"They wanted to stop dropping bombs and start dropping hope."

At a time when most flights have been cancelled, a Christian humanitarian organization continues bringing medicine, disaster relief, and hope to isolated people around the world.

Alex Henderson is Vice President of Development with Mission Aviation Fellowship. He says MAF has been flying lay aircraft in over 30 countries since 1945.

'It’s actually our 75th anniversary,' says Henderson. 'It started with the dream of two RAF pilots after the war. They wanted to stop dropping bombs and start dropping hope and provision into communities that were isolated or forgotten. Since then it’s grown to be the largest private aircraft provider in the world with over 135 planes.'

Henderson says MAF goes into the most remote communities on the planet.

'We fly all over Africa into parts of Southeast Asia,' says Henderson. 'We did fly into Mongolia, we fly into Haiti, down into South America. What we’re providing is a 30-minute flight that might take 8 hours or more by car or literally days to walk.'

Henderson says MAF has just under 1500 staff worldwide.

'We have of course pilots and aviation mechanics, but we also have a significant need for IT specialists, teachers, project managers,' explains Henderson. 'We’re basically providing anything from medevacs delivering doctors, supplies, and community education… to services, evangelism, missionary work, disaster relief, emergency flights, clean water, community development – those are the real things we focus on in those parts all over the world, including in northern Canada.'

that the word 'isolation' has been used a lot lately, but for MAF it’s nothing new, as they’ve been serving isolated people for over 75 years.

'Because we’ve been doing it for so long, isolation is not new, and it’s part of providing hope, provision in the most isolated places. So we’ve just been reminded to be a little smarter on how we continue to provide those life-saving flights and hopeful flights.'

Henderson says MAF has been blessed to be able to continue making an impact in the communities they serve.

'When things get tough, people look at who’s been providing for years, God has continued to bless us,' says Henderson. 'Governments approach us and say ‘we need you’ and a lot of it is COVID relief kits – it’s testing kits, it’s food supplies, it’s medevacs, it’s providing flights for the 1500 partners that we fly worldwide.'

Henderson says there are two staffing tiers with MAF. At their home office in Guelph Ontario, people are shifting to working from home. However, out in the 31 different countries, MAF flies in, it can often be a different story.

of this pilot is to really ask for your people to continue to lift us up in prayer. It’s foundational for so many groups like ours that serve all over the world,' says Henderson. 'Every four minutes, there’s a plane taking off and landing in the world. That’s 24/7 365 days a year, so just asking for the prayers and support of people is huge and we are so so thankful for that.'