A call to serve: Family moves to Africa
Jessica VanderKolk
- For the CDTState College native Steve Straw says he and his family moved to the west-central African nation of Gabon last year to try to put into practice their prayer to be a blessing in everything they do.
Photo provided
The Straw family, from left, Megan, 13; Alace; Joseph, 14; Steve; and Samuel, 11, takes frequent trips to the beach.
Straw, 39, has been working to locate, purchase and refurbish a small plane that will serve as Gabon’s first air ambulance. When the plane arrives in Gabon later this month, he’ll be its pilot.
The plane will make possible trips and supply deliveries between the capital city of Libreville and the country’s main bush hospital, Bongolo Hospital, in southern Gabon, near the Republic of Congo border. It’s a journey that today takes 10 to 12 hours over terrain only a four-wheel drive vehicle can maneuver.
With nurse strikes at clinics and hospitals closer to Libreville, Bongolo is the best chance for medical treatment from western-trained professionals, Straw said. Without any reliable way to reach the hospital, many Gabonese today die from malaria and other treatable illnesses. In addition, Bongolo two years ago opened an HIV/AIDS clinic. Regular delivery of antiretroviral medication is key to treatment.
Straw and his wife, Alace, 37, with their children Joey, 14, Megan, 13, and Samuel, 11, moved to Libreville last year to assess Gabon’s runways and work with the New York-based charity, Air Calvary, to launch the service.
Straw, who lived in State College until he was 19, is a pilot and mechanic who spent years patrolling oil pipelines in Texas and York. He’s also a pastor, raised by parents in State College who have traveled around the world to take part in missionary efforts.
When he learned in 2005 of the opportunity to pilot a medical services plane in Gabon, it seemed a natural fit.
“We saw the project in Africa as a possible further blending of our desire to bless others in a practical way, using the tools God had blessed us with,” said
Straw, a member of Missions Safety International and the International Association of Missionary Aviation.
The Gabon air ambulance service is the most ambitious project yet undertaken by Air Calvary, a charity established in 2005 that specializes in arranging air transportation for health clinics and other outreach activities in remote parts of the world.
“It’s very satisfying, personally, to be involved in this kind of effort,” said Air Calvary President Brock Barrett, a former Army helicopter pilot. “We hope that we can run a quality and a safe program and have a real positive affect on the quality of life of the people in Gabon and the wider region.”
Barrett, who communicates with Straw daily about the project, calls him and his family “heroes” and “pioneers.”
“They have the courage to step out there in faith, and all that hard work and risk is coming to fruition now, as we expect to begin operations here very shortly,” Barrett said.
Along with work on the flight project, Alace Straw runs a guesthouse for international travelers, and the children sometimes serve as interpreters, after the family spent almost a year in France studying Gabon’s official language.
Libreville offers many amenities not found in more rural areas of Gabon. Steve Straw said the family usually gets 24 hours of electricity and 20 hours of water each day. The city of 600,000 doesn’t have much of a middle class, he said --just mansions along the ocean coast and small shacks elsewhere.
The Straws take frequent trips to the beach and find the Gabonese people friendly and welcoming, Steve Straw said.
They have
State College native piloting air ambulance in African nation
learned a lot about living in Gabon, including how to do laundry. At first, the Straws hung their clothes outside in the sun. But they soon discovered a worm that attaches to the clothing and can get under the skin.
“We sent a clothes dryer with Alace’s parents,” said Steve Straw’s mother, Mabel.
Mabel and Dick Straw still live in State College, in the house where they raised Steve and his three brothers and three sisters. They and several of their children and grandchildren have traveled on mission trips around the world.
“They’re all reaching out to help less fortunate people,” said Mabel Straw. “We’re just blessed that God has given us the health
“We are ready for a long-term investment here, should the Lord direct us that way,” he said.
Straw’s parents express pride in their son’s work and plan to be in Harrisburg on Oct. 24, when a sendoff for the airplane is tentatively scheduled.
“We’re excited about it,” said Dick Straw. “The church in this area and the neighborhood are very supportive of him.”
“We’ll be there with bells on,” said Mabel Straw. “Maybe we’ll crawl on the plane and go with them.”
For more information, visit www.aircalvary.com or Steve Straw’s blog at gabonpilot.blog spot.com.
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