of Anne Frank, as posted to Facebook by Samaritan Aviation on September 30 of this year, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

#local #lifecommunity