The Flying For Life Podcast

Since 1966, MAF’s been serving Chad’s most isolated people such as the Teda in the Sahara. Their language had never been published until linguist Mark Ortman arrived. For 30 years, Mark - enabled by MAF - has developed the Teda alphabet and transformed education. Find out how Mark and Esmara – MAF’s youngest country director - are changing lives.

Nearly 2 million refugees – over half of them children - are now living in Uganda, which has the largest refugee population in Africa. But faced with the largest aid cuts in history, Uganda’s child refugees are suffering. Ruth Jack – MAF’s Africa Director, and Rosemary Khamati from PEACE International share how they’re supporting these vulnerable children.

In our special 80th anniversary edition, trustee and former pilot Max Gove and country director Lisa Blomberg - who heads up MAF’s newest programme in Guinea – turn back the clock to navigate MAF’s most memorable milestones. Standing on the shoulders of giants, they consider how MAF history inspires their work today.

Episode 8 - Brazilian floods – aviation & the environment

When floods hit Rio Grande do Sul and made 600,000 people homeless, pilot Jacob Anderson from MAF affiliate Asas de Socorro flew in to help. Jacob and Caroline Pomeroy from Climate Stewards discuss the causes of southern Brazil’s worst ever climate disaster and explore the relationship between aviation and the environment.

Episode 7 – Staying safe in PNG

Given PNG’s recent fuel crisis and escalating civil unrest, how do you stay safe in such a volatile country? Pilot Andrew Symmonds, who was caught up in the riots, and Andy Hedley-Smith - MAF International’s head of security and former close protection manager at the Metropolitan Police - share their top tips.

Episode 5 – Happy Birthday MAF Arnhem Land! For half a century, MAF’s been serving the Yolngu people who live in the vast, isolated wilderness of Australia’s Arnhem Land. We hear from MAF Arnhem Land’s country director Matt Henderson and MAF partner Natalie Morreau who manages Miyalk Domestic & Family Violence Shelter, which has been empowering women for decades.

Episode 4 – Navigating Haiti: With gang violence on the rise, we hear from MAF pilot Eric Fagerland who’s overseeing a skeleton crew in the capital Port-Au-Prince, and MAF frequent flyer Dr Janice Cotrone – founder and dean of the Wesleyan University’s Haiti School of Nursing who narrowly missed a bullet and survived armed robbery.

MAF Timor-Leste pilot Ping Domtta, Dr Zwijnenburg from PNG’s Kompiam District Hospital and Maud Kells OBE – former midwife / nurse, trainer, author and founder of Mulita Hospital / Mulita Primary School in the DRC, all share their experience of MAF’s lifesaving medevacs (medical evacuations).

John Feil - Operations Manager for MAF South Sudan, Peter Claver - Head of Programmes at health charity AMREF and the Rev Bernard Suwa of Grace Community Church in Juba, share how they’re tackling poverty in South Sudan – MAF’s oldest African programme.

Join Sally Lloyd - Director of Strickland Bosavi Foundation, Maika Yabua - a science teacher at Nomad Mougulu High School and Steven Biggs - MAF Liberia’s Deputy Chief Pilot as they discuss access to education in Papua New Guinea and Liberia.