Although John thought they only wanted his goods, they also wanted to take his life.
Early one morning, John was walking back from the market to his home in Habai village, in Papua New Guinea’s isolated Highlands. He was carrying three bags of flour and eight litres of oil, which he was hoping to sell so he could pay for his sons’ school fees.
Suddenly, a gang of vicious-looking men leaped out, wielding bush knives. Afraid that they would kill him, John handed over his precious supplies, money and mobile, thinking they’d let him go. Unfortunately, they didn’t!
Instead, John was stabbed repeatedly in the head, jaw, neck and shoulders, then left to die in a bloody heap on the remote jungle trail.
Miraculously – despite the roar of the Waghi River raging nearby – a local pastor heard John’s cries. As soon as he saw the blood-soaked clothes of the dying victim, the pastor phoned for help.
Staff from Nomane Health Centre carefully made their way down with a stretcher and IV drip and, because no roads exist there, carried John back to the clinic.
Unfortunately, because the local health centre couldn’t give the heavily bleeding patient the medical assistance he needed, a doctor phoned Mission Aviation Fellowship, requesting an urgent medevac.
Thirty minutes after MAF’s base in Goroka had received the anguished call for help, Pilot Glenys Watson landed at Nomane Airport. Then, as soon as John was loaded into the plane, Glenys flew him to an airstrip near Kundiawa General Hospital, where the staff were able to save his life.
Without MAF’s help, he would have bled to death.
‘Thank you, MAF, for saving my life,’ says the father who, despite his life-threatening wounds, escaped death thanks to the aviation charity’s 15-minute medevac, and is expected to make a full recovery.
