MAF Evacuates Nationals, Missionaries and Relief Workers Amid Violence in Kenya

NAMPA, Idaho :: January 8, 2008—Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), a faith-based, nonprofit ministry that serves missions and isolated people around the world with aviation, communications and learning technologies, continues to answer the emergency call for evacuations and humanitarian help in Kenya, Bernard Terlouw, the MAF country director there, said today.

Kenya's continued struggle for democracy remains embroiled in violence. Today, the opposition party called for a new presidential election.

Many Kenyans have been forced to take refuge from the violent mobs, and police in Nairobi have set up barricades and halted traffic. Hundreds have died.

MAF planes may be small, but their response hasn't been, Terlouw said.  

MAF pilots have flown to various towns in western Kenya, such as Eldoret, Kisumu, Kitale and Homa Bay, to evacuate both Kenyans, who have been threatened, as well as staff members from such organizations as Scripture Mission, International Committee of the Red Cross, the Navigators and Gospel Fire International, who were no longer safe in their homes.

As time passed, the panic period eased as relief teams got organized, Terlouw said.

The Electoral Commission of Kenya declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner of the Dec. 27 vote, but opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the outcome, which was backed by international observations.

The challenge led to violent protests, beatings, burnings and stabbings. Much of the chaos has been worsened by blockades, which resulted in a shortage of food and fuel. Well over 300 have died in mob violence, although not all of it related to the political situation.

Terlouw said the instability is being used by some in a similar way to when the government collapsed in 1982. Looting and organized crime have occurred in the general unrest. In addition, indications are that some people may have been settling old scores as the volatility spread.

MAF missionaries reserved no fuel for getting themselves out of the country, Terlouw said.

"It is this stand that is our testimony of Christ's strength," he said. "The message that Jesus gave was that you love people who do not love you. We could fly out, we could just ignore the facts that some people were confessing other faiths and that some people were fighting with each other. We simply said, if you need evacuation, because we're a Christian organization, come on board, and we will help you."

A number of organizations are shifting focus from evacuation to an emphasis on food and health interventions.

The MAF program in Kenya provides aviation services, with a fleet of seven aircraft, as well as information technology and logistics to serve Kenya, Sudan and Somalia.

Founded in the United States in 1945, MAF (www.MAF.org) deploys a fleet of 134 aircraft worldwide to serve in the remotest regions of 51 countries. More than 1,000 Christian and humanitarian organizations in isolated areas depend on MAF to carry out their work. The ministry's pilots transport missionaries, medical personnel, medicines and relief supplies, as well as conduct thousands of emergency medical evacuations each year. MAF also provides services in learning technologies as well as in telecommunications, such as satellite Internet access, high-frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems.