In Timor-Leste, our team flies hundreds of people to hospital each year, with almost-daily requests for help. But the ministry of MAF doesn’t end when patients get to the capital – MAF’s Closing the Loop programme helps them get home again.
Story by Matt Painter
Alighting from the aeroplane onto the grass airstrip of Atauro Island, 64-year-old Francisco De Souja Araujo is one of hundreds of patients and their families that MAF flies home each year.
“I would like to express my gratitude because of the great journey to arrive in my place in Atauro,” he said, standing with his wife Rosa De Araujo and daughter Murdiana De Souja Araujo, who also travelled with him.
Murdiana, who is one of Francisco and Rosa’s six children, spoke not only of their journey by air, but of their journey through her father’s illness.
“My father was sick with tuberculosis,” she said. “Then the hospital called the plane to come and take him, because he was in a very critical condition.
“Such severe illness cannot be treated here. So, he was brought to Dili. There, our father and mother felt the weight of the long duration treatment plan, as the doctors said it would take about six months. Because of that, they wanted to return to Atauro to refresh and then will go back to Dili for further treatment.”
It is showing that we care in both word and deed; caring for the whole wellbeing of the individual: physical, mental and spiritual – body, mind and soul.
MAF’s Closing the Loop programme allows medevac patients like Francisco and their families to return to their home villages for the cost of a boat or bus fare, thanks to donor support. For patients recovering from recent surgery at Timor-Leste’s national hospital, or those still needing further treatment, the comfort and speed of a flight means a lot.
“We’re very grateful because the MAF brothers and sisters assisted us well. To come here via plane feels great as we see the beauty of nature and arrive quickly in Atauro,” Murdiana added.
“We’re happy because we can get the MAF plane that brought us here in just 15 minutes.”
Atauro Island is separated from the main island of Timor by a 3000-metre-deep water channel. Boat crossings often take up to three hours, and at times are delayed or cancelled due to rough sea conditions. Patients from other districts on the main island face many hours of bus travel over winding and often unsealed roads, meaning MAF flights make massive differences in travel time.
Francisco, Rosa and Murdiana gather their bags and prepare to get on a tuktuk, their next form of transportation. The family come from Makadade village; some distance from the airstrip.
“To take a car to Makadade takes two hours, but that’s only if there is a car going to Makadade,” Murdiana said. If they can’t find suitable transport, they’ll stay with relatives.
Francisco formerly worked as a carpenter, but in recent years has worked in road construction. Like many Timorese, Francisco and his family are farmers. They grow pineapples, bananas, corn, jackfruit and nuts – planting both to eat and to sell in the marketplace.
Pilot Tim Vallance-Webb, who flew Francisco and his family home, understands the deeper impact of the Closing the Loop programme.
“It shows that we care beyond being just a method of medical transportation,” he said. “We offer care packs to the patients, we follow up whilst they are in hospital and, God willing, we are able to return them home restored and healthy to close the loop from that initial medical evacuation request from the hospital.
“It is showing that we care in both word and deed; caring for the whole wellbeing of the individual: physical, mental and spiritual – body, mind and soul.”
