(Oct 6, 20:01 PDT)
Thank you to those who have been praying for Mark and the team in Indonesia. The team have all arrived in Indonesia now and are located in Padang at the time of writing this email.
Prayers are being answered. I spoke with Mark tonight and below is what he is reporting.
He has been to several UN briefings over the last couple of days and a great opportunity has opened to the team. At the UN briefings, Mark has also made contact with WHO (world health organisation) officials. In the briefings, opportunities were given to the agencies that were present. No one was offering to go into a very remote area where the need is great so Mark spoke up and said that his team were ready to deploy there immediately.
He went to a Lieutenant Colonel in the US army and said that they needed a ‘bird’ (ie chopper) to deploy and after discussion, the officer asked if they could work together (further clarification on this following).
In the briefings, Mark built relationship with US and Australian army and WHO officials who are all supporting the RN team in their deployment.
Their mission is to go up into a remote area which is further north of a town could Pariaman which is north of Padang on the Sumatra Island. They are to find an area that is suitable to set up a landing pad for an army chopper.
Further relationship has been built with the Office of International Migration (OIM) and they have told Mark that they would give them four 4xdoor 4wd utilities and all the meds they need to get up into the area.
Their team is made up of a nurse, three paramedics, two trauma counsellors and logistical staff. As well a doctor, a nurse and four rescue professionals from France are joining the team making it a total of fifteen people. They will drive north and when they find a suitable area they will establish a heli-pad and then radio back to the US air force and then the marines will be providing choppers to fly in and out of the area.
If the roads are not passable and they get stuck, they can return to Padang and re-deploy but if they get through, they will send the co-ordinates back and then get to work. A ‘bird’ will be sent up to give back-up. That will become their base (a military clinic will be established) from which they will go to different villages to provide help.
The reason they are going by car now is because the chopper will not be available to go until Saturday and they are eager to be helping people asap. Also if they can’t get through by vehicle they will return to Padang and then go with the chopper on Saturday.
At present the team is in very good health and high spirits. They are all working very well together.
The team leaves at 9.00am on Thursday morning (Indonesia time) and depending on the need, they will be out there for 7-10 days.
At this stage they don’t know if there is any electricity or telephone reception where they are going. They will be turning on their satellite phone at two different times each day. If anybody needs to get an urgent message through to the team, please contact me and I will ensure that the message is relayed to the team.
DANGERS:
- The roads are badly damaged
- There is very bad rabies
- There is very bad dengue and malaria (this is particularly relevant to Mark as he has had dengue twice before and he has been told that another bout of it would kill him)
- It is a dangerous mission and they don’t know what they are going in to.
For the re-assurance of family members:
Mark has had personal contact with an Australian army Lieutenant Colonel, a US army Colonel a US marine captain and the head of the WHO in Padang. They all know where the RN team is working and are contactable by radio so should anything dangerous happen, they can be quickly and effectively transported out.
As news from Mark comes to me, I will relay it to you immediately. I’m sure you can glean from this email what the prayer needs are.
Praise God for such a great opportunity to open to them and for all the assistance and support they are receiving from the officials mentioned above.
Blessings…….
