Sam the Arimtapite

We created this blog because we want to share stories of how God is working in Papua for those of you who desire to read them. It is exciting to think that someday soon we will get to post our own first hand accounts, but we know that God is the real author of these stories! We hope you enjoy them and are encouraged by them! Our first story was told by the Bergstrazer family in their MAF news letter. It is used with their permission, and the photos were also taken from their letter:

Sam the Arimtapite

"Sam,” he has no name yet as the Arimtap people don’t name their children until they are older. “Sam” was the first born of Anton and Olipa, and the New Tribes’ missionaries (NTM) living with this tribe said he was the biggest andhealthiest newborn they had seen here so far.

A week after “Sam” was born, the NTM missionaries left the village for their annual regional conference on the coast. Upon their return two weeks later they heard comments about how he was not getting any bigger. It wasn’t long before Anton came around saying that he wanted to perform a ceremony to driveaway an evil spirit. He said a curse had been put on him and his wife and now a spirit was keeping “Sam” from growing. Later that day Anton’s wife came by with her baby. Kubili Condit,one of the NTM missionaries, said, “As I pulled back the side of the bag that “Sam” was in, to get a look, I was horrified! He was nothing but protruding bones and flaps of skin where fat once was. He was so dehydrated and suffered from severe malnutrition.” The NTM team determined that Olipa was not producing enough milk to sustain a baby, and that without formula the little guy would not make it. Collectively, the NTM team had just a little formula, and the baby bottle without a newborn nipple was way too big for little “Sam.” Half of it spilled out as the mother struggled to feed him.

MAF was asked to do an airdrop of formula over the airstrip, which is still being built and far from being ready to land on. All MAF pilots are trained to do these drops, but because we don’t often do them, we practice first before doing the actual drop. Accuracy is essential because it’s easy to miss the drop site and lose the item somewhere in the thick jungle. At first Anton and Olipa showed little interest in getting formula for their baby believing the problem was because of a curse. However, as the hype of an airdrop circulated through the village, and with the mounting discussion of formula coming in to help the little guy, their attitudes began to change.

On the day of the flight the whole village was out to witness the drop. Everyone postponed going to their gardens so they could be present, and those who had been out in the jungle and heard the airplane ran in to find out why the airplane had come so close. The practice for our pilot Kevin Lynne paid off. He not only hit the future airstrip with the drop, but it landed smack dab in the middle of the strip both lengthwise and widthwise.

We can see by the second photo of “Sam” what a little formula with a newborn nipple can do. Miss Kubili said, “I hardly hear crying anymore. Before, it was non-stop because he was always hungry.” According to the NTM team, his mom and dad (and the whole village) are thrilled with his progress. His mom is also looking better due to an improved diet; everyone is sleeping better, especially “Sam,” now with a full tummy.
Results may be more far-reaching I wanted to share this story because we see malnutrition in children on TV in refugee camps, but we seldom see the results of what just one airdrop can do. Of course, the before and after picture of “Sam” is tangible, but the results may be more far-reaching. It’s part of MAF’s ministry to help keep the doors open for the NTM teams and other church workers to have a presence here, by not only flying them back and forth, but on occasion doing unusual things such as airdropping formula. “Sam" after several weeks of formula...doesn’t look like the same “Sam,” does he!!

Prayerfully, this will help prepare the hearts and minds of tribes like the Arimtap to be ready to listen to God’s Word on that day that it can be presented to them in their own language. It’s our hope that one day they will understand their need for a Savior and experi-ence God’s saving grace in their lives.

This is a glimpse of the airstrip that is in the process of being built fifteen minutes east of the village where Sam lives. The airstrip still is not ready for an airplane to land on. A bulldozer, a backhoe and two packers were taken apart and flown in by helicopter and then reasembled to help construct the strip. A mine in the area is helping to fund the building of this strip, allowing the use of those tools. Many of the other 200 airstrips carved into mountain sides and tops throughout Papua were made by hand, by natives, with no bulldozers or backhoes. Here is another look at this airstrip.

Three years ago this used to be the top of a spine ridge in the jungle! It still has a long way to go before it is finished.