If the mother receives help, the baby also benefits

We received a message in Wamena that a woman in the remote jungle of Papua, Indonesia, had given birth to a baby but the placenta was still in her womb. We immediately prepared to pick up the mother by helicopter and fly her to the city hospital in Wamena for better medical care. 

The village of Punum was not listed in our database, so we asked the villagers to signal their location with smoke signals. After a 20-minute flight, we reached a village that we thought was the right one – but we saw no smoke signals as agreed.

Fortunately, there was already an airfield near the village, so we landed there. I asked a volunteer to show me the village of Punum. The distance between the airfield and Punum was only about three minutes by helicopter, but on foot it was necessary to traverse very difficult terrain with mountains and valleys. When we arrived in Punum, we discovered a helicopter landing pad that had been freshly prepared for us.

We quickly loaded the mother and her companion into the helicopter as large clouds were already forming around Wamena, our destination. We managed to land at the hospital where the woman's placenta was removed. After three weeks and good medical care, I was able to fly the mother and baby back to their village.

Dyro, pilot

Mom being lifted to helicopter

Ready to take off

Back in her village again. Mother in the middle with baby in a net on her back.