They were flown to hospital in poor health, fearful of what happens next, but now they’re back home with their families and doing well. Meet the medevac patients in Timor-Leste with joyful reports of hope and healing.
MAF’s team has made a special home visit to follow up with medevac patients on Atauro Island to hear about their improved health after medevac flights brought them in for treatment at the National Hospital Guido Valadares (HNGV) in Timor-Leste’s capital Dili.
The visit gave the MAF team an opportunity to reach out to two mothers who had needed medevacs due to birth complications.
MAF Country Director Nick Hitchins explained what the continued care meant for the patients experiencing God’s love in their lives.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we can walk the journey through the entire process of someone being brought to Dili for treatment, and then spending time in the hospital, and taking them back home again,” said Mr Hitchins.
“Because it does deeply touch their lives, and it gives them the opportunity to experience God’s love in a way that they otherwise probably would not experience.”
it gives them the opportunity to experience God’s love in a way that they otherwise probably would not experience.
Bernadete Soares de Sousa, a 35-year-old mother from Atauro Island who suffered from postpartum bleeding, explained what this special visit meant to them.
“We are grateful to MAF because they not only help us with a medevac but also continue to follow up to check on our situations,” she said.
She was transferred from Atauro Island on April 16 last year. They stayed at the hospital for almost a week and returned home by boat.
“I suffered from bleeding at that time, and MAF saved my life. Without MAF, I would have lost my life,” she added.
Bernadete, who has two children, is now teaching at a school in Vila-Maumeta in Atauro.
She first experienced flying with MAF when she was flown to Dili to give birth to her daughter Luisia in 2019. She had a second medevac when she suffered from severe bleeding after giving birth to her second child, Joao.
Eliazefa da Silva, a young mother who was evacuated by MAF from Atauro Island after suffering pregnant complications, explained how MAF helped her.
“I was in critical condition at that time, and I had fever and felt cramping on my belly. But MAF brought us to Dili and saved us from this tough situation,” she said.
Eliazefa, the wife of Atauro fisherman Salomao da Costa and mother of baby Hajam, is now in good health again.
She was evacuated on July 11 last year and has since recovered. She also mentioned what MAF’s care meant for them.
“From the bottom of my heart, I want to express how much MAF has supported us. They provided a medevac flight and provided a bag containing basic needs and facilitated a return flight to our hometown,” she added.
Since 2007, when MAF began operating in the nation, it has flown more than 3.000 patients from communities in seven municipalities, including Atauro, which is an island to the north of the capital Dili, 35km across the sea.