Daniel owes his life to a rescue flight
Daniel dreams of becoming a lawyer and helping his fellow South Sudanese. That he can dream at all he owes to an MAF rescue flight: 20 years ago, as a toddler, he fell into a fire and his life hung in the balance.
Today the scars left by the boiling water and glowing charcoal are barely visible. As a toddler, Daniel fell into a fire and knocked over his mother's cooking pot. His mother Centina will never forget her son's screams on 18 June 2005.
"Daniel burned himself. In our village we do not have these modern kitchens. We cook on the ground with firewood," Centina explains. "He had only just started walking and he fell into the cooking pot. He suffered burns down his whole right side, from hand to shoulder. The skin was completely gone – it was just white."
A fight between life and death
The hospital in Yambio in Western Equatoria was more than 3 kilometres from their home. When Daniel was admitted, supplies of paracetamol were exhausted because of the civil war that had only just ended. Cetina was in despair: "We spent five days in hospital, but Daniel would not eat, would not sleep and could not be breastfed. He hovered between life and death."
So Daniel's grandfather had no choice but to obtain python fat from a traditional healer – a local remedy for treating burns.
A fateful encounter in London
Almost 6,500 kilometres away in Britain, Daniel's father, Pastor Samuel Peni – today Archbishop of the Province of Western Equatoria – was taking part in an exchange programme. He was giving talks there about the situation of young South Sudanese living in a war-torn country.
Samuel learned of his son's plight by email on the eve of an appearance in London. "Back then there was no reliable communication. I knew nothing about it for at least four days. A short email said they did not know whether Daniel would survive," Samuel recalls. "The only thing I could do was pray to God for a miracle. Then I took part in the panel discussion as planned."
The rescue from the air
Pastor and Canon Peter Marshall from north Wales was in the audience. During the break Peter went over to Samuel and asked how his family was. That set off a chain reaction that ultimately saved Daniel's life. "When he mentioned the word 'family', it hit me deeply. I did not even know where to start. When I showed Peter the email, he took it on himself to contact MAF," Samuel explains. MAF pilot Simon Wunderli eventually collected Daniel and Centina in Yambio and flew them to the Ugandan capital Kampala for treatment. Despite the preparations, Daniel's life hung by a thread. "Rescue flights can end well or badly, especially in the places where we fly. In most of them there is barely any medical care. In the West we simply call an ambulance. For a baby to survive burns like that is unusual. So this success story is fantastic – it makes our work at MAF worthwhile!", Daniel explains.
Peter, now 91 and a supporter of Daniel's education for 21 years, is convinced that this rescue flight was guided by God: "We thank God and I feel privileged to have been part of it. It is simply incredible!" says Peter.
A dream for the future
Centina is deeply grateful to God and to MAF: "I am so grateful to God that MAF was able to come to Yambio in South Sudan. If MAF had not been there to save Daniel, he would not be here – he would have died. Thanks to MAF I still have my boy today. He is such a big boy now!"
Daniel too looks to the future with hope. He wants to become a lawyer: "It is my dream to speak for people who cannot defend themselves. I believe that the same God who helped me 20 years ago will also help me make my home town of Yambio, and my whole country, a better place."
