Unwanted Tears

It takes great care and precision to repair an eye and the eye socket.  Here is great news supplied from Eric and Wendy H.- the director of Bongolo Hospital's growing eye clinic:

Here is a photo of a 9 year-old boy, "S", who was operated on recently for chronic dacryocystitis – his left tear sac had been constantly infected for many years, with pus draining from it.  Thanks to God’s guidance and a visitor, Dr. Jack E.'s, help, his surgery was successful.  His healing encouraged his mother, "N" (pictured), to accept Christ as her savior.  She asks for prayer that she would resist Satan in order to remain faithful to her decision to follow Jesus.

From the Flight Deck- August

Chief Pilot Update from August

Summary:  August was the second busiest month of flying so far in 2014- 22.6 hours.  24 passengers and over 2300 pounds of cargo moved- a good mix of hospital staff, visitors, and some seeking medical care at Bongolo.

Chief Pilot, Rob, transports "TB" patient.

Notable Flights:

TB Concerns...maybe?  A patient was referred to Bongolo from a hospital in the capital city of Libreville (photo).  We were told he had Tuberculosis (TB), however, it was later discovered that he had cancer.  As it turns out, the referring hospital had no means to treat the cancer and they decided to use the TB diagnosis as a cover to discharge him.

New Destination:  It was my (Rob's) first time to Franceville, Gabon to bring Pauline L. (Bible translator) to Lamberéné, for the Team Forum.  It was about 4 hours of flying (round-trip) instead of 3 days of traveling. Pauline was especially appreciative of it since he has a nerve problem in her back when she sits for an extended time.

Maintenance Items:

Fuel Injector Issue:  I had an obstructed injector in flight that required... READ MORE

Just In Time... Twice!

Chief Pilot, Rob, and his wife, Doctor Bintou

Our aircraft operates to display God's great love to people of Central Africa.  Sometimes this happens in dramatic ways, as you'll read in this story provided to us from Bintou Peterson- Bongolo Hospital doctor and spouse of our Chief Pilot, Rob.  

On January 26, 2014, deep in the rain forest of southern Gabon, Africa, a young high school student, Josias, was preparing to leave for school. Josias’s father had bought a motorcycle to be used as a village taxi for his son to make much needed income.  That morning however, Josias was using his motorcycle to pick up his friend, Yann and head to high school. As the boys confidently rode off on the bike, they smiled and waved goodbye to Yann’s mom, unaware that their lives would be irrevocably changed in the next few minutes.

They were not far away from their house when a car driving in the opposite direction collided hard with them, ...          READ MORE

16 Drums of AvGas Africa Bound!

2013 Arrival of 15 drums at Bongolo Hospital
(among other cargo).

This past week, sixteen 55-gallon drums were filled, sealed, and transported from Coshocton, OH to Cleveland to prepare for loading onto a shipping container bound for Gabon.  Estimated arrival is set at Bongolo Hospital by the end of October.

Thanks to MMS Aviation and ARK Transport for pulling off all the logistics and continuing thanks to those that have worked hard on this campaign and sponsored drums.

Our Fueling Progress campaign (Oct. 2011 launch) netted sponsorship for 49 drums.  With this delivery, we have been able to deliver 31 of them.

Read more about the FP Campaign journey- CLICK HERE

Team Up With The Straw's!

It's ONLY with your teamwork, that we can reach remote people with the God's Love and Compassion!  Through this blog, we hope that you can read about the many ways that the LOVE of GOD is being creatively expressed in Word and Deed.

As you consider your role on this team, we ask that you Start With Prayer!  you Add your email address to our update list...

Subscribe to our mailing list

.What Next???  Be the wind beneath our wings!!!  Please Sustain this work by giving to our program budget.  Together we make a great team!  Here are your options to make your tax-deductible donation:

1.  ON-LINE E-CHECK or CREDIT CARD:  CLICK HERE...  Then simply follow the directions.

2.  BY MAIL:  Make checks to “C&MA”, and put “Straw-mm” in the memo.  Send to:  C&MA-mm, One Alliance Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

3.  BANK AUTO WITHDRAWAL:  Contact Steve and Alace at “steve@ThingsAboveProject.org” and they will send you a form to fill out.

4. SET UP BY PHONE:  The C&MA will also help you make a "one-time" or on-going contribution (card or bank) over the phone.  Please call 866-443-8262 (9:30am-5pm EST, Mon-Fri).

You will receive a tax-deductible receipt promptly.

If you are joining our team of sustaining supporters (regular donors), we'd love to know.  Please drop us a line at "steve@ThingsAboveProject.org", as it is critical to our budget planning.


Thanks so much for your support!  We can't do it without you.

Lovingly,

Steve and Alace Straw

Recent Stories- Bongolo Eye Clinic

Here are some recent stories from the Bongolo Hospital Eye Clinic as shared by Dr. Wendy Hofman:

The "Other Eye" Guy

The "Other Eye" guy

The man in the attached photo had cataract surgery a couple of weeks ago.  Previously, he could only tell the difference between light and dark in both eyes, and now he says, “I see really well!”  He said that he had really missed seeing his children’s faces before.  The only problem he has now, he says, is when can we operate on his other eye?

Jumping for Joy!

Here is a patient that we operated on a few weeks ago.  She was so happy two days after surgery when Wendy saw her that she was grinning ear to ear and literally jumping up and down!  She spoke a tribal language and not French, so Wendy wasn’t able to understand what she said, but there was a crowd of people around her, just translating that she was very happy.

Please pray for Dr. Hofman, Dr. Elise, and the rest of the staff at the Bongolo Eye clinic.  They will be starting to train a new resident soon as well as undertaking a major expansion project of their facility.  The Bongolo Eye clinic performs more eye procedures than all of the other eye care facilities in Gabon COMBINED!  Each patient hears the Good News about God's great love for them and His desire to be their personal Savior.

Much of the sensitive equipment for the eye clinic has been transported by our aircraft.  In fact, eye clinic cargo was on one of the very first flights we had back in January 2010!

Insights to an African Bush Pilot's Life

Here is a great article that the wife of a colleague of mine, at our partner base in Cameroon, recently shared.  Enjoy the insight to their life serving in their neighborhood and in the skies of Africa.

The Many Layers of Ministry

My husband, Brandon, and I are coming to see that ministry here in Cameroon is like an onion with many layers. The outer layer consists of Brandon’s official ministry title as a pilot-mechanic. Brandon flies Wycliffe missionaries and their supplies between their ministry locations and the mission headquarters in the capital where we live. He also transports Christian medical teams and patients to and from hospitals. He even flew liters of blood, newly arrived from London, to a remote hospital where a critical surgery was taking place. Brandon feels privileged to serve in these ways.

Brandon fuels the Cessna 206 in the pre-dawn hours

Beneath this outer layer lies the complex and rewarding layer of relationships. Brandon’s work puts him in contact with a large variety of people—souls I should say. A good example is the airport official who thanked Brandon so sincerely after receiving a digital copy of the New Testament and the JESUS film in his mother tongue. We recently heard that this man took the JESUS film with him on a trip to his village. When he started to show it to some people on his phone, they said, “No, you must show this on our TV!” Soon they stopped him again and said...  Read More...

Video- Sneak Peek

Enjoy a short video of some shots recently taken in Gabon.  We'll be adding some captions and additional shots, but I couldn't wait for you to take a sneak peek.