What matters
Arusha Medivac has flown air ambulance missions across Tanzania since 2017, on a single Piper Navajo carrying Aveo lighting. Their pilot, Jacek Rejman, wrote to us about what that work is like. This is his account, in his words.
Life keeps pushing us forward no matter what… for better or worse… for richer or poorer…! We have no choice but to be submerged in its current… Sometimes being in charge… or flowing with it…
So many times I ask myself many questions about it. What is important in life? What is it that makes us keep pushing forward? What is “happiness” in life and how to achieve it? What makes us feel “fulfilled”? And so many others.
Sometimes, when trying to actually answer one of those important questions, naturally I lean towards big answers (natural thought would be: “big question requires a big answer”) that quite often are so big that they get totally detached from reality.
Since 2017 we strive to provide air ambulance service in Tanzania, East Africa. We fly our “one and only” airplane (Piper Navajo PA31-310) that we affectionately call Zoggy. Our aircraft's registration number is 5H-ZOG, chosen by us inspired by the main character from Julia Donaldson's children's book called “Zog”, about a dragon who becomes a flying doctor, helping those in need.
Distances in Tanzania are so vast and medical facilities so scarce, air evacuation is often the only opportunity for people to have another go at life. We often feel the responsibility on our shoulders and literally in our hands when we carry patients into our aircraft.
Encountering life in distress is not easy, sometimes overwhelming, but it also gets us closer to understanding the meaning of life and what in it is really important.
Quite often we fly our patients to Dar es Salaam, the main city in Tanzania with good medical facilities. Those flights are usually time sensitive and challenging in so many ways: deteriorating patient's condition, weather, nighttime, limited communications, to name a few. Just yesterday we flew a one-day-old baby boy, not yet named, who was not able to breathe on his own, using a machine to keep him alive.
After we reach the destination airport and successfully transfer the patient to a ground ambulance and everything is ok, there is this “return flight home” that always is amazing. After all the tension and rush connected with a medical emergency flight, suddenly, on the way back to our base, it feels like we are suspended in space above the clouds with gorgeous sun shining or moonlight and stars above our heads. I often listen to music. Queen, actually. And this is the time when I think about those important questions about life.
Recently it really hit me. There are no big answers to those big questions. The things that make our life possible and happy and fulfilled are small and, at first glance, they look insignificant and of little consequence. When we are courageous enough to keep adding all those small things in life, they start to build a big picture that makes life possible and fulfilling. Small things are BIG!
I feel very privileged to be working with Aveo for all those 9 years of flying with Arusha Medivac Air Ambulance. All lights installed on our Zoggy aircraft are donated by Aveo Engineering: landing lights, recognition lights, nav and strobe lights, interior lights and even disinfecting lights that helped us so much especially during very challenging COVID times. A lot!
At first glance (Aveo lights look absolutely gorgeous) you could think those are just lights, like any others. But like many things in life, they have much deeper meaning and importance. Not only are they brilliantly different, but also whenever I look at them, or when they enable me to perform a difficult night landing at a bush airstrip to save someone's life, or when they keep us safe at night, I feel the care and good thoughts of the people who made them. The amazing thoughtfulness, care, ongoing support and generosity of the Aveo crew gives me the feeling of strength and the realization that we are not alone in the struggle of bringing hope to other people's lives.
The fact that Aveo improves greatly our ability to see and to be seen gives us the encouragement to keep going, and makes us realize again that there are no “little” things in life. Thank you Aveo!
Jacek Rejman, Arusha Medivac Air Ambulance, Tanzania
