INDIA

Sundar and Pushpa have been married 31 years and have two surviving children. Kalvi, their daughter, teaches at a school in Guatemala. Arivan, their son is taking a gap-year before going to University. He also teaches the violin. 

 

Pushpa has a love for Literature and it is what she has studied and taught at both the college and high school levels. She has been an editor for a publishing house and freelances when she has the time. She is interested in theatre as well and enjoys spending time with young people. She spear-headed an organisation to support families of people with mental challenges and hopes to continue to serve wherever there is need.  

 

Sundar has been in the field of drug use and HIV, initially hands-on and subsequently moving to motivating and equipping others in this field. He then moved into programme management serving local, national, international, and bilateral agencies as consultant. He was later involved in community development and served as the head of a community development organisation in North East India. He served as Asia regional co-ordinator for a global mission network. He is passionate about integral mission.

 

Pushpa and Sundar serve with MAF in Bangladesh, where Sundar is the Country Director. 

Lungpinglak (Ping), grew up in Jalukie, Nagaland. Though he knew no one from the field of aviation he had the dream of becoming a pilot since he was 10 years old. Years later, he received a scholarship from the Government of Nagaland that covered 75% of the fees to train as a pilot and obtain a Commercial Pilot Licence. In 2011, he became a licenced commercial pilot. 

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Ping got a job as a co-pilot for a private organisation based out of Kolkata. It was during this time that he met a Bangladeshi man who told him about MAF. At the time, MAF India did not exist. Ping decided to send in an enquiry with his story anyway. He was convinced that he could use his flying career to serve God.

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He applied to serve with MAF in 2014. In 2016, he was off to Arnhem Land, Australia as a line pilot. A year later he left for MAF Africa and spent time in Kenya and South Sudan, finally serving in Uganda for 3 years. He now serves with MAF in Timor-Leste as a relief pilot. 

Growing up in a service-oriented family, Sonali has resolved to never serve in the non-profit sector. Satish always believed he would serve through professional excellence in his job. However, after a deep period of introspection, they developed a strong desire to serve others in isolated communities, and this remains the principle motivator for doing what they have embarked to do!

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In answer to His calling, they have chosen to move ‘out of their comfort zone’ to serve with MAF in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Sonali is utilising her versatile experience across several fields in particular her expertise in human resource management to fill the HR Manager’s role in the MAF programme in PNG and Satish is the Operations Manager.

 

Their sons, Sachh and Sanay, join their parents in accepting the challenges of education in a remote and developing nation and growing up in a new environment. 

Rajeev and Soney met while they both were serving in the Indian Army.

 

As an advocate in JAG branch, Soney served in the North East & Mumbai. Rajeev after a stint with the United Nations Mission in Sudan was stoked to work with humanitarian nonprofits.

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Rajeev serves the MAF team as a India Development Manager with MAF India.  

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Their son Aaron is pursuing law and daughter Angela is in grade 11.

Jacophin is from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Her dad works in the fishing industry and aviation was an unusual career to pursue for a girl from her community. However, her father was very supportive when she told him of her desire to become a pilot and encouraged her to pursue her dreams.

 

At 17, she enrolled at a flight school in the U.S. and by the time she was 18, she obtained her Commercial Pilot’s License. She went on to convert her license in India with an aim to fly within the country.

 

In 2015, while searching for job opportunities, her mother found out about MAF, and the work that we were doing. She felt that this was a God-given opportunity for Jacophin to use her aviation skills to serve others. Jacophin applied to fly with MAF in 2016 and soon joined the MAF family as a pilot.  

 

Today, Jacophin is looking forward to her next adventure with MAF!

Abdiel and Neetha, both grew up as kids of parents who served others in remote parts of India. Abdiel went on to get his Commercial Pilot’s License, and Neetha became a Special Educator.

 

In 2014, Abdiel through many interactions with different people, felt called to MAF. He initially applied to join as a pilot but later decided to apply for an Asia Development role.

  

He and Neetha married in January 2015 and in May that year, they joined MAF International. Abdiel works towards developing MAF in Asia, and Neetha works part time as an Asia Development Officer. They have two daughters, Kiara and Nadia. They are based in Cairns, Australia, and are happy that they get to spend time with all the MAF India staff that transition through MAF International’s operational headquarters.

Ravi and Pooja grew up in the north of India, in very different families. Ravi met Pooja at a seminar and they both became friends. After many deep conversations with her and some other people, Ravi became a believer. They married in 2015, and were blessed with a baby girl, Johanna in 2017.

 

Ravi is an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, and Pooja has a master’s in Social Work.

 

Although, Ravi got to know about MAF in 2012, because of various circumstances and personal commitments, he was only able to join MAF International in April 2018. He served as the Stores Manager in Arnhem Land, Australia, and is now excited about the next part in their journey with MAF and the way in which God has called them to serve.

Joel and Gladys both grew up in Vellore, a small town in Tamil Nadu. ​

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Joel completed his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and went on to pursue his Master’s in Business Administration, after which he joined a recruitment firm.

 

Gladys became a Special Educator, seeing the need to reach out to children in a culture that didn’t recognise learning difficulties as a problem.

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They were married in 2015 and were blessed with their son Joseph in 2017.

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Joel heard about MAF in 2013 when he met Bill Harding, but it was only in August 2018, after much prayer, that they joined MAF.

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Joel serves as the Asia Development Administrator. 

VP & Nirmala are doctors who have spent a large part of their lives serving others in many parts of India. Both of them were part of a team that established a hospital in a remote tribal region in Eastern India. Subsequently, VP was part of the leadership team of EHA which has a network of 20 hospitals and a large network of community outreach programs. Nirmala was involved in starting an HIV & AIDS care centre. 

 

In the last two years, they felt that they wanted to continue to serve people in remote communities in other parts of the world. In July 2017, they began serving with MAF International in Papua New Guinea. VP’s role is to see how MAF can be more effective in fulfilling its vision of serving isolated communities by engaging meaningfully with partners. He is also working on new projects to make MAF’s ministry more strategic. He serves as a Strategic Development Manager and is currently based in Timor-Leste.