Just when I’m getting the hang of my role as MAF Lesotho’s interim country program manager (PM), I get a curve ball that’s got me reeling. The life of a PM is a big change for a pilot/mechanic who is used to not being tied to the hangar. Now I’ve got an office, a desk, […]
Circling the remote mountain airstrip I see both windsocks standing straight out, indicating lots of wind. My onboard GPS is talking to me and I don’t like what it says. Around 20 knots crosswind, I calculate. My heart is thumping and my palms are sweating. My hopes for landing are not high.
The day’s scheduled flights […]
How local workers are making a big difference in MAF programs around the world
Rethabile stopped working. The man leading a donkey past the Kuebunyane health clinic had caught his attention. Rethabile and Maila, another Basotho MAF worker, put down the bricks they were unloading from the airplane and approached the man—a more pressing task was […]
Continued from an earlier post…
Working on the Lebakeng airstrip. Photo by Matt Monson.
Despite our best efforts to alert government entities, healthcare workers, and the villagers about the possible airstrip closure if someone didn’t take ownership and fix it, nothing had been done—that is, until now.
On April 24, 80 community members, several clinicians, […]
Toward the end of April, the MAF Lesotho program participated in a “Letsema” for the first time. A Letsema is a partnership to complete a project for the good of the community. People come only expecting a meal in compensation for their labor. If you feed them—they will come. Such was the case for the […]
There is an air of excited anticipation so tangible you can almost see it as Matt Monson, our newest pilot, taxis off the runway and into the MAF area. Our entire staff is poised to give Matt a soaking he’ll likely not forget. Matt is none the wiser. Our buckets are filled and carefully positioned […]