Although life flights, evangelism and discipleship are the core focus of Samaritan Aviation’s ministry, there are several other roles within the organization that are filled by national staff who serve alongside us as we share Christ’s love with the people of Papua New Guinea.

At the hangar, assistants Emil, Linus and Anthony can be found fuelling and prepping the aircraft, loading cargo, unloading and transporting patients, inventorying medical supplies, being on-call on weekends, and helping with general hangar needs. Anthony has plans of going to the USA and starting his training to become a missionary pilot.

Property maintenance staff Robert, Patrick and Joana, take care of the compound, housing and grounds. Patrick has worked with Samaritan Aviation for 6 years and is one of the most hard-working and committed workers you’ll meet. Joana takes care of the gardens part-time, and has the compound looking beautiful. 

Our hospital ministry staff are Robert, Catherine and Betty. Every afternoon, these amazing individuals can be found at the Haus Sik (hospital), visiting with our patients, praying with them and sharing the gospel.  

Our missionary staff continually take our national staff through discipleship training, and all look forward to these times of training. They also have gone through “The Healing Wounds of Trauma” training which is a scriptural approach on having the right mindset on how they can personally deal with the trauma they witness, and how they can best minister to the people in what they’re going through. The PNG team has also been excited to be a part of the distribution of the audio Bibles to the patients in our hospital ministry. 

The value that this team brings to Samaritan Aviation is huge – every hour they spend working takes pressure off the missionaries and allows us to focus on the core ministry. Working alongside our national staff is a privilege and we as missionaries have so much we can learn from them.

-Rob & Katie Hovenden