Banner Insurance and Mission Aviation Fellowship: Working Together

Banner Financial Services Group Ltd have been providing Emergency Medical and Travel Insurance to mission and aid workers for the past 16 years. Here, Laurence Brooks, Managing Director of Banner, gives a first-hand account of the work of the Mission Aviation Fellowship in Kenya and Southern Sudan , and looks at how the two organisations plan to operate together, supporting the work of Banner clients by providing international assistance, insurance protection and transport at times of crisis.

“The eight day trip presented an ideal opportunity to experience the living conditions and daily trials that missionaries face in Kenya and Southern Sudan , and to see MAF in action taking physical and spiritual care to people in places of deepest human need. I also wanted to explore opportunities to expand Banner's existing air evacuation services in these more remote areas.

My companion and guide, Robert Kirby-Maynard of MAF, joined me at Nairobi Wilson Airport , where we met Operations Director Derek Reeh at MAF's East African Operations Centre. Here I was surprised to learn that e very three minutes, a MAF plane takes off or lands somewhere in the world, enabling the work of aid and development agencies, missions, national churches and other local groups. The cargo could be anything from cement bags to an ill or injured person. It is clear that flying is not a luxury but a necessity when it brings hope to far-flung communities which might take days or weeks to reach by land, where roads may be non-existent, or impassable for half the year.

From Nairobi we headed to Juba in Southern Sudan where MAF is in the process of setting up a permanent base at the airport and in the city itself. This would save many flying hours, and enable MAF to better serve their partners in southern Sudan . The years of conflict have scarred this city. The war-torn buildings and roads make one profoundly aware that the current ‘peace' is a welcome relief, but very fragile. Our major concern has always been the physical wellbeing of Banner clients, and for this reason the main cover we provide is for emergency medical treatment. However, witnessing missionaries and aid workers serving in acres of such uncertainty and risk brought home the true value of the additional elements we build into our policy to ensure all the major needs of a person working outside their home country are addressed. These include such essentials as emergency dental, travel, personal accident, personal property and liability insurance.

We continued north to Liethnom where World Relief and World Concern have a compound, and they kindly provided our accommodation: mud huts and latrines that one did not linger in! However, with plenty of water for cold showers, and with such wonderful fellowship and friendship from the workers, we were made very welcome. However, the juxtaposition of this remote African village, with no running water and only basic ablutions, running strip lights and even a video player powered by solar panels required some mental adjustment!

It was whilst we were here that Angelina, a local lady, 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 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 - whilst we were here classes were disrupted due to the presence of a snake! The pupil's age's range from five to 22 years, proving there is a real desire for education. Many know this is their only means to escape poverty.

On our last night in Liethnom, the wonderful people we stayed with heard that it was my birthday and presented me with a “planned cake” - all the ingredients that would have been used, if they had had the time to make it - with a candle in the middle! I requested that they did make the cake in my honour and enjoy it the next evening.

Then it was on to the UN Base at Thiet, where World Vision has established a well-run project providing food to refugees. Whilst we were here we also visited their Medical Facility and met the attending doctor. Mindful of our clients desire for their non life-threatening medical conditions to be treated with minimum disruption to their work, it was clear that by working with MAF we could save them time and inconvenience by enabling them to be flown from remote areas like this to more suitable medical facilities inside the country.

Throughout the trip we were flown by MAF pilot Gavin Prentice, an exceptional man truly blessed with the spirit of Jesus! There is nothing remotely glamorous about the role of these pilots, and as Gavin told us, they often spend many days away from their families and loved ones, often on their own, and have to face some very basic living conditions. I only had five days of mud huts, tents and toilet facilities: the nature of which cannot truly be understood without experiencing the reality. These pilots face the same conditions with a regularity that must be testing. Yet when we asked Gavin “what should we pray for?” he replied clearly, and without hesitation, “our families: they share the sacrifice of us being away from home”. Gavin started each flight with a prayer of thanks and protection. This is done no matter who or what is being transported, and the prayers involve all passengers, Christian and Muslim alike. It is so refreshing to see the gift of prayer being used, and no apology made for it.

R eturning to Nairobi , as we flew over remote clusters of villages shimmering in the scorching humidity we felt tired but blessed; privileged to have had the opportunity to see and share, even for a brief time, the life of the missionary in action.”