Paul and Cathy Middleton

Paul, a pilot, and Cathy, a nurse, are working in South Africa with Mercy Air. Their son Matthew is studying for a degree in Journalism at university in Grahamstown, South Africa.

They send regular updates on their work, the latest are included below to give a flavour of what they are doing.

Update 13th February

Dear All,

Just a quick update on this last w/e's trip.

We flew the medical outreach team to Inhambane where Cathy travelled 4 hrs inland with them to a place called Panda.

They ran clinics practically all day, every day as there was an almost endless queue of people from the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, Paul flew two hours north to Moz's second city Beira from where he flew a Zambezi flood survey flight the following day. He carried people representing the Christian organisations: Food for the Hungry (http://www.fhi.net/ and http://www.fh.org/) and Humedica (http://www.humedica.org/english/e_start.htm). There were also people from Red Cross, World Food Programme (http://www.wfp.org/english/) and the Mozambican Organisation for National Calamities.

So:
Is there flooding - yes.
Did we see huts surrounded by water - yes.
Under water - yes.
Have people been displaced - yes.
Did we see people stranded on the roofs of their huts or clinging to trees - no.
Were there any villages floating downstream - no.

The situation is of concern but not yet a fully fledged disaster. However, the volatile nature of the situation (rains and dam release upstream) does mean that all that could change in less than a week. Aid organisations are busy mobilising themselves at strategic locations along the river in order to be able to help if the need arises.

Paul is off again tomorrow taking pastors from Cape Town to visit their missionaries (who actually live on the banks of the Zambezi). Whilst there, he has been asked to fly in some personnel and equipment for one such organisation. He will also do another survey flight further upstream from the one he did last w/e.

Cathy will not be on these trips as she will be busy with lectures and clinics at Africa School of Missions.

So, a very busy time for us ahead.
Please pray for safety, good weather, and protection for Cathy at home.
We'll let you know more in a weeks time.

P n' C