Banner Financial Services Group Ltd. have been providing Emergency Medical and Travel Insurance to missionaries for the past 16 years, sharing the ethos of their missionary clients. In this article, Laurence Brooks, Managing Director of Banner, tells us first-hand how Banner and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) operate: providing assistance to, and transporting, Banner clients from remote areas in times of crisis.

"I spent eight days in Kenya and Southern Sudan alongside Robert Kirby-Maynard (MAF) and Lynne Barker (MAF Supporter) establishing how MAF operate. The trip presented an ideal opportunity for us to experience the living conditions and daily trials that missionaries face, and see MAF in action taking essential aid and care to remote villages in Southern Sudan. We saw Christ's hands and heart being extended to these needy people through the love and commitment of the many workers we met.

Monday morning we started our trip with a visit to Nairobi Wilson Airport, where MAF have their East African Operations Centre, and met with Derek Reeh (Operations Director).

After a tour of the hangar etc, we flew up to Lokichoggio, Northern Kenya, close to the border with Sudan for one night. This was an oasis of civilisation in a very desolate wilderness. We stayed in comfortable, almost luxurious, tents: lulling us into a false sense of what was to come!

Next day, it was an early start to Juba, Southern Sudan. The many years of war have scarred this city. The war torn buildings and roads make one realise the harsh reality: the current "peace" is a welcome relief, but very fragile! We visited the SIL compound - Wycliffe, which MAF is helping to rebuild. It was badly run-down and had been ransacked during the war years. These incredible pilots spend many days away from their families and loved ones, often on their own, and have to face some very basic living conditions. We only had five days of mud huts, tents and toilet facilities: the nature of which cannot truly be understood without experiencing the reality! The MAF pilots face these conditions with a regularity that must be testing.

From Juba we flew up to Liethnom, a very remote village on the Jur River, in the Lakes region. World Relief and World Concern have a compound in Liethnom and kindly provided our accommodation: mud huts and latrines that one did not linger in!

It was whilst we were here that a local lady (Angelina) was brought into the medical clinic suffering from a head wound. She had been shot in the head. Her husband and two of her three children had also been killed - over cattle! These animals have a value far beyond their actual worth. They are never used for food or milk and are purely a status symbol: the more you own, the wealthier you are!

Sadly, we also visited a project on-hold due to lack of funds: the rebuilding of a school. The old school made of mud bricks is now a ruin, washed away by the rains. An Aid Organisation started the project, but since has stopped funding, so the children are taught under trees. Classes of pupils range from five to 22 years, proving there is a real desire for education. Many pupils know this is their only means to escape poverty.

From Liethnom we flew to Thiet via Warrup, a U.N. Base. In Thiet World Vision has an established-compound that provides food to refugees. It is a very well run project. Whilst we were there we also visited the Medical Facility run by World Vision. We met the attending doctor there, who had not had a day-off in perhaps a year, the signs of this were evident upon his tired face!

From Thiet it was back to Nairobi via Lokichoggio, a very busy airfield used by countless Aid Organisations. After a long day, flying over hundreds of remote clusters of villages, it was great to have a bath and be cool again. The temperature in Sudan often tops the 30's and is very humid. The wonderful hospitality and care of the MAF personnel was evident upon our return to the Guest House, where a wonderful meat pie was waiting for us. How welcome it was too, after five days of rice and vegetables! Although I believe a goat was tried on one occasion! Saturday morning started with a breakfast meeting with Derek and his wife, Janet. We agreed that we would look forward to putting in place the final stages of the agreement with Banner and MAF, providing care and support to workers and their loved ones.

It was an early start on Sunday. Picked-up at 5:30am, we had to get to the airport for our flight back to London. Arriving at Heathrow in the early evening, we felt tired but blessed: privileged to have had the opportunity to see and share, even for a brief while.