Today I flew staff members out of a town that had been overrun by soldiers last week. The soldiers had moved on, but the staff was eager to get out. John, the main coordinator on sight, showed concern about the situation as we loaded everybody on as fast as possible. But he still broke into his contagious laugh, complete with missing teeth and broad smile. It helped ease the tension. I silently marveled that he was staying behind while helping everybody else get out of there.
After the flight, one of the staff members came back from immigration over to the airplane where I was loading bags onto our little trolley. “Thank you so much, pilot,” he said. “All my luggage was taken last week. But I thought they would also take my life.” He drew a finger across his neck to emphasize the last sentence. “So thank you, and God bless you.”