Dear Family and Friends: It is amazing that Christmas will soon be here and 2011 is drawing to a close. As our family looks back over the events of 2011 we realize how blessed we have been, especially having the opportunity to serve God through this aviation ministry in Guyana.

Recently we received another urgent call for a medevac late in the afternoon. Karen opted to fly with me, while my niece Danielle stayed at the Mabaruma home with Jake and Zack. We have been so blessed to have Danielle with us. Our boys have demonstrated excellent responsibility as a result of their mission experiences; and the more mature influence of Danielle can do wonders at times to temper their “enthusiasm.” The patient needing the medevac was a man who had been paralyzed for several years. But for some reason he developed a number of serious health issues. On this particular day he began to have seizures and suddenly was unable to speak. His wife, who has been is primary care giver for some time, accompanied him and was very attentive. As we began to descend into Georgetown, our patient began to seize again; and it always amazes me how much that movement transfers throughout the plane. Unfortunately, after we landed we had to wait 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Georgetown has a chronic shortage of ambulances and occasionally we are forced to hire a taxi, which can be a problem because the drivers are not thrilled with having patients in their vehicles as it may require them to clean their car later. With the patient safely in the ambulance we realized it was too late to fly back to Mabaruma. Thus, Karen and I took this as an opportunity for a “date night” at the local Pizza Hut, something that is highly unusual.

We are into our fifth year in Guyana, which is amazing. When we first arrived here five years seemed like a long time—but it has gone by fast. Now, as we are counting the months ahead when we will be returning home, there is a certain amount of melancholy as we consider what we would like to still accomplish here before leaving. But there is the odd sense of security in having become adept at negotiating the traffic madness, challenging the service industry and the often cumbersome bureaucracy. Even the one stop shopping at Wal-Mart seems far too easy after numerous unsuccessful stops to locate something as simple as garden hose gaskets. We have come to admire local resourcefulness, which at the beginning seemed like hack repairs. For instance, last week our regular driver, Smokey, took the wheel from the airport’s hand truck to get new bearings for it. He brought it back with one side pushed in to hold the bearings that were meant for an alternator. His repair job also included a piece of PVC pipe to space the bearings and some washers to ensure correct pressure on the final assembly. It works as good as new! The past years have been filled with so many rich experiences. Even though many of the experiences have been heartbreaking tragedies, we still count our blessings for the countless positive outcomes. The children have been the most vulnerable. Handing a sick child a Beanie Baby and watching it being held closely during the flight to the hospital is a simple thing—but deeply touching. However, the most rewarding is the privilege of returning the patients home. When you see a snakebite victim laying in the plane, bleeding from the haemotoxins coursing through their system, and later seeing them fully recovered and rejoining their families makes it all worthwhile. We thank God for these miracles.

Our Guyana team over the past five years has established a reputation based on trust and reliability. Our faith based NGO has worked in a close partnership with the Ministry of Health and other governmental agencies to help improve the systems that were already in place. In these past years we (as a team) have successfully accomplished the following: • Over 6,000 passengers flown • 515 medical emergency patients • Another 1,200 patients, medial workers and accompanying family members • Nearly 1,300 ministry, medical outreach and operations passengers • 1,600 patients and family members returned home after medical treatment • 75 bodies returned to home villages for burial • More than 160,000 pounds of freight, including medicines, ministry supplies and food. None of this would have been possible without your partnership through prayer, and of course, financial support. Thank you.

We will be returning home to British Columbia in time for the boys to start school this coming fall. We don’t have a specific plan; getting back on our feet there is a bit intimidating, but we have confidence that God will provide. The Guyana project will continue, and we look forward to continuing our support for the work here in whatever way we can. But we are not finished here yet; with several more months remaining we have active projects in which to focus on, and we look forward to our continued prayers and support.

Looking forward to 2012 there are needs for construction personnel, ministry support team members and medical personnel to help in our outreach projects. There is also a great need for a full time experienced aircraft mechanic. If you feel God is calling you, please contact AWA.

Tyler Quiring recently joined us for a few months. He has taken on the responsibility of headmaster for the Wickwire classroom—for which we deeply grateful. Tyler is a recent graduate from Southern Adventist University with a degree in Media Production. Check out some of his work by searching YouTube, “A Week with the Wickwires.” He comes from Kelowna, British Columbia.

You may have noticed or heard about some major changes at AWA’s corporate headquarters. We have a new President, Pastor Ric Swaningson, as well as a number of other new faces. We welcome them to AWA and know that God will bless their efforts and help grow this ministry and develop a more comprehensive support base. We are excited about the many things that are happening in mission aviation and are looking forward to expanding the circulation of our monthly newsletters and AWA’s quarterly magazine, AirWays. If you are not receiving the magazine or know of someone that would appreciate it, please send their names and addresses (both postal and email) to projects@flyawa.org or call 414-226-5195.

Remember to check the AWA website at www.flyawa.org for the links to our blog, as well as news of the other team members in Guyana.

Jud, Karen, Jake and Zack Wickwire

Danielle Schneider and Tyler Quiring

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150393970858010  Trip through the 99 turns.

There are a number or interesting places to ride the bikes too from Santa Rosa including the village Kwebanna, we used to fly there fairly often but the village decided to opt for a cell tower in close proximity to the airstrip forcing its closure.  The road had been recently completed at that time too so travel that way was quite quick however we discovered the road had deteriorated quite a bit since then, the mud holes kept getting deeper and deeper.  For a while I was successful with putting my feet up in the sides of the fuel tank to keep them dry but the water finally got so high I had to give up.  At one point while plowing through tank deep ruts I stuck my leg out for balance only to have it do a series of paddlewheel rotations in the sticky muck before I was able to get it tucked safely back on the foot peg.  Compounding the problem was the rain that created a slick layer on the red dirt/mud that made up most of the roads making the hills very slippery.  Other roads passed through areas of loose white sand that create an entirely different set of riding techniques.

Our time in Moruca was very well spent, impromptu meetings were held with local officials and a prominent government minister and just as importantly we were able to spend time with local residents both in Santa Rosa and some of the outlying communities.  At this time things are looking positive with an agreement for use of the land at the airstrip being prepared by a lawyer and our request is being considered by the Aviation Authourity in regards to moving the aircraft to the Bemichi Airstrip.

Just before leaving the international airport I got a call for a medevac from a new airstrip on the Barama River, they needed the larger plane since there were three persons injured in a boat accident and I also needed to pick up a nurse from another location after dropping off the load that was in the airplane.  It seems the turkeys were going to be getting a more diverse tour than expected!  It was just over an hour to where I dropped the main part of the load, then another 10 minute flight to pick up the nurse at Matthews Ridge.  I didn’t even get out of the plane she just jumped in, I had promised the Medex to take her back but I had to inform her that we would have to overnight in Georgetown though as it would be too late to come back.  It seemed she had a baby at home and had no plans to stay away but there was no choice so away we went.

The flight to Yakishero was another 15 minutes where the patients were waiting, it seems that their boat had hit a log, the engine ripped off of the transom and flew up into the boat and then it capsized all while the engine still running full throttle and attached to the cables.  It must have been a truly horrific scene; fortunately another passing boat was able to rescue everyone.  The most serious case had a serious slash across his back that may have injured his spine, he needed to lay on his stomach so I had to take out two seats to fit him in, another man had a nasty cut across his shoulder but he was able to sit up.  The third patient had cuts to her back and head but they were largely superficial so it was decided that I would take the two men and the brother of the most seriously wounded along with the nurse while the girl would take the longer trip out by boat.  (It was really hot there so while we were loading up I put the turkeys out on the tail to catch a breeze.)  The flight was uneventful, we had called ahead for the ambulance but it wasn’t there when we arrived but it “had left”.  While we were waiting though a hearse came through the gate, seeing the person lying in the back of the plane the airport staff directed him right over to us, I had to get quite insistent that my patient was “living” and that they had the wrong flight, as they pulled away I could hear the siren of the ambulance in the distance.  The word is that they both went in for surgery and should make a full recovery.

The Turkey tour continued with another taxi ride back to the house in Georgetown where they are now basking in the refrigerator with Karen’s chocolate croissant and a block of cheese awaiting yet another taxi and plane escapade, they are looking forward to visiting Matthews Ridge again as the stop was very brief yesterday.  We will never know the story of how they reached Guyana but their trip to Mabaruma alone will comprise of three taxi rides, visits to six airports and over 400 airmiles on Wings for Humanity!

Karen has been busy getting the boys back on track with this year’s school program with some assistance from my niece Danielle who is here for a few month’s.  And of course there are the usual piles of laundry needing to be done, I picked up a little water pump for her to use to increase the flow rate from the ground level water tank into the washing machine, it is now filling in ½ the time.  It’s sucking air so if I can find some water hose gaskets, so far no luck, I can increase the flow considerably.  Of course then the problem moves to the rainwater tank to filling up again if it is too dry.  Karen spent the day on Friday doing dental care presentations at the health fair event in the village along with the local Dentex, something she enjoys doing.

Of course the house has been replenished with an assortment of wildlife, ants in particular have been a real problem, fortunately I brought some ant bait and they have taken a real liking to it. I put down a series of drops and they gather around in thick black circles to gather for deliver to their queen.

For some time before we left Guyana our internet was down due to a lightning strike and then some kind of a system wide failure, at this time they are still without internet in Mabaruma but it is supposed to be up soon.  We will try and post some more stories of things that have been happening over the last few months but for now we will post some of our schedule so that if you see that we will be close to you please let us know.  Before I do that though we want to announce that another pilot has joined the Guyana team!  We welcome Greg VanFossen, his wife Chrystal and their two children, Brandon and Serena.  They arrived just a few days before we left, just enough time to orient Greg to some of the airstrips and procedures, remind them to feed the cat and we were on our way home!  They are a welcome and much needed addition to the team and as always God’s timing is perfect, their arrival allows the LaBores to have another team with them to share the responsibilities while we are away.

Schedule;

July 23, 9am, BC campmeeting (Hope British Columbia) main auditorium “mission emphasis”.  We will be attending the entire Hope BC campmeeting from July 22 to 31

Aug 6, 11am church service Orchard City SDA Church, Kelowna BC

Aug 6, 7pm, evening vespers service, Rutland SDA Church, Kelowna BC

Aug 13, 11am, church service at Rutland SDA Church, Kelowna, BC

Aug 14 to 21, passing through Washing and Oregon as far south as Grants Pass

We will add more here as the schedule works out.

The new flightlog is just out, here is the link for the PDF file; http://www.flyawa.org/site/1/docs/FL2011Summer-color.pdf

Travis, Lori, Len and Irwin

We started with the cement columns and 6,000 board feet of rough, chain say cut lumber of various dimensions.  The first and most daunting task was placing the 38′ long 6″x 8″ hardwood beams in place which we estimate weighed 800 to 1,000 pounds, fortunately for us we arrived on Sunday and there were a number of men in the area and with some assistance rounded up at least a dozen of them.  We were able to position them up into place with some ingenuity, leverage and a large quantity of brute strength!  What a relief though to see them in place by early afternoon on the first day though.

All of the floor and wall boards had to be passed through the thickness planer five or six times to get at least one side nice and clean, that was a continuous job for three or four people, the boards were 20 feet long and 12 inches wide so that was no small task!  Throughout the project the planing team was just able to keep up with the need for the finished boards as the building came together. Once the walls were built on the floor we again had to round up some help to stand them up as they were incredibly heavy, at home you can pick up a stack of 4 or 5 12′ 2×4′s but here they are so heavy that carrying just one can be a struggle.

The visiting team after 12 days of hard labor along with some new little friends

We arrived on Sunday and Friday lifted up the side walls and then built most of the end wall so it was a very productive week.  By noon on Wednesday the roof was complete and ready for the steel which was still enroute so we will have make a trip back to put it up once it arrives by truck.  Fortunately that is a fairly simple job and can be done in a day or two. 

Once the roofing is done we just need a bit more funding to purchase windows, plumbing, electrical and cement to finish the downstairs and some material to get some basic furnishings built.  We have volunteers prepared to head out to work in the community as soon as we get it covered and secured.

Foundation labour            $250.00

Framing lumber            $6,500.00

Roofing            $2,000.00

plumbing            $1,500.00

Hardware            $500.00

Windows            $1,300.00

Electrical            $500.00

Solar panels            $800.00

Furnishings            $1,000.00

Paint            $500.00

Transportation            $2,000.00

Total (US$)        $16,850.00
To date just over $7,000 has been received specifically for this project, most of it was already provided before we made the need known!  If you are interested in assisting with “raising up” the building as they say here just click on the “donate” tab at the top of the page for instructions on how you can help.  The galvanized roofing along with rain gutters and a 450 gallon water storage tank is on the way and should be delivered by truck sometime in the first week of April, this will allow us to collect clean water from rainfall.  Check back for more information on the progress over the next few weeks!

The next day thankfully dawned bright and mostly clear and I was able to fly an number of  Gary’s passengers to where they needed to go and then bring in accident investigators, after they were finished we all went back to Georgetown for some much needed rest. We got in late and then the next day it rained nearly all day so I ended up being away for 3 days unexpectedly.

For those who want to read more you can check Gary’s blog at: http://www.lewisjungleministries.com/