For a few blogs now I have been putting off describing our current situation as a mission organization here in Ecuador. The reason being is that it tends to be complex and changing all the time. So here goes...
We charge for all of our flights. Some people may not be aware of this, but it is true. Although we do charge it is very minimal and highly subsidized. In other words, usually a "customer" just pays a rate that covers fuel and maintenance so we can keep our planes flying. We do not charge to pay for our pilots, and all the other overhead that it takes to operate as MAF. That is what we have our supporters for. And still, there are other flights that are completely free for the "customer" because the government of Ecuador is paying for the flight, for example in the case of emergency flights. Long story short, because we receive payment for our services, that puts us in the commercial category of things here in Ecuador. It is very much the same in the USA. The current law says that every commercial aviation operator in Ecuador must use Ecuadorian nationals. Because we technically fall under the commercial status (i.e. airline) and we don't have any Ecuadorian pilots right now we have had trouble obtaining our operators permit and flying everybody and everything that we have in the past. Because of this, our rates have gone up, and our flying hours down. It is really tough for some of our "customers" that have used our service heavily in the past, but now they either cannot afford it, or they do not qualify for the type of cargo we can haul, that being only missionaries and medivacs. This was also spurned on by other local operators in Shell that always see our planes flying, people always hanging at our gates (customers), and a fleet of very nice and well maintained aircraft and they have used this to say that "the immigrants are taking work from us," when in fact we aren't flying anything that they would, it just appears that way. So these operators have filed complaints against us with the government to do anything to shut us down.
We do employ many Ecuadorians in our hangar for many things. In fact, they do just about everything except fly and manage the program. Even though all of us including myself are mechanics as well, we have 4 certified Ecuadorian mechanics. We also have a variety of office staff, radio personel, ect. So it is not that we do not have Ecuadorians on our staff. In fact, we have even trained Ecuadorians as pilots in the past as well, but the track record is not so good. One was killed in an acident, another left us for the airlines after serving a while, and most recently another just didn't have the skills and aptitude to cut it.
The government has given us an ultimatum that we need to integrate Ecuadorian pilots soon. Next week, in fact, we have a potential prospect coming down to us from Quito to be evaluated. Even if he shows us what we like the work has only just begun. Our MAF USA rules state that all pilots must speak English for obvious reasons. So that would mean that this pilot and subsequent others may have to go to language school like we just did, but in this case it would be English. The other factor, and this seems to be the biggie, is that they would need to build a support team like we have to help them while they are missionaries. This is tough because the mindsets of most churches worldwide do not have the giving and sending mentality that we as Americans have. This is sad, and it is mostly our fault as North American missionaries. We have done great evangelizing the world, but when we leave, it is as though we pulled the life support and usually what existed with American money ceases when the "valve is closed." This isn't because of a lack of national money in whatever country, it is a lack of training and teaching.
There are many examples of other MAF affiliates that started with Americans and are now solely run by nationals. This is great and a fine aspiration for any program, but it is not easy. Some examples of nationally run programs now include Guatemala, Suriname, Mexico, Brazil, and a handfull of others around the world.
Now where I come into play...One MAF family here in Ecuador lives in Quito, and the rest of us here in Shell. The reason someone lives in Quito at this point is mostly logistical. So, the guy that lives there is trying to help me get my appointments for my written flight exams and such. When he showed up the other day at the DAC (F.A.A. equivilant) to ask for my appointment, they acted just as predicted. The wondered why after all the madates they have given us recently for integrating Ecuadorians as pilots, MAF is now sending another North American for licensing. So, that said I do not have my appointments yet, although I do think I will get them, it just may take some time.
In the grand scheme of things, the program that MAF USA has here in Ecuador may look a lot different. It might be totally Ecuadorian controlled and staffed in several years. This is a good thing, although for those of us involved in the "hand over of power" how to go about doing that is often an undefined process.
On the other hand with presidential elections this October, everything could change and we could be allowed to operate as we did in the past and even more so. When you live in the third world, you never know what is going to happen and when. As Americans, we have every base covered, or at least we think we do. We buy insurance for every little thing trying to prevent catastrophy or at least pay for it when it happens. We assume because so and so did somthing a certain way yesterday or 50 years ago, it will still apply. This is called precedence, and it is what most of our laws are based on.
What most of the world operates on is Napoleanic Law, which basically says it doesn't matter what was done in the past, the law is made and created to serve a situation for either a certain person or situation right now. Tommorow it could all change.
So, all that said, pray not only for my licensing process, but also for MAF Ecuador in general, that we would know how to do what is expected of us from all those involved, and still keep the Main Thing the Main Thing -Jesus.
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