Happy 60th birthday MAF Chad!

27th January 2026

MAF co-founder, the late Stuart King, pours over a map of Chad (credit: Stuart King)

Since 1966, MAF has been delivering help hope and healing to the remotest parts of Chad. From fighting famine to delivering healthcare and improving literacy, MAF continues to serve isolated communities through a range of partners. MAF’s Claire Gilderson looks back through the ages…

It was MAF’s Co-founder Stuart King and pilot John Ducker who surveyed Chad in 1965 using a Cessna 206 aircraft.

MAF pilot John Ducker (centre) surveyed Chad in 1965 (credit: MAF Archive)

According to Stuart, the welcome from the local church was phenomenal, despite their limited resources:

‘As we were having supper with the missionary couple, there was a knock on the door. Two elders came in. “They say they have a gift for the men with the aeroplane…They want to be the first to give something towards buying the plane to work in their country. They believe it could help people and spread the Good News…”

‘They gave us a money gift for MAF. We were staggered. Here was a church in one of the poorest countries in Africa…Yet, out of their poverty, they wanted to help to buy an aeroplane for God’s work in their land!’

MAF Co-founder Stuart King in his book ‘Hope Has Wings’ (first published in 1993)

MAF in the early days

MAF launches in Chad with a floatplane (credit: Stuart King)

In 1966, MAF sets up base at Fort-Lamy (known today as the capital, N’Djamena) with a Cessna 185 floatplane. At the aircraft’s dedication ceremony on the banks of Lake Chad, over 7,000 people attend!

Medical work – enabled by MAF – flourishes around the lake.

In 1968, MAF opens a new base in Koumra, southern Chad, and adds another Cessna 206 to its fleet.

An early MAF medevac in Chad (credit: Ernie Addicott)

In 1973, there is political unrest under President Tombalbaye and Christians are persecuted throughout the country.

In 1975, MAF pilot Claude Jacot tragically dies of hepatitis after just six months of flying.

In 1977, MAF’s hovercraft launches on Lake Chad, but eventually this body of water shrinks by 90% (source: World Bank).

MAF’s hovercraft is eventually hampered by shrinking Lake Chad (credit: MAF Archive)

In 1979, MAF is forced to leave N’Djamena when civil war erupts, but operations reopen in Bébalem, southern Chad, in 1981.

In 1985, MAF fights Chad’s famine following poor rainfall and failing crops.

MAF delivers 2,460 tonnes of grain to fight Chad’s 1985 famine (credit: MAF Archive)

In 1987, a locust and grasshopper infestation threatens to destroy crops in Bébalém, but under the supervision of MAF’s Max Gove, one of the charity’s aircraft is adapted to spray the devouring insects.

Another two specialist planes are acquired, resulting in the treatment of 320,000 acres of crops in under two months. Countless lives are saved.

MAF’s hangar in N’Djamena was built in 2005 (credit: Phil Henderson)

In 2005, MAF builds its own hangar and offices in N’Djamena, but due to dangerous rebel activity in 2008, MAF staff are once again forced to leave the country.

Modern times

Today, MAF continues to serve the most isolated people of Chad via two Cessna light aircraft.

Languishing in the bottom five countries of the UN’s Human Development Index, health and literacy outcomes are still a huge challenge in Chad.

In Chad, 94% of children under 10 are illiterate (credit: Paula Alderblad)

Malaria, HIV, TB, maternal and infant mortality rates are high, and according to UNESCO, Chad has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world with 94% of children unable to read or write by the age of 10.

Linguist Mark Ortman from ADP is improving literacy in northern Chad (credit: Paula Alderblad)

Linguist Mark Ortman is improving literacy in northern Chad (credit: Paula Alderblad)

Linguist, Mark Ortman from the Association pour le Développement’ (ADP) has been partnering with MAF for over 30 years to develop the Teda alphabet and improve literacy in northern Chad.

Without MAF’s six-hour flight from the capital to Bardai, it would take Mark up to five days traversing through the Sahara Desert to reach his destination!

The Hotchkins from BMS World Mission are improving healthcare in the north (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

The Hotchkins are improving healthcare in the north (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Likewise, doctors Mark and Andrea Hotchkin from BMS World Mission have been delivering healthcare and training health workers in the Tibesti Mountains for 16 years.

Their base, Bardai Hospital, is the only hospital in the province and serves a population of some 50,000 people.

Without MAF, it would take a 5-day drive through the desert to reach Bardai (credit: Philemon Schelling)

It’s a 5-day drive through the desert to reach Bardai (credit: Philemon Schelling)

In addition to drastically reducing their exhausting journey through the desert, MAF flies in essential medical supplies and equipment integral to their work, which they couldn’t do without.

MAF’s country director Esmara Gaalswijk has a vast mandate for Chad (credit: MAF Chad)

Esmara Gaalswijk is MAF’s new country director in Chad and has been in post since March 2025. Her mandate is vast, yet promising:

‘I am here with MAF to reach isolated Chadians with the Gospel. So many people here have not heard the Good News, but I have seen with my own eyes the difference that MAF makes. Chad is a huge country and during the rainy season, ‘roads’ change into mud pools, which makes travel even harder. Our flights can reduce days of travel to hours.

‘I pray that MAF and partners continue to reach isolated people. There’s overwhelming suffering in eastern Chad where many refugees cross the Sudanese border and live in camps. We’ re asking partners how we can assist. I pray that God will provide people and resources for MAF to bless the Chadian people.’

Esmara Gaalswijk, MAF’s Country Director in Chad

MAF’s work in Chad would not be possible without our supporters (credit: Paula Alderblad)

27th January 2026

Since 1966, MAF has been delivering help hope and healing to the remotest parts of Chad. From fighting famine to delivering healthcare and improving literacy, MAF continues to serve isolated communities through a range of partners. MAF’s Claire Gilderson looks back through the ages…

MAF in the early days

Modern times

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