You will become a pilot in Africa, Arjan Paas (43) was told by his primary school teacher. He was right. For five years, Arjan flew for the Christian aid organisation MAF over Uganda, South Sudan and Liberia. Arjan and his wife Aartje (41) now live and work with their five children in Papua New Guinea.
Called by God
Jungle pilot and missionary-diaconal worker Arjan traverses dense Papua New Guinea to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. "I feel called by God for this work. As a child, I was already involved in flying and mission. MAF's mission - reaching unreached people with God's love - dovetailed perfectly with that." He transports medical aid, brings relief supplies to unreached villages and connects local communities with the outside world. "Sometimes we only have to fly for a few minutes to the next airstrip. The land is much more passable by air than by ground." To do so, he lands on runways considered the most difficult in the world. Landing on the short, unpaved and steep runways is not without risk and erratic weather conditions are an added difficulty factor.
Aartje initially had to get used to the idea of living abroad for a long time. But after an MAF internship in Africa, she came home even more enthusiastic than Arjan. "In this work, we share God's love in a very practical way. Besides, it attracts us to start in a new place each time and get to know new people. God has created these desires in us."
The Paschal family learnt new life lessons abroad. "In Papua New Guinea, not everything is questioned, but people tend to accept things as they are. Here there is an awareness that life is not engineerable."
Children grow up
In Liberia, there was no international school and so Aartje was busy homeschooling the children. In Papua New Guinea, there is an American missionary school, so that was one of the reasons for the family's most recent move. Now that the children are in school, Aartje has more time to devote to MAF's human resources department. Besides, everyday activities, such as running errands, take up a lot of time in the vast Papua New Guinea.
How do the children feel about their international upbringing? "We are still really Dutch, but our children are not," Arjan explains. "We speak English with a Dutch accent, but our children are asked which US state they come from."
With young children, moving was fairly easy, but now that the children are getting older, their lives seem to set the pace. "The eldest is going to study soon, probably in Australia. Then the question for us is whether to stay here or move with her."
EO series Jungle pilots
The Paschal family figures in the new EO series Jungle Pilots - Stories of Hope. It features both Arjan's pilot work and family life. For a fortnight, a television crew rotated with the family. "That took some getting used to. In the end, we could be completely ourselves and it was fun to do. It turned out to be a very nice series."
