Mark Liprini has devoted nearly 25 years to MAF across Africa (credit: Päivi Griffin)

In MAF’s 80^th year, 65-year-old Mark Liprini – MAF’s chief pilot, operations director and flight instructor in Tanzania – undertook his last operational flight after nearly 25 years of flying. We look back on Mark’s incredible career…

Mark Liprini – MAF’s chief pilot, operations director and flight instructor in Tanzania – was greeted on Arusha’s runway by MAF’s customary water salute from a fire engine when he completed his last operational flight.

After landing, he was serenaded by his team as part of the surprise tribute.

L to R: Paivi Griffin, Peter Griffin & Roshan Stephen serenade Mark (credit: M. Dillingham)

When Mark embarked upon his vocation at the age of 22, little did he know he would clock up more than 5,000 air miles in 10 different countries over nearly 25 years. Mark recalls the defining moment when it all started:

‘Before I went to Bible college, I got the call to serve the Lord full time anywhere, anytime, at any cost. When I was at Bible college in1982, I remember seeing a verse in Isaiah and it just hit me:

‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah Ch.6, vs.8)

‘That scripture played a major role in my decision, but how was God going to use me going forward?’

Mark Liprini – MAF’s former chief pilot, ops director & flight instructor in Tanzania   

L–R: Peter, Becki, Francis, Mark, Emmanuel & Roshan (Päivi Griffin)

Flying for MAF across Africa

Mark remembers his invitation to his now wife, Lorraine, to join him on his lifelong adventure over 40 years ago. They were sitting on a hill near Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, South Africa:

‘God has called me to serve Him on the other side of the mountains, but I don’t know where I’m going or how long I’m going for. I don’t know what God has got for me to do. All I can promise you is that God has called me. Will you marry me?’

Mark & Lorraine Liprini have been married for 42 years (credit: Mark Liprini)

Mark and Lorraine celebrated their 42^nd wedding anniversary in September 2025.

MAF would be a huge part of Mark’s life.  In 2003, he went to flight school in South Africa.

After his training, Mark was mostly based in South Africa as a pilot, but also got to work in Lesotho, Kenya, South Sudan, Chad, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola for the charity. More recently, Mark and Lorraine were based in Uganda for 18 months followed by Tanzania, where they lived for three years.

Mark flying as a MAF pilot in Uganda (credit: Mark Liprini)

Staying calm in a crisis

Having lived in Johannesburg, which has some of the highest crime rates in the world, Mark is no stranger to danger. His experience and character made him the perfect pilot for evacuating others and for playing his part in MAF’s Disaster Response Team:

‘I’m not here to be safe. Where I’m from in Johannesburg, it’s just as unsafe! It’s part of our daily lives, so I’m used to stress. Being part of the Disaster Response Team means going where I’m sent.

‘For me, the real heroes are our partners we fly like the missionaries I’ve flown and camped out with, who work in far and isolated regions living amongst unreached tribes and who bring the Gospel.’

When rebels attacked Chad’s capital N’Djamena in 2008, Mark was on the frontline evacuating MAF families to neighbouring Cameroon.

Ariel view of Chad’s capital N’Djamena (credit: Mark Hewes)

During South Sudan’s civil war (2013 – 2020), Mark did it again in 2016 when the Battle of Juba erupted in the capital. At risk to himself, Mark continued to evacuate people to safety. Mark takes up the story:

‘I was in Kenya to assist with MAF’s flight programme. I did this quite often – 6 weeks at a time and while I was there, there was trouble in South Sudan, so I was deployed to Lokichogio (near South Sudan’s border) where we spent a lot of time evacuating people who needed to get out of the country. I could sense that they were pretty stressed and had been through a tough time.’

Feeding the hungry

When peace held in Juba, the nature of Mark’s flying changed:

‘We seemed to change gear and we entered a phase of supporting our partners who were still in South Sudan, so I ended up flying supplies into the country.

‘For Tearfund, we had to move four tonnes of baby food to Motot, which is only an hour and a half away from Juba, but the roads are non-existent. I really enjoyed that because that’s a tangible way of helping and that clinic was in short supply.

‘To move food for children who I knew would go hungry if they didn’t have it was a real highlight, because I could watch the boxes being loaded on the aircraft and offloaded the other end.’

Delivering food to the hungry was ‘a real highlight’, says Mark (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

The good weather and an exceptional team played a big part in this successful two-day operation, says Mark:

‘We were able to get in and fly in straight lines without having to dodge weather. The MAF crew on the ground were outstanding. I’d land and the guys were all over the aircraft, taking seats out, packing stuff and go go go! We did every turnaround in less than 30 mins – it was like Formula One Grand Prix!

‘We did two rotations per day – that’s six hours of flying for two days hauling four tonnes of food up to the clinic to help these mothers and children who were in desperate need of nutrition. The people on the ground were really grateful. I was so glad that we could do this, and that for me was very fulfilling.’

100s of women & children survived because of Mark’s delivery (credit: T.Price/Tearfund)

Thanks to Mark, hundreds of children under five and their breastfeeding mothers benefited from MAF’s lifesaving cargo. Plumpy’Nut – a therapeutic food treated acute malnutrition in the children, whilst corn and soybean meals fed their mothers.

During one of South Sudan’s darkest times, Mark was able to support the country’s most vulnerable people for over a month.

Enabling emergency medical treatment

When Mark wasn’t rescuing people from conflict or delivering critical food aid, he played his part in enabling vital healthcare.

Earlier this year, three-year-old Neema was attacked by a hyena in her remote village of Lalaji in northern Tanzania.

She lost an eye and her face was badly damaged, but nobody locally had the skills or equipment to undertake such complex microsurgery and skin grafts.

It was Mark who flew Dr Maher Anous – a former plastic surgeon from Beverly Hills – to Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, to carry out life-changing surgery.

Neema after her first phase of surgery with her mother Juliana (credit: Dr Maher Anous)

Mark’s one-hour and 40-minute direct flight from Arusha, saved Dr Anous a seven-hour road trip or an indirect commercial flight with an overnight connection from Dar Es Salaam.

MAF was the fastest and most efficient route, enabling Dr Anous to spend more time with Neema and less time travelling.

Helping to deliver routine healthcare

Mark’s pre-flight check ahead of Haydom Hospital’s outreach (credit: Jacqueline Mwende)

For 40 years, MAF has been partnering with hospitals throughout Tanzania to facilitate monthly mobile medical clinics for extremely isolated people who live too far away from any medical facility, or who are cut off from services during the rainy season.

For many people living on the edge of society, these two to five-day outreaches are their only opportunity to see a doctor and access healthcare.

Without MAF pilots like Mark, it would be difficult for doctors from Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Kilimatinde Hospital and Same Hospital, to reach the remotest villages. Swift flights replace long exhausting road trips, maximising patient time.

Baby receives vaccination in Mahaka where there are no hospitals (credit: Annet Nabbanja)

Thousands of lives have been saved or transformed through basic treatment, check-ups, vaccinations, access to drugs, eye tests, and valuable health, hygiene and nutrition workshops.

As a pilot, it’s all in a day’s work, says Mark:

‘We pick up medical teams and take them out into the bush. Sometimes they see up to 2 or 300 mothers and children in one day. For some people, that is the only medicine that they get.

‘It’s these things that I really enjoy — playing a small part in saving lives and just being part of the Kingdom for these mums and babies.’

Medical outreach teams can see around 300 patients in one day! (credit: Annet Nabbanja)

Training the next generation of pilots

With years of mission flying experience behind him, Mark happily shares his knowledge with the next generation of MAF pilots.

In Uganda, Mark was a flight instructor at MAF’s flight school. Before leaving Tanzania, he also trained pilots Peter Griffin and Roshan Stephen who undertook their first solo operational flights in 2022 and 2025 respectively, under Mark’s supervision.

Mark congratulates Peter on 1st solo ops flight from Dodoma to Dabia (credit: Päivi Griffin)

Mark hugs Roshan after 1st solo ops flight from Haydom to Gorimba (Becki Dillingham)

Whatever his role, Mark has loved his time with MAF and learnt so much:

‘It’s been quite a journey. I’ve met awesome people from so many nations. I’ve been blown away by the majesty and power of God and sobbed on my knees in the dirt about broken people.

‘God has shaped, crafted, changed and moulded me, broken, humbled and cared for me. Through all of this, I’ve tried my best to serve Him.’

Mark Liprini – MAF’s former chief pilot, ops director & flight instructor in Tanzania  

Back in South Africa, Mark is training pilots at George Flight Training College in Western Cape. He continues to work with MAF as a relief operations director and will help MAF South Africa recruit future pilots.

Mark Liprini doing what he loves (credit: Stewart Ayling)