Greetings to our Friends and Family,
Recently I headed out to the little village of San Jose de Tuauken, about a 30 minute flight north. It may be a funny sounding name, but it's a pretty place at 4,000 foot elevation, which also makes it a bit cooler temperature.
This time I was flying in a medical team because many of the children were sick. Finding medical personal willing to fly out to treat villagers is difficult, and coming up with needed medicines is even harder. After many hours of searching we finally found enough medications to treat the sick in this one village.
Here we are crossing the river from the airstrip to the village of Tuauken. This is the second time for me to land at the Tuauken strip. The villagers had asked me, "Will you land at our village and bring us help if we make a strip?" Of course I said, "Yes." They quickly set to work, and a few days later the strip was ready for me to land--almost finished.
The medical team set up clinic inside this school building. Everyone wants to see what is going on.
The medical professionals assess and treat the sick, grateful for the AMA plane which now can bring help to their village.
The first time I landed in Tuauken it was a happy occasion. I'd been flying a group of gift givers to several villages, and this was our last stop of the day. These people had clothes and toys to share with the Indian children.
In each village those in charge had the children line up to receive the gifts. Each child was given a sack with clothes and a little bag of toys.
Every boy and girl was also handed a pair of shoes, which they tried on to make sure they fit. Many of these kids have never owned a pair of shoes.
I wish you could have seen the happy faces of those children as they clutched their shoes and bags tightly. You would have been smiling for days, as I was.
A few days later I was in the village of Paraqupi to pick up a man who had been snake bit. He was transported downriver from his village an hour away to this village where there is an airstrip. 
As I listened to the boat approaching I heard another engine coming from the village. Imagine my surprise to see a truck drive through the village, across the strip, and down a path to the river.
While they were loading the patient into the truck to bring him to the runway I asked how they happened to have a truck in this remote place where no roads of any kind exist. The story is, they made a raft and floated it down the river.
The men have cut the river bank down in order to drive the truck to its edge, and are also making a truck path to their yucca field. Currently their "road" is a one minute drive from one end of their village to the other! Well, after loading the patient from the boat into the truck the driver had difficulty getting it to climb the hill up from the river, because they are just learning how to drive it.
The poor man suffering from the snake bite finally made it to the airplane and I was able to fly him out to the hospital.
Another of the Parqupi villager's projects is building a new bush strip, for which they plan to use the truck. For this I am very happy. The strip I've been using at Parqupi is one of the shortest and most difficult I fly in and out of.
The new one will be nice and long. This much needed project is one they've started several times but never finished. I've been talking to them of this need for some time. Perhaps this is the season it will be accomplished!
I had to quit using the strip in the village of Pampatamaru because it had too many ruts on one end from water running across it. Not until the villagers needed help did they began work on another one, which really is the strip they used years ago.
This new strip at Pampatamaru is smoother and longer, even though it is further from the village.
Now I can take off with a full load.
Thanks to each one of you for your prayers and support. We'd would love to hear from you, so if you can find a few minutes to jot us a note we'd appreciate it.
Bob & Neiba Norton
