Ecuador

Since 1948, MAF has provided access to the Gospel and life-sustaining resources to the people of Ecuador.

In many of the country’s remote regions, MAF provides flights, communications, and logistical support for missionaries, local churches, and villages. MAF operates a fleet of five aircraft from two bases: Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, and Shell, on the edge of the Amazon basin.

Medical and air ambulance support are significant components of the MAF ministry in Ecuador. Thirty-nine percent of all MAF flights are medically related, including flights for the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, which sends healthcare teams into the jungle to provide preventative immunizations and rural health education programs. The MAF chaplain ministry, established in 2005, is impacting hundreds of patients and their family members each year.

Throughout the jungle, MAF communications networks enable villages to communicate with one another and with the outside world. Missions and local churches coordinate evangelism and discipleship programs, request medical emergency flights, and bring isolated communities together.

Ecuador, like many mission fields, has seen a rise in national missionaries and a corresponding decrease in foreign mission workers. The fruit of earlier mission efforts, national pastors and missionaries have a call to share the Gospel with their countrymen, but may not have the economic ability to use aviation services. When possible, MAF subsidizes their flights.

In recent years, MAF has been under pressure from Ecuadorian authorities to develop a more nationalized program, integrating additional Ecuadorian personnel into program operations. MAF has been working closely with its sister organization, Alas de Socorro del Ecuador (ADSE), to find solutions for sustainable Ecuadorian operations.

In the past 12 months, the MAF program in Ecuador ...

• Saved Christian and humanitarian workers 4,460 days of travel time—or 18.4 work years redeemed for productive Kingdom work!
• Executed 4,361 flights, transported 7,924 passengers, and delivered 438,214 pounds of cargo in order to provide access to the Gospel and to basic services such as health clinics, medical emergency evacuations, and education—services otherwise unavailable in jungle locations.
• Supported 95 indigenous and expatriate mission workers, including doctors, teachers, and translators, who provide critical services to isolated villages and remote regions.
• Continued a chaplain ministry that &helip;
  • Witnessed to each passenger at the hangar by playing DVDs in the waiting room about Jesus Christ or His ministry.
  • Distributed some 2,056 New Testaments and more than 7,900 Christian tracts.
  • Made 159 visits to the government hospital in Puyo, sharing the Gospel and encouraging patients. Assisted 144 people with financial help or donations of food and/or clothing from the chaplain's pantry.
  • Thirty-four patients accepted Christ through this ministry and were linked with jungle churches for follow-up and discipleship.
• Provided monthly flights supporting the ongoing translation of the Old Testament into Shuar by Avant Ministries—a project that could not otherwise be accomplished.
• Transported staff of Compassion International and Ecuador Para Cristo to support their ministries to jungle communities.
• Upgraded the MAF radio network, including replacing two repeaters. Nearly 70 villages are now equipped with new radios, batteries and solar panels. The only communications link to the outside world, these radios allow isolated jungle villagers to contact doctors; doctors to schedule emergency flights; pilots to obtain accurate weather reports; church leaders to participate in regional training events; and remote communities to connect with one another.
• Hosted five work teams from the U.S. These teams donated 60 days of service to MAF. The volunteers helped prepare radio units for jungle installation and worked on various maintenance projects at the MAF hangar and in staff houses.
• Enhanced the precision and safety of MAF flight operations by upgrading avionics equipment on four aircraft.
• Continued frequent flights for brigadas, medical teams each consisting of a doctor, nurse, and dental hygienist. These teams treat patients, teach improved hygiene, and instruct villagers in basic first aid to treat minor medical problems before they become serious and life-threatening.

1. Prepare for the arrival of a Cessna 206 with more fuel-efficient engine modifications. Further address the high cost and shortage of avgas by exploring the possibility of acquiring a Cessna 182.
2. Continue the MAF chaplain ministry, including quarterly visits to village churches. Explore ways for the MAF chaplain program to coordinate ministry efforts with ADSE.
3. Install a remote voltage monitoring system at two radio repeater stations as well as a new roof on the south repeater.
4. Continue transporting brigadas (medical teams) to remote villages.
5. Plan for and host visiting work teams throughout the year. Four or five teams are anticipated over the next 12 months.
6. In response to government calls for program nationalization, work with ADSE to establish a commercial flight operation. Sign formal contracts by February 2009, and begin operations in April 2009.

This year, it will require $2,137,504 to operate ongoing programs in Ecuador. Total funding from support raised by MAF missionary staff and from field revenue amounts to $1,562,128—or 73 percent of total operating costs.

We seek the remaining 27 percent—or $575,376—from caring partners: individuals, churches, and foundations.