Aid workers who had been stranded for weeks in N’Djamena were flown to far eastern Chad, from where they crossed the border to the site of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Story by Annet Nabbanja
MAF flew a group of seven humanitarian workers serving in Darfur under the Catholic Relief Services to Adré, on the Chadian border with Sudan.
The team was drawn almost entirely from the African region itself, comprising one national from Jordan, one from Ethiopia, one from Zimbabwe, one from Tanzania, two from Kenya and one from Uganda, all heading to serve in an African country facing severe need.
Because commercial airlines no longer fly to Darfur due to the ongoing conflict, aid workers must rely on alternative routes.
The team had travelled from their respective home countries to N’Djamena, the Chadian capital, where they then had to secure permits to travel east to the border area before crossing into Sudan.
After a three-week wait to secure their permits, they reached out for support from the MAF operations team led by Steve Machell.
The flight was quickly organised. Departing the very next day, the humanitarian workers were flown in only three hours to Adré, from where they continued overland into Sudan to carry out their duties.
For the extra time it would have taken for them to get back to the field, MAF was able to save them that time by flying them.
Without MAF, the only alternative was another air operator serving humanitarian agencies. This option would have entailed a further delay—first waiting for a flight to Abéché, where they would have had to spend a couple of nights before connecting to Adré—losing around a week of effectiveness.
Travelling by road from N’Djamena to Adré is out of question because of road conditions and sheer distance. The journey would have taken them at least 13 hours – if at all they reached their destination.
“For the extra time it would have taken for them to get back to the field, MAF was able to save them that time by flying them,” said Steve.
“It is a wonderfully mixed group of African brothers and sisters with a good spread of different humanitarian interventions. So that was really interesting for me to know that what their team does is a holistic model.”
The team brings diverse expertise to the response, consisting of a medical doctor, three food distribution specialists, a finance specialist and two management staff.