Participants: Narrator: Chet Damron
Series Code: OTG
Program Code: OTG000042A
|
00:01 Narrator: Scattered across the globe, Adventist World Aviation
00:04 has mission outposts situated in extremely remote areas 00:09 that were established to help minister 00:10 to local indigenous people. 00:12 Most of these locations are so difficult to reach that aviation 00:16 is the primary means to reach them. 00:20 Using aircraft, Adventist World Aviation is able to deliver 00:23 the gospel message, as well as provide lifesaving med-evac 00:28 flights to thousands by using the tool of aviation. 00:33 Providing quick and reliable transportation to many parts 00:37 of the earth, that are almost impossible to reach 00:40 is the mission of AWA. 00:42 Adventist World Aviation missionaries use the means 00:46 of aviation to spread the love of Jesus all around the world. 01:35 Narrator: Adventist World Aviation has a mission outpost 01:37 situated in north eastern Nicaragua in a small village 01:41 named Tronquera. 01:43 Here, the Hanley missionary family works endlessly 01:45 to serve the Miskito people. 01:48 The Hanley's have lived in Nicaragua for over 10 years now 01:51 and have established a good relationship 01:54 with the people here. 01:56 Clint is a pilot and offers med-evac flights to all 02:00 the neighboring villages, that need to get patients 02:03 to a higher level of medical care. 02:05 There are no safe road systems from the thick jungles 02:10 to Puerto Cabezas, which is the closest hospital equipped 02:14 to handle critical injuries. 02:19 Jud: Here we are in this remote part of Nicaragua. 02:21 Can you describe where we are, and how you came to be here? 02:26 Clint: Well the northeast part of Nicaragua here is an area 02:31 that is completely different then the Pacific Coast. 02:34 You have the Atlantic and the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. 02:36 And the Atlantic coast is on the Caribbean which most people 02:40 think of as a nice vacation spot but it's not that way here. 02:43 And it's an area of indigenous Indians, Miskito Indians. 02:47 The Miskito Indians were never concurred by the Spanish 02:50 and they don't have the infrastructure that's been 02:53 developed on the Pacific side of the country. 02:55 This area has a lot of needs that are very unique 02:57 to Nicaragua and it's separated from the rest of Nicaragua 03:00 geographically. 03:01 And it's separated by a line of mountains and the roads 03:06 that go crossed it are very bad. 03:07 Sometimes they are impassable. 03:09 So we rely on air transport for virtually everything we do. 03:12 We have the only ambulance for air travel in all of Nicaragua 03:18 that can carry oxygen and a stretcher. 03:20 And we're the only airplane in all of Nicaragua that is able 03:24 to do this and we are the only airplane that is based 03:29 on the whole Atlantic coast. 03:31 Narrator: Clint stays very busy flying med-evac flights. 03:35 Very often he will fly 5 or more patients a week. 03:38 But despite this demanding flight schedule, the Hanley's 03:42 are not satisfied with only offering aviation services. 03:46 Their ministry here at Tronquera runs so much deeper, 03:51 than the work they do with aviation. 03:54 The family keeps very busy finding new ways to help 03:57 the local Miskito people. 03:59 Jud: You know the airplane flying, and you know 04:01 the med-evacs is the most dramatic part of the work, 04:04 that you do here and are involved with, but that doesn't 04:07 happen all day and constantly and so I'm sure that there are 04:10 other things that you look for, that are needs 04:13 in the communities, that you can help. 04:16 Clint: Yah flying is probably the most fun thing to do. 04:19 It is the most exciting and that's one of the things that 04:23 most people focus on the most. 04:24 But that happens a few times a week and it's not- it doesn't 04:28 cover all of your life. 04:29 There's a lot of mundane, regular work that needs done. 04:32 Maintaining the airplane, building the hangar, 04:34 things like that working on your house. 04:36 But the community work that we also do, we built a house 04:40 for widows in the village, a cement house 04:42 for a couple of the poor people in the village. 04:44 Narrator: Just a few short miles away from the mission base 04:47 is a newly constructed concrete block home, that was 04:51 affectionately nicknamed the "widows' house". 04:55 In this part of Nicaragua the villagers are very poor. 04:59 Many of them don't have the means to build a simple 05:02 home for themselves. 05:04 Clint and his wife Marilyn, saw a great need in their community. 05:08 They contacted their donors, that faithfully support their 05:12 ministry and told them about the needs here in the village. 05:16 They were able to raise enough money to build this simple, 05:19 yet solid home and donate it to the community. 05:23 Client told the community that they were free to select 05:26 whomever the community felt was the most in need 05:29 and offer the home to them. 05:32 The community gratefully accepted the house 05:35 and gave it to an elderly widow and her family. 05:40 The Miskito people living in this region of Nicaragua, sadly 05:45 are very poor and left isolated from the rest of the country. 05:50 Clint: The Miskito people in general, are subsistence farmers 05:56 So there's not a big economic base for them here. 05:59 They don't have a lot of reason for businesses to come in. 06:04 They don't have a lot of resources that people need, 06:07 so that's part of the reason economically that they're, 06:11 they're kind of segregated. 06:13 They're off to the side in the country. 06:14 The roads could be improved. 06:16 You know that's not a hard thing to do. 06:19 But in order to improve the roads, it takes money. 06:21 And you need to have a reason to access the area. 06:24 And without economic incentive, businesses don't really care 06:28 to access this side of the country. 06:30 Because there's not enough resources here 06:33 to be able to do that. 06:34 The Miskito people aren't big business people and there's not 06:38 a lot of resources that they need in the soil or whatever 06:41 they need to access on this side of the country. 06:43 So economically, they have kind of left it. 06:46 The church also, it's hard to reach subsistence farmers, 06:50 you know out in the middle of the jungle. 06:52 You know, when you go out and have tiny villages dotted around 06:55 They're hard to access. 06:56 A lot of places you have to walk to be able to access them. 06:59 But even by truck, it's by four wheel drive. 07:02 And you've got to learn another language. 07:04 A lot of them don't know Spanish, you need to know 07:06 Miskito to be able to communicate effectively. 07:08 And so even by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a lot of them, 07:12 places are very hard to access and they've been kind of left 07:16 to the side, because they're out of the beaten track. 07:19 They're not on the way to or from anywhere. 07:21 And nobody ever passed through this area 07:24 going to somewhere. 07:25 It's the final destination, this is it. 07:28 Narrator: Clint and his family have resolved to do everything 07:30 they can to make sure the Miskito people 07:32 are not forgotten. 07:35 Even though they're isolated from the rest of the country, 07:37 having aviation support in times of emergency has saved 07:42 over 500 lives within the last 10 years. 07:48 But aviation is just one of the ways the Hanley family shows 07:52 the love of God to the Miskito people and insures them that 07:56 they have not been forgotten by the All Mighty Creator. 08:03 Opportunities for advancement are rare 08:05 in this part of the world. 08:06 Many who are born in this part of Nicaragua, do not have many 08:10 opportunities to better their lives. 08:13 Poverty runs rampant and villagers suffer from lack 08:17 of opportunities for growth. 08:19 The AWA missionaries struggle with how to make 08:23 a positive change in this regard. 08:27 One way Clint and Marilyn have sought to bring change to the 08:30 community is through education. 08:33 In Puerto Cabezas there is an Adventist elementary school. 08:38 Through donations from supporters in North America, 08:41 the Hanley's are able to give scholarships to young people, 08:45 who want to drastically change their lives. 08:48 Because the school is so far away from the mission base, 08:52 Clint flies the young students to town and then enrolls them 08:56 in the boarding school, where they can gain knowledge 08:59 they need to better their lives. 09:02 Clint: This is a Seventh-day Adventist school 09:04 in Puerto Cabezas. 09:05 This is the only Seventh-day Adventist secondary school 09:08 on the Atlantic Coast. 09:10 They have somewhere in the range of four to five hundred 09:13 kids here, which is the largest school in all of Nicaragua 09:17 for secondary school for Seventh-day Adventists. 09:19 And we help out some with this school with kids from the 09:23 communities, especially from our community of La Tronquera. 09:26 We send kids here to this school 09:29 and we help with some of their tuition. 09:30 And we usually help kids, who have good grades and who are 09:36 interested in going on and getting education. 09:39 We try to find those kids in the communities, who are 09:42 very interested in studying and then we send them here 09:45 and help them to further their education, 09:48 so they can go somewhere in their life. 09:50 Narrator: Adventist World Aviation seeks to help the poor 09:52 and less fortunate of the world in a vast variety of ways. 09:57 Sometimes the work is done through construction projects, 10:00 other times it is accomplished by aviation support, 10:04 but regardless of the project, the end goal is always the same: 10:09 to help others know the love of Jesus. 10:28 Narrator: Ten years ago, when the Hanley family first moved 10:30 to this area, there was no communication 10:34 infrastructure available. 10:36 This limited the missionary's work greatly, because there was 10:41 simply no way of knowing, when the people might need help. 10:45 They could not communicate with other villages or provide 10:48 help to outlying areas. 10:50 To solve this deficiency, Clint devised a plan. 10:54 Jud: Obviously if you go into remote areas, communication 10:57 is a huge factor. 11:00 Adventist World Aviation is, you know our policy is to create 11:04 transpiration and communication infrastructures 11:07 in remote areas. 11:09 And this is a prime example. 11:10 Can you explain a little bit about how your communication 11:14 has helped with other ministries other organizations, government, 11:20 health and those things. 11:22 And how you have been involved in that. 11:24 Clint: Yah, when we first moved here, there was no cell service 11:27 of any kind. And so, radios is what everything relied on. 11:31 And we started out with two meter radios, ham radios, 11:33 and amateur radios is, what we call them in the states. 11:38 That worked, we would put a, in a local village where we 11:42 were flying, we'd put a solar panel in and a battery. 11:44 And put an antenna up and then they can communicate with us 11:48 when there was an emergency. 11:49 And that worked quite well and they were able to communicate 11:53 with us and the hospital saw that and said 11:55 "wow this is really working good. 11:56 Could we put an antenna up at your house too and you could 11:59 have a radio from us?" 12:00 And they have their own communication network. 12:02 And so they gave me one of their radios. 12:05 There're a Motorola set up on crystal controlled setup and so 12:08 I put one of their antennas up on my tower 12:13 and have their system. 12:14 So they can communicate from Waspam 12:16 when there's emergencies. 12:18 So they communicate directly with us for that and then they 12:21 also have some of the minsa radios, it's government, 12:24 it's called minsa radios, it's government health program. 12:28 Their radios are also in some of the remote communities. 12:31 So they communicate directly with us from runways 12:33 that they have in the communities. 12:35 And the doctor in the community then can call directly 12:37 to us to schedule flights and tell us, you know 12:40 that there is a person here that's coming in. 12:41 Or that somebody is coming down the river to us right now, 12:43 and we need them to be transported out. 12:46 Narrator: Due to the remote nature of this part of Nicaragua 12:49 medical care is not available 12:51 for critically injured individuals. 12:53 If someone needs a higher level of medical care, 12:56 they must reach Puerto Cabezas. 12:58 Some of the villages do not even have road access 13:01 to make this journey. 13:03 For those that do, the badly injured individual must travel 13:07 over 5 hours on a terribly rough road or travel by boat 13:12 for 2 days on the slow flowing Rio Cocoa. 13:17 These means of transportation often guarantee death 13:20 to a critical patient when time is of the upmost importance. 13:25 Clint: They take a boat, because there is no roads. 13:27 And the boats go, sometimes once a day a boat goes. 13:31 Sometimes they'll skip a day or two. 13:33 But generally a boat goes once a day. 13:35 That boat costs about five to six days wages to take the boat, 13:41 and per person. 13:42 And it takes twelve hours to get to Waspam which is the nearest 13:47 hospital they can access. 13:49 And that's not the biggest hospital, that's just the 13:51 very nearest hospital. 13:52 But if it's very major, they need to go on to Puerto Cabezas, 13:55 which is another five hour bus ride. 13:57 And the bus goes once a day. 13:59 For me to fly that all of the way, from the time they call me 14:03 and I start my airplane, I can have them in Puerto Cabezas 14:07 in an hour and a half. 14:09 So if you have a pregnant lady who is in labor, even to get to 14:13 the closest hospital at twelve hours, if the boat was sitting 14:16 right there ready to go it would be a twelve hour boat ride. 14:19 Generally it's going to be the next day or so before 14:21 they can get the boat. 14:22 So it's usually a couple days before they are going 14:25 to get medical help. 14:26 And I can have them in an hour and a half. 14:28 So there has been a lot of lives that have been saved 14:29 because they can get it quicker. 14:33 Narrator: This is why Adventist World Aviation has a mission 14:35 base placed in this part of Nicaragua; to facilitate 14:40 med-evac flights and save as many people as possible. 14:44 However, this can only be accomplished if Clint can be 14:48 made aware of the flight needs. 14:51 Clint set up many radios around the region to insure 14:55 that he could be reached when there was an emergency. 14:57 His mission here is to help when the Miskito people are in need, 15:01 but if there is no way to communicate 15:04 with the villagers, the Hanley's cannot do the work 15:07 they are here to do. 15:10 Clint: This radio here is in a local motel that is in Waspam. 15:15 And Waspam is our nearest town to our house. 15:18 And this is where a lot of the medical people first come. 15:22 But their cell service is often undependable. 15:25 And so this radio, that I have installed in this place, 15:28 I put an antenna out back and I put a solar panel on. 15:31 And he manages this radio here for the hospital to be able 15:35 to communicate with us, anytime when the power is off 15:38 in the town or when lighting strikes and they don't have 15:41 their cell service. 15:43 And so this is the backup radio for all of the emergency 15:46 communication for the hospital, 15:47 for the government, for anybody else, 15:49 that needs to get a hold of us. 15:50 What we do is we install a solar panel and a battery and a radio 15:54 in the villages we go to, so they can communicate with us. 15:57 The doctors or nurses in the village, or sometimes there is 15:59 no doctors or nurses, but the people are able to communicate 16:02 with us, when they have an emergency. 16:03 Then we also have the same radio installed in our house 16:06 on a communications tower, so that we are able to communicate. 16:09 So, when you are in an area, that there is no communication 16:12 and no electricity you have to be able to know 16:15 how to do all that stuff yourself. 16:16 Put in the communication, and install everything 16:19 so that it's ready to use. 16:34 Narrator: The Hanley's never seem to tire as they continually 16:37 find ways to help the Miskito people. 16:41 If there is no flight to be made Clint happily opens up 16:44 his mechanic work shop and helps villagers with their repairs. 16:50 In this remote area, finding materials, and tools 16:53 is extremely rare. 16:55 This makes it very difficult for the local people 16:58 to provide themselves with a source of income. 17:01 Many have little access to basic supplies or tools they need 17:06 in order to earn a living. 17:08 For this reason, industry in this area is almost non-existent 17:14 The Hanley's seek to change that. 17:16 They want to provide ways for the Miskito people to become 17:20 entrepreneurs and create small industries for themselves. 17:25 And the first step in doing this is by helping them access 17:29 basic supplies. 17:32 Clint: So what we do is buy our nails in town, and then we 17:37 subsidize them for our local area around us at half the price 17:40 So they can buy nails from us at half the price 17:42 that they would in town. 17:44 So they're able to build on their houses 17:47 and work on that better with the nails we give them. 17:56 Narrator: Helping to provide the Miskito people with a source 17:59 of income falls perfectly in line with the mission of this 18:03 Adventist World Aviation base. 18:06 When there are no emergencies or flights to make, Clint helps 18:10 locals by welding repairs on their transportation, 18:13 and even creating new items. 18:16 Clint: To make himself some extra money in town for his 18:19 family, and he finds old scrap metal and he builds these things 18:23 Right now it looks like he's making a thing with a pot. 18:26 He makes anchors several different things 18:28 that people use. 18:29 And I help him by welding the stuff together. 18:31 And he pays for my gas. but I give him a... 18:33 I only charge him for my gas. And so he brings these things 18:37 to weld and I weld them up and he goes to town and sells them. 18:40 Narrator: Today Clint will be helping a local, by welding 18:44 together a grill comprised of materials that the man collected 18:48 The items for use in today's project are an old drum, 18:52 metal frames, and a few fragment pieces of rebar. 18:56 By opening up his shop, Clint is helping this man provide 19:01 for his family. 19:03 There is no industry in this area, so any income a family 19:06 generates is all by substance farming or by small projects 19:12 like this one we see today. 19:15 It will only take Clint a short time to help this man weld 19:18 together his project, but once finished, this man will have 19:22 something he can sell to keep his family fed. 19:28 Although aviation is the primary work of this mission base, 19:31 ultimately, the end goal is always to show the Love of God 19:36 and to help the Miskito people see how important they are 19:40 not only to the missionaries, but also to their Creator. 19:44 By taking the time out of his busy schedule to help this man, 19:48 Clint is sharing the love of Christ. 19:51 He is helping this man generate an income in a place 19:55 where work is not easy to come by. 20:04 Clint: They use this for charcoal. 20:06 They put charcoal in it and they use it in Puerto Cabezas 20:08 in the big towns. Not usually in the little towns, 20:11 but in the big towns, they use it with charcoal. 20:13 And they use it beside the road usually to cook food for people 20:18 like in the little restaurants. 20:19 Occasionally people use it in their houses but this type 20:21 is usually used on the edge of the road in like the market 20:25 areas for people. 20:26 They'll cook and fry stuff there. 20:37 Narrator: Clint and this man have created a simple grill. 20:40 By using discarded items, with the assistance of Clint 20:44 and his tools, this man was able to create an item for resale. 20:49 The Hanley's want to promote and encourage 20:52 this type of mentality. 20:53 They want to help the locals think of ways to help 20:56 bring in income for themselves. 20:58 The Hanley's want to help promote industry among 21:01 the Miskito people by simply utilizing items they can find. 21:06 Marilyn Hanley also finds ways to help the local women create 21:11 items to subsidize their income and bring in enough money 21:15 to feed their families. 21:18 Marilyn: This is coconut oil. 21:20 It's extracted from the coconut through a process of cooking it 21:24 to be able to extract the oil out of the meat. 21:29 The women here do that. It allows them to have 21:34 a little bit extra cash income. To help feed their families 21:38 or buy clothes or send their children to school. 21:40 Another one of the little projects that the women do 21:44 that they have been taught is to make little baskets 21:48 out of pine needles. 21:50 And I don't know all the process that goes into it but they wrap 21:54 these pine needles up with some thread and they design them 21:57 into all kinds of little baskets 22:01 One of the strong points of our mission has been to help 22:04 in economic development. 22:06 We help try to provide work, whenever possible 22:11 to women and men. 22:13 It's much more difficult to provide women with work 22:16 because they have children to care for, they have a house 22:19 to take care of. 22:21 So they are not always available to be able to work. 22:23 There is not always a lot of work for a woman to do. 22:27 And that's made it more challenging to develop certain 22:30 programs where women can earn money to subsidize their family, 22:36 their food and their children's education. 22:39 Narrator: Through helping the Miskito people advance their 22:42 lives, the Hanley's are opening doors to teach them about Jesus. 22:47 The Hanley's enjoy this aspect of their mission work. 22:50 Helping people find opportunities to succeed 22:53 and advance their lives is a rewarding experience. 22:57 The Hanley's feel fortunate, that they have this opportunity 23:01 to serve the people in this area in so many diverse ways. 23:05 Clint: You know, in America, when you go to work, 23:08 8 hours a day and you go back home, 23:10 you are helping a corporation. 23:13 You are able to earn a paycheck from it, 23:18 you are able to put food on the table. 23:19 In this line of work when I walk down the streets in our local 23:23 village, people come to me and they say "thank you for saving 23:27 my life, thank you for helping me." 23:28 We appreciate the fact, that you know they will come up and say 23:32 "you've helped my brother, you flew my brother to town, 23:35 or my sister or me and we want to thank you for that." 23:38 There is very few lines of work that you can walk down the 23:42 street and you can look at the people in your local little town 23:45 and know that several of them that you see right then are 23:48 alive because of the work you did. So it is very fulfilling. 23:51 But at the same time, the credit all goes to the tools 23:53 that the Lord has given me. 23:55 I don't have any extra expertise or anything, 23:58 that anybody else doesn't have. 23:59 All I do is use the tools that the Lord has given me. 24:02 And I am thankful that He has blessed me with those and 24:04 that I am able to pass on as a channel to help the local people 24:09 What He has given me and what you guys send from the States 24:11 to be able to help them. 24:12 And I am that one who get the benefit of seeing the smiles 24:14 on their faces and hears the thank you from them. 24:17 Marilyn: John 10:10 says "I have come so that they might 24:21 have life and have it more abundantly." 24:24 And ultimately our mission has been, that by helping the people 24:30 have a more abundant life, that it has given them 24:34 opportunity to see Jesus in us, to reach out in spiritual 24:41 questions and find a more abundant life through 24:46 the infrastructure, through health care, through education. 24:50 through saving their lives and giving them a second chance, 24:54 through the aviation program. 24:57 Narrator: The work of this mission aviation base runs 25:00 much deeper than just providing logistical support. 25:04 The Hanley's have created a work here in Nicaragua 25:06 that addresses a wide verity of needs. 25:10 Each day, the work here in Tronquera might be different, 25:14 but the end goal is always the same, to help the Miskito people 25:19 Whether it's a construction project, education, 25:23 communications or developing industries, 25:26 Adventist World Aviation is honored to be used by God 25:30 to make such a deep impact here in Nicaragua. 25:33 The villagers can't help but take note of the missionary's 25:36 dedication to help their people. 25:40 The work that Clint is doing here is something that I think 25:43 that the whole area appreciates. 25:46 You know, he has done something wonderful here 25:49 because just to think, 25:53 that someone can use an airplane and fuel and come 25:57 and pick up sick people and take them to Puerto Cabezas 25:59 which is four, four to five hours on the road. 26:02 Bumpy road. Bad road. And this guy comes and picks 26:06 them up and takes them in maybe thirty-five minutes. 26:09 For free! I mean this is free. I mean it's something to be 26:14 really grateful about and we are grateful about the work 26:18 that you guys have done here. 26:19 I think everyone, everyone knows about the little airplane 26:24 that is in La Tronquera. You know. 26:26 That helps people. Helps people. Because the area is considered 26:32 one of the poor areas. 26:34 Most poor areas of Nicaragua and to be able to get your sick, 26:41 very sick person all the way to Puerto Cabezas to get 26:45 a little more help then in Waspam, it's unbelievable. 26:49 And I am thankful. 26:52 Narrator: The projects highlighted in today's episodes 26:55 are just the tip of the iceberg of the work that the Hanley's do 26:59 at this mission. 27:00 The base here in Tronquera never rests. 27:04 There are always new projects and work that can be done 27:07 to help the Miskito people. 27:09 The Hanley's work endlessly to keep up with all the work 27:12 that needs to be done. 27:16 This mission base is thriving and could use many more hands 27:19 to accomplish all the work, that could be done here 27:23 among the Miskito people, God's children. 27:28 Jud: This project has really grown and it has some very 27:31 significant needs moving forward for personnel 27:33 and for equipment. 27:34 We have a 192 we are planning on placing down here 27:37 to improve the resources here. 27:40 We have some families that are interested in coming down 27:42 and being a part of this team. 27:44 And we always need more and not just for this project, 27:46 but for others as well. 27:48 And if mission work is calling you, then you know, 27:52 we should talk about how you can get involved 27:54 with Adventist World Aviation in different projects 27:57 here or elsewhere to fit your skills. 28:01 Clint: Whatever skill you have, when you go to the mission field 28:04 there is probably an area in a mission station 28:08 where you can fit. 28:09 Whether it's communication, you have communication towers, 28:12 radios of all kinds. 28:13 Whether it's electronics, there are all kinds of computer 28:17 related stuff that needs done now a days. 28:19 Between the internet, between that... all of those things. 28:22 And then, the mechanical skills, of any kind are helpful, 28:27 the construction related skills. Medical skills of any kind. 28:30 Whatever skills that you have, 28:31 teaching of all different kinds is helpful. 28:34 Agriculture, to teach the people how to grow things better 28:38 Whatever skill you have, the Lord can generally 28:41 use in a field like this. 28:44 Jud: The Lord will use a willing heart. 28:46 Clint: The Lord created us to serve. 28:48 That's why we are here on earth. 28:50 And it's the most fulfilling thing, to be able to have 28:54 the ability to channel that into a direction 28:56 so you can serve other people. |
Revised 2016-12-15