Life Flight to Take-Off in Papua New Guinea Needs Your Help

Crowdfunder: Mark Palm of Samaritan Aviation

Campaign type: Donations based – no rewards, equity or repayment

Campaign link: https://pngsa.givingfuel.com/capital-campaign

Twitter: @samaritanAV

Social Mission: 80% of the residents within the East Sepik province -nearly 400,000 people- live in remote areas without adequate access to the only hospital. Samaritan Aviation floatplanes turn a 5-7 day trip in a dugout canoe into a 1-2 hour flight. Infant mortality rates in the area are often as high as 40%. Nearly 80% of all life flights are pregnancy and disease related. 80% of people living along the Sepik River suffer from malaria.

Money and Progress: $106,500 is the goal. The money will be used for avionics, paint, and interior renovations to customize the plane for life flight use, as well as covering the costs of shipping the plane to Papua New Guinea and customs fees. So far, $47,000 has been raised.

Social Benefit: Thousands of people live along the 700-mile East Sepik River in Papua New Guinea in tribal villages. They live in huts on stilts because the river rises up to forty feet in a day, and there is no electricity and no plumbing. There are regular outbreaks of malaria, Cholera and other diseases. Crocodiles, snakes and predator birds the size of a man pose constant danger, not to mention ongoing tribal warfare, but the biggest threat to the region is a lack of accessible health care. There is one hospital in 37,000 square miles and it can take up to 4 days to reach it by canoe. Samaritan Aviation is a non-profit that provides emergency life flights for villagers, delivering them to the hospital in 45 minutes using a sea plane that is able to land on the river. Samaritan Aviation had to retire its first plane due to age at the end of 2017 and now the organization only has one plane. Without a backup plane, any time maintenance is needed requiring a new plane part Samaritan Aviation cannot respond to emergency calls for about a week due to how long it takes for a part to reach their area. Samaritan Aviation has purchased a used sea plane as a replacement, but now the plane needs to be outfitted as a flying ambulance, and the organization is accepting donations to help pay for the retrofit.

Offering:

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