Here is the next blog post in our series by the MAF wives. This is a recent day in the life of Liz Schandorff at the Haiti program. It’s a bit unusual in that she’s been working in the MAF Haiti hangar office for several weeks, helping with the Hurricane Matthew response.
4:20 a.m. – Wake to my fans turning off, which means our house batteries have crashed and power is out. Go downstairs and reconnect us to city power to turn fans and security lights back on. Head back upstairs and climb into bed.
Liz flies along on one of the assessment flights post Hurricane Matthew, to see firsthand the scale of the damage.
5:30 a.m. – Get up, shower, make scrambled eggs, toast, and sliced mango for breakfast for my guests (two MAF marketing staff and one intern from Moody aviation).
6 a.m. – Wake my husband and kids.
6:40 a.m. – Drop off Jacob, 10, and Benjamin, 6, with a friend who is homeschooling them for two months (while I help out full-time at the hangar following Hurricane Matthew. Normally I homeschool them), carpool to the hangar with my husband, Tim, our guests, and one of our national staff who lives in our neighborhood.
7:30 a.m. – Arrive at the hangar and begin to deal with changes to the day’s flight schedule, which includes calls to and from HERO (an emergency medical services provider) to work out a medevac for a baby boy* born in the remote town of Dame Marie with a double cleft lip. Deal with cancellations, call passengers, and combine flights to make the schedule work.
8:42 a.m. – Open the scheduling email inbox: 43 new emails to respond to.
9:31 a.m. – Get back to the scheduling inbox after multiple interruptions (fielding calls for flight requests on the scheduling phone, working out details with the medevac situation, discussing future pilot needs for our disaster response efforts); down to 42 emails now. Slightly disheartened that in almost an hour, I’ve only answered one email.
11:06 a.m. – Take a phone call about a potential second medevec situation from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince (PAP) for a man with kidney failure*.
11:32 a.m. – Eat leftover spaghetti for lunch at my desk while I tackle the pile of scheduling emails.
3 p.m. – After a fairly quiet and productive afternoon, I’m ready to go home but wait for Tim, who is trying to close out our October finances (he does finance and other administrative tasks for the program).
Liz and Tim Schandorff working at the MAF Haiti hangar office.
4:10 p.m. – October finances finished, scheduling inbox down to seven emails (yay!), pack up my laptop, lock up the hangar, and head home with our guests.
4:35 p.m. – Pick up my kids, who are tired and sweaty from a full day of school and playing with friends.
4:55 p.m. – Arrive home to a set table and the wonderful aroma of beef stew, prepared by my house helper, Chrismene.
5:08 p.m. – Mid-dinner, answer a call on the scheduling phone (we answer at all hours in case of emergency) from Elena at MEDAIR. We have done a lot of flying post-hurricane for MEDAIR and she wanted to call and thank me for MAF’s help before she flew back to Switzerland the next day, and to let me know that her replacement would be arriving in a few days to continue MEDAIR’s work here.
5:52 p.m. – Answer a knock at my gate from Wilson, a neighborhood boy we help with school needs. He needs a new pair of pants for school. I tell him to come back the next day and I’ll have the funds ready for him.
6:05 p.m. – Guests and kids play board games while I call two pilots who have been sick this week to find out if they will make it to work the next day. Send out the next day’s flight schedule.
6:30 p.m. – Sneak upstairs for a quick shower and read a chapter of my Bible (2 Timothy 2, part of my reading plan this year, reading through the NT).
7 p.m. – Read a few stories to my boys and snuggle with them.
8:10 p.m. – Read a chapter of my current book (John Ortberg’s Soul Keeping) and realize I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. Turn the light off and relish the feeling of knowing I can be proud of a good day’s work!
Liz and Tim with their boys, (L to R) Benjamin and Jacob.
*The medevac for the baby did happen that afternoon (no update yet); the other medevac did not, for some reason. Liz wasn’t sure why.