Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is preparing to end its operations in Tanzania after more than 60 years, as the Christian aviation charity redirects resources towards the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Sudan.
MAF said improvements in infrastructure, healthcare, education and commercial aviation in Tanzania had reduced the need for the specialist flights it has provided to remote communities there since the 1960s.
The organisation is expected to complete its withdrawal later this year, while working with partners to ensure that some of the vital services it has supported can continue after its departure.
Resources are instead being prioritised for MAF’s operations in South Sudan and Chad, which are receiving large numbers of people displaced by the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.
The war, which began in April 2023, has forced 14 million people from their homes, according to MAF, creating what the UN has described as one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
Chad has received more than 1.3 million Sudanese refugees, while around 600,000 have crossed into South Sudan, according to UNHCR figures cited by MAF.
The Chief Transformation and Operating Officer for MAF International, Norman Baker, said the scale of the crisis had prompted the organisation to reassess where its aircraft and other resources could have the greatest impact.
“We have established a strong case for focusing our operations in South Sudan and Chad to address the Sudan crisis - the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis - as a strategic organisational priority,” he said.
MAF’s departure marks the end of a significant chapter in Tanzania, where it has spent decades using aircraft to connect isolated communities with healthcare and Christian ministry.
For more than four decades, MAF worked with Maasai evangelist Elisha Moita, founder of Malambo Bible College in northern Tanzania, helping him and his team reach isolated villages that would otherwise have required lengthy journeys on foot or along difficult roads.
Moita began sharing the Gospel among the Maasai in the late 1970s, when he estimated there were just 63 Christians in the community.
Currently, there are reported to be more than 200,000 Maasai Christians.
“Some villages were so remote, but with MAF, our evangelists reached people more easily without too much energy, and preached the Gospel,” Moita recalled.
“Before, walking so many hours was difficult. With MAF, we had the strength to sit and talk to people because we weren't tired.”
Alongside its mission work, MAF has supported mobile medical clinics over the past four decades in partnership with Haydom Hospital, Kilimatinde Hospital and Same Hospital, transporting healthcare workers and supplies to communities where access to medical care has historically been difficult.
The outreach teams have carried out services such as health education, vaccinations, malaria prevention, antenatal and postnatal care, eye tests and nutritional supplements.
MAF has also operated emergency medical evacuation flights for patients requiring urgent hospital treatment.
One mother, Miriam, described the difference the medical outreach had made after receiving care for her baby.
She said: “I’m happy to know that my child’s health is progressing well. Her weight is 8.9 kg - a huge difference from last month when she was only 7.4 kg! Everyone needs medical services.”
MAF said Tanzania has changed substantially since it began operating there.
According to Countryeconomy, life expectancy has risen from around 44 years in 1963 to about 70 today, while World Bank data cited by MAF shows maternal mortality has fallen sharply by 71% over the past 25 years.
Primary school enrolment has also reached 93% based on The Global Economy data.
Around 69% of rural areas now have access to electricity, according to the International Trade Administration, while the Tanzanian government announced plans earlier this year in May for almost $965 million of investment in roads, bridges and motorways.
Growth in Tanzania’s domestic aviation sector has further reduced reliance on MAF, with falling demand having already prompted the charity to downsize its programme in 2014.
MAF said: “Thanks to our supporters, years of investment have helped make remote areas more accessible and have strengthened local communities.
“Your generosity continues to bear fruit. Thank you for making decades of transformation in Tanzania possible.”
