Amid all the closures, needing permissions to do anything, ever-changing rules... it has felt impossible to do anything to help with this pandemic in our corner of Papua. Then one thing led to another...
We have a Bible translator friend, Seth, who has been stuck here in Nabire for the last 3 months. We started talking about the news on medicines that help fight against COVID. Turns out the drug chloroquine, formally used for treating malaria, is now thought to be helpful in COVID patients. Chloroquine is more or less not available... except Seth, a former paramedic, had some stored away in his village hut, the only known chloroquine we could get our hands on in all of Indonesia. Fast forward a couple days, Brian (my coworker) and I headed over to Seth's village of Dirau to pick up the meds. After we found them, we added them to our cocktail of drugs that we brought from Nabire. Then neatly packed and labeled them with pictures so the illiterate, after a brief explanation, could understand how to take them. This regimen for 6 people, only for the very sick with all three of the big COVID symptoms (bad cough, high fever and difficulty breathing), could mean the difference between life and death for a villager in isolation. Dirau takes 1-2 weeks to get to from Nabire (via boat, truck, canoe and by foot), yet for us only a 40 minute flight. After an explanation of how to use the soap we gave them, and how to avoid COVID (pretty humorous considering they don't believe in germs, and if you get sick it's an enemy's curse) we were on our way back home. Later on we counted the meds we had left. We had enough chloroquine for 6 adults, and with 9 adult missionaries currently here in Nabire we felt comfortable with that being our contingency plan (considering we have virtually no medical care here in Nabire and no way to leave Nabire to go better care if needed). Then we got a radio call from another Bible translator family. Their village is located far from any roads, a good 3 day hike from the nearest airstrip, so isolated you would think there was no way COVID would find its way there... but it did. At this point they had already been in the village well past their planned visit to Nabire for supply buying and much needed rest due to the lockdown, and not knowing how to help those starting to show symptoms they asked for advice. It was a no brainer, we would package up the meds we were just storing here and give it to them. Finally we had a way to help the people actually suffering from COVID! These people are so isolated and far from medical help, they don't even know what COVID is. But how do you get something to a place, nuzzled high up on a mountain with no airstrip and no helicopter? Ask any 10 year old boy, and they will give you the answer... throw it out the airplane! 2 days later I found myself sitting in the back seat of an empty airplane. MAF has been doing air drops for 75 years, and they know all the dangers associated with it. Lots can go wrong when a pilot is flying low and slow, close to mountainous terrain, fixated on a drop spot, while throwing something out the window. So I was in the back, ready to throw the duck taped cardboard box out the window, while Brian flew the airplane. After a pattern overhead to inspect our drop zone, we set up for an approach. I heard a countdown, then "DROP!", I threw the precious cargo, down to the only open area on the mountain (a small helicopter pad). All I saw looking back was the brief flash of the banner unraveling, and then I quickly pulled my head in before my headset was ripped off by the 100+mph winds. Nothing to do now but go home and wait for the call on how we did. It was a bullseye. It was easy to see God's hand in all of this. It's good to be reminded that although we are unsettled by current events, God isn't surprised. He is still very much in control. "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD! " - Psalm 31:24 Edit: Later we found out that the medicine has been very beneficial as more and more are showing COVID symptoms. Be in prayer for the missionaries there, as they are worn out, putting in 40+ hours of language/culture learning, plus villagers watching them all day long and the many other things they do to help in a very difficult living environment.
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AuthorsWe are just a couple of kids from Iowa learning to trust Christ daily and aiming to serve Him though mission aviation. Archives
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