Insights into the FM world
Zambia local community
This year is the fourth year that Doctors Uta and Craig (from Mercy Fliers, partner of Flying Mission Zambia) have visited Mongu hospital on the Zambezi river, about 150km south of Chitokoloki. They took with them a new microscope donated to Uta by some German friends of hers. This microscope is amazing. Instead of the old thing which weighed 30kg and filled the aircraft, this new one weighs 8kg and occupies a briefcase!
Continue reading “New microscope from supporters aids healing in Mongu”
It was a sunny morning shortly after Zambia celebrated fifty years of independence. Dr Bruce Bvulani waited on the airfield with Doctors Craig and Rae Oranmore-Brown of Mercy Fliers (partner organisation with Flying Mission Zambia) whilst baggage was stowed and pre-flight checks done. 
Craig continues: after a pleasant and uneventful flight, we arrived at Mukinge and got to work. The late morning was spent seeing patients and making a rather ambitious surgery list for the visit. We started operating that afternoon.
If you read this page regularly you will know that the Village Live-in is a major part of adjusting to Zambian culture for new Flying Mission Zambia missionaries. ‘Life in rural areas is laid back, but at the same time exhausting! Every day looks almost the same as the day before’, write Nina and Timo. ‘Our hosts were James & Eloisia from the Tonga tribe. James is a farmer and a Pastor/Reverend. 
They call their 7 children their own, but 2 are adopted. They opened their home to us in such a lovely way and made us feel so welcome.
Whenever new personnel join the Flying Mission Zambia Team, they are guided through a series of experiences that will help them adjust to life in a foreign country. Come with Nina and Timo now and see through their eyes how local people ‘do’ travel….
The goal: take the minibus and try to get to the National Museum in Lusaka. Then find your way home, with the minibus, of course. A minibus corresponds roughly to the public transportation you may know…that is, it takes you from point A to point B! It’s the “how” that turns out to be slightly different!
CASAS church in Tucson, Arizona, USA, has generously supported Flying Mission Zambia in various ways over a number of years so it was not altogether surprising to hear from them last year with another proposition. They were upgrading their Christian School laptops, and offering the obsolete models to Zambia. Although initially we had no obvious need for them, we gratefully accepted them. They were to come out in a container which was due to arrive in June. It finally came in August. In September, just a matter of days later, FMZ was informed of a burglary in Macha – laptops were taken from New Day Orphanage! The rest is history! Continue reading “I know what you need!”
A transformed community? Flying Mission Zambia Pilot, David Lott, heard about it whilst flying a medical team to Lusaka following their mission to Samfya, Zambia. He was just doing his job when he got to hear this story, and found he actually had a part in it!
By day, Michael Sampson is the Projects Co-ordinator for Flying Mission Zambia, managing building projects, water, electrics, fencing etc.
But at night he has another agenda running. He sent us this report of what an ‘evening on the town’ in Lusaka means to him and some of his church friends.
‘Finding a safe, well lit place to meet in the late evening in Lusaka is not easy. After the leaders meet & pray, we gather in the car park of ‘Mellissa’s Supermarket’ around 8:30pm. By the time 30 to 40 boys gather, along with some passers-by and curious onlookers, we create quite a group.
Vehicles are vital tools for missionaries in Africa. Roads are very tough here and workers have to spend a lot of time and money keeping their cars roadworthy for their ministries. So this story from Pilot Andy Kradolpher is a familiar one, except that it has a rather special ending. Read on to know more..
‘Now I like to tinker with cars, but about six months ago we started to experience a series of car troubles in Flying Mission Zambia that gave us quite some grief. We ended up having our car at the mechanic for more than a month. That meant I had to go to the local automotive parts shop quite often. So I started to dread all the car troubles. Continue reading “Car troubles”
Although Flying Mission is a ‘service’ rather than a ‘church-planting’ mission, all of its missionaries attend local churches and play their part in the life of those churches. This item, from John and Faith Solt, tells of some of their experiences as they worship with a local group of believers in the area of Lusaka in which Flying Mission Zambia has its base.
When we arrived in Zambia we wanted to attend a church within walking distance of our home. We saw a sign for a Baptist Church but it took us three Sundays to find it! It was out in the bush. As we arrived we heard the choir singing in beautiful harmony and everyone welcomed us. Continue reading “Those blessed pews”
“Mrs Pauline, will you help my Grandmother?”
There are often a number of children by the gate at the end of the runway asking for shoes, but here was a young teenager whose immediate concern was for someone other than herself.
“What is the problem with your Grandmother?”
“She had a stroke 4 weeks ago and we need help.”
The thought of someone lying immobilised inside a mud brick dwelling, with no health service to provide care, reminded us of the desperate plight of many of these people. Continue reading “Lord, make us useful”