It was in 1997 and Mark Palm, then 22, was at a first meeting with Kirsten. “I told him about my plan to live in New Guinea and help people,” he said. “I said to him,” If you are ready for that, we can go out with it. Otherwise, we can be friends. »»
They have now been married for 27 years.
Palm, whose father was a pastor, said that his plan was born from a spiritual vocation when it was seated near a well in Tecate, Mexico, where he helped build houses with a religious group.
Shortly after in 1994, he heard of disastrous conditions in the remote regions of New Guinea. He traveled there with a friend and met people living in bush houses without water or electricity and bathed in the river. There were rare medical resources beyond certain basic clinics without doctors.
He learned that a hospital was three days in canoe along the river. Those who have serious medical conditions are normally dead before receiving medical care. Many of them were women with complications when the child is born and people with diseases, snake bites or injuries.
Palm had an instant link with the people. “I fell in love with culture,” he said. “People were always smiling and friendly. They brought us as strangers in their bush houses and made us stay as guys. ”
He left New Guinea with a plan to help around 500,000 inhabitants of the distant province of Papua East Sepik, New Guinea. He would learn to fly and, as there were no airports, used floats along the septive river to bring the villagers to the hospital and medicines to the villages.
It was the plan he described in Kirsten during their first appointment and already worked to achieve.
He learned to fly on Gillespie Field in El Cajon while working as Busboy at Mission Valley. He obtained a diploma in aviation technology from Miramar College in 2000. He acquired practical work experience as a plane mechanic for five years and piloted doctors to Mexico.
In 2010, Samaritan Aviation, a non -profit organization, was formed and a humanitarian organization, Wings of Hope, donated an airplane. Mark, Kirsten and their three children, then aged 4.5 and 7, left their home in Carlsbad for Papua, New Guinea. They would remain in New Guinea for a decade. Currently, they still maintain the two residences in Carlsbad and New Guinea.
“We were the only float in New Guinea,” he said. “In fact, we were the only plane to serve distant areas.”
“It was dangerous. The river had sandbars and debris, fish nets and canoes. I was alone. If I was trouble, there was no one to help me.
“At first, we faced suspicions about our motivations. We have overcome these suspicions by our actions. ”
Since 2010, the Samaritan aviation has carried out around 3,600 flights delivering thousands of patients in hospitals and has traveled around 300,000 pounds of medical supplies to villages.
Today, he has three planes and eight families, including five pilots, living full-time in New Guinea. The non-profit organization plans to extend to other parts of New Guinea serving 1.5 million additional people.
“In 2009, before our arrival, around 3,000 people died from cholera,” said Palm. “Since then, there has never been any epidemic killing more than three people.”
Its first rescue in 2010 was Antonia. She had been in work for three days and was still obstructed. She and her little boy would have died if Palm had not stolen her from her village and brought her to the hospital.
In 2019, the villagers organized a rally on the river to celebrate the new Samaritan aviation plane.
“They had present dignitaries, including the American ambassador,” recalls Palm. “There were around 600 people, a lot in their cultural dresses, necklaces and paintings.
“One after the other, they called the podiums that were saved by the Samaritan aviation. While they were telling their stories, everyone had tears in their eyes.”
The last speaker was Antonia. She told how Mark saved her and her baby, 9 years earlier. She presented her 9 -year -old son. His name is Mark.
About this series
Goldsmith is a columnist contributing to Union-Tribune.
We welcome suggestions from readers of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received many previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith to jgsandiego@yahoo.com
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
