‘So lovely to see you two again, it’s been ages!’ said Mike to Alpha the Giraffe and Foxtrot the Fox as they pulled up their chairs at a table near the window. The trio hadn’t seen each other for months and were so excited to catch up with a Christmas dinner and share all the incredible things they’ve been up to.

‘How have you found your first year of flying, Alpha, now you’re a pilot?’ asked Foxtrot, an enthusiastic aircraft maintenance engineer who’d been working for MAF a lot longer than the giraffe.

‘Challenging, but every day is rewarding!’ she replied. ‘What was the first flight you flew this year, Mike?’ 

The young boy sat and thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered. ‘I was flying in South Sudan so people could have clean water. Did you know that fewer than 50% of the people living there have safe, clean water to drink? 

‘We probably find this hard to imagine, with taps in our homes and schools, but I helped fly in storage tanks for the dry season because people in South Sudan have to collect water from boreholes and rivers to wash and drink, but cannot do that if it doesn’t rain.

‘On another flight, I flew an organisation called Every Village. They needed to check on their water projects and repair some of the freshwater pumps they’d installed.’

‘Is it true that drinking dirty water can lead to diseases which can make many children ill in South Sudan?’ asked Alpha. 

‘Sadly, that’s right,’ Mike answered. ‘But MAF flights are helping to make safe water more available to all!’ 

Foxtrot, keen to join in, added, ‘This reminds me, in the book of John, in the Bible, of Jesus talking about water. He said that no matter how much water you drink, you will always go thirsty. But if we believe in Him, the Living Water, we will never thirst again!