This aviator is piloting a project to make healthcare accessible to rural South Africans

As a pilot, Kelly Slingers harnesses flight to bridge the gap between privilege and need. For 20 million citizens across South Africa, access to adequate healthcare is limited. Roads to outlying areas are poorly maintained, while clinics are under-resourced and unable to provide patients with the care they desperately require. But Slingers is soaring in with a solution. 

After completing her pilot’s licence, Slingers founded The Plane Project in 2014. Initially, the non-profit focused on encouraging underprivileged girls to pursue subjects and courses that would lead them to flight school. Since embarking on the journey, Slingers realised that more urgent intervention was needed in the medical sector. If people are not healthy, they aren’t able to pursue their dreams. Now, Slingers is solely focused on delivering medical supplies to outposts countrywide. “What we do is serve communities who are in isolated areas,” she says.

The Plane Project’s first flight took off on the 28th of August 2020 in response to COVID-19. In partnership with SHOUT SA, Slingers delivered 17 500 surgical masks to seven rural clinics in KwaZulu-Natal. “My purpose has always been to serve people, and using my skill as a pilot has allowed me to fulfil my purpose,” Slingers says. Since the initiative's inception, over 40 000 basic medical supplies have been delivered across the country. Flying above the clouds, Slingers gains perspective and the expansive space to hope. “My ultimate goal is for us to make a bigger impact on the African continent,” she says. “I believe that is why we are here – to leave a mark.”