"Amazing Grace" - Sierra Leone's part in the story.

In Derby we recently had a performance by the Saltmine Theatre Company, a professional company with a Christian ethos who perform in Schools, Churches and mainstream theatres in the UK and Northern Ireland. They presented the play, “Amazing Grace”, using word, folk song and physical theatre.  John Newton’s remarkable life story was told from his time as a slave ship captain to church leader and author of arguably the most famous hymn ever written.

                                                               John Newton 1725-1807

This was a powerfully moving story of slavery, freedom and the remarkable power of love and grace to transform a life.

Sierra Leone played a big part in John Newton’s life.  In 1744, when in the Royal Navy, he fell out with his Captain who exchanged him with a sailor on a slave ship that was heading to Sierra Leone. He lived there for a year and seeing the money to be made in the slave trade undertook three voyages as a trader.  After his conversion to Christ, he was consulted about planting a new colony for freed slaves in the country and the town of Newton, 24 miles from  Freetown, is named after him.

The problems caused by Ebola have been far reaching.

When the problems with Ebola started last May, not very much was know in the public domain about the virus and it was initially a long way from our friends in Freetown.  Soon it became apparent that the medical structures in place were unable to contain the virus and in many areas the people lacked understanding and were uncooperative. Measures to prevent the spread of the virus went against established local customs, especially the practice of washing the corpse before funerals. Because doctors and nurses were dying from the disease, people began to visit traditional healers rather than clinics and hospitals. Some of the medical facilities closed because staff did not turn up, either out of an inability to cope or in some cases because they were demanding increased pay to deal with the traumatic situation. There was even a rumour that the disease had been started by Westerners who were experimenting on Africans. In some cases medical personnel working in the community were attacked.  There were also cases of relatives forcibly removing patients from isolation units.

The general lack of understanding of what was going on produced a sense of fear and hopelessness, which was compounded by the worsening financial and social situation.

On 31st July a state of emergency was declared in the country. Because borders were closed and some areas of the country were closed off, the free flow of goods was stopped and the prices of basic commodities rose sharply. A bag of rice in Feb 2015 costs £20, which is about the average monthly salary before the lay-offs. Alpha tells me that flights into the country have started again, but there are no direct flights from London yet. On 24 Feb McPhillips Travel, who handle the air transport for our teams wrote to say they can now flights via Brussels or Casablanca.

                                              President Koroma declared State of Emergency

From July, public meeting not related to Ebola were banned. Football matches were stopped, and bars and clubs closed. From September all schools were closed and areas, including Freetown, have had periods of quarantine where people were expected to stay in their homes. As a result of all this businesses closed and it is estimated that two thirds of the population became unemployed.

Alpha tells me that there have been 47 deaths from Ebola in the Looking Town community.  These have been mainly adults and a number of children have lost one or both parents. One of the children who died, a girl, attended our school. She was the only death among the school staff and pupils.

The governing body of the New Era School asked for a final payment for teachers in October and suggested they should not be paid until the schools reopened again at an unknown future date. I was unhappy about this as there is no social security for the teachers to fall back on and I wanted to preserve their morale and sense of community by giving some financial help. We have been paying them half their normal wage. It has just been announced schools will reopen on the 30th March and we shall start paying the full £600 in April. During the closures, the government has provided lessons over the radio, but without supervision and accountability I am not sure how effective these will have been. There were, however, going to be exams on the 2nd March, to enable pupils to qualify to move from Primary to Junior Secondary Schools. These were postponed.

                                        The last group of children to qualify for Junior Secondary

Before the re-opening on 30 March the government is due to disinfect all schools. They have also announced that class sizes are not to exceed 60 pupils. One result of the closures has been a rise in teenage pregnancies, and the government has instructed schools that pupils must not be stigmatised because of this when they return to school.

To help the community during the Ebola crisis, we have been sending money to enable Alpha and the community to buy food for quarantined families, orphans and anyone in particular need. They have also purchased basic equipment for hygiene, such as bowls to wash their hands and soap and disinfectants, these have been shared with local mosques and churches, together with simple medical supplies. Due to the generosity of members of Community Church Derby and some others, we have sent amounts totalling £2350 to date.

EBOLA: Community Church Derby members send cash to stricken area of Sierra Leone | Derby Telegraph

EBOLA: Community Church Derby members send cash to stricken area of Sierra Leone | Derby Telegraph

The poor in crisis as Ebola leaves a mark on the whole country.

The scale of the Ebola outbreak appears to be "vastly underestimated", the UN's health agency says, as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069 with 783 deaths Sierra Leone
The World Health Organization said its staff had seen evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths do not reflect the scale of the crisis and is co-ordinating a massive scaling up of the international response.

 More than 300 patients have been admitted to MSF isolation centres in Sierra Leone. To date about 50 have recovered and returned home. A girl of 18 is being discharged after her recovery from the Ebola virus. That is the good news.

The WHO said that of the challenge was the fact that the outbreak was in "settings characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear".

To give you an idea of the difference between what we are used to in the UK and Sierra Leone, the last figures available, (2012) show that in Sierra Leone health spending per person was £58, in the UK it was £2197

That year Sierra Leone had 2.2 doctors for every 100,000 people. The UK had 279.

Resources in Sierra Leone are drained by malaria treatment and the economic effects of the civil war which ended in 2002.

Alpha Kargbo, our Development Director, says that the urgent need is economic, because people are told to stay in their homes. They cannot earn money. Petty trading is impossible. Shops are closed. Goods cannot be easily transported. The borders are closed. The price of everything, especially food, has gone up. I am looking at ways to send more than our normal payment of £600 to support the teachers in our schools.

Extra money would help families who have taken in extended family, such as orphaned grand-children, nephews and nieces. The children create problems as they become an extra burden in very difficult times. If you have ideas or can contribute in any way,  please get in touch with me.

Sierra Leone declares a state of emergency

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has declared a state of emergency, lasting initially between 60 and 90 days, because of the Ebola crisis.    "Sierra Leone is in a great fight ... Failure is not an option," he said,   "Extraordinary challenges require extraordinary measures."  

President Koroma

He has cancelled a visit to Washington and will meet the leaders of Liberia and Guinea in Conakry on Friday 1st August to discuss the epidemic. 

The state of emergency means that the police and the military can enforce a quarantine on all the epicentres of the disease, and are required to protect health officers from attack by local communities.

House-to-house searches will be implemented to trace Ebola victims and homes where the disease was identified can be quarantined until cleared by medical teams.   

Public meeting have been banned unless related to Ebola. 

Passengers arriving and departing Lungi International Airport will be subject to new protocols, including body temperature scans. However the  international airlines association IATA said the World Health Organisation was not recommending any travel restrictions or border closures due to the outbreak, and there would be a low risk to other passengers if an Ebola patient flew.

A man has his temperature taken at Lungi Airport. Anyone with a temperature of above 101.6F (38.7C) will be prevented from flying. Passengers are also required to wash their hands in chlorinated water.

Ebola has been blamed for 672 deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization. 

Ebola outbreak reaches Freetown

I am sad to read this evening that Dr, Khan, the chief doctor leading the fight against the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, died this afternoon (Tuesday 29 July) less than a week after it was announced that he had contracted the virus. I had hoped he would have had a chance of survival as he was diagnosed very early.

"His death at the age of 39 was a big and irreparable loss to Sierra Leone as he was the only specialist the country had in viral haemorrhagic fevers," said the chief medical officer, Brima Kargbo.

Ebola is believed to have killed 672 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the outbreak began in February, according to the World Health Organisation.

Because of the outbreak which has now spread to Nigeria, two West African airlines, one based in Togo and the other Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest carrier, have suspended flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

However the World Health Organization does not recommend any travel restrictions to Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone at this time.

Public Health England advises that the risk to tourists, visitors or expatriate residents in affected areas is considered very low if elementary precautions are followed

However the situation is far from clear because, although numbers of cases in Guinea appear to be falling, suggesting the outbreak is under control, it may be that infected people are hiding rather than coming forward to be treated.

In Sierra Leone the Chief Medical Officer has stated that relatives of patients are refusing to allow medical staff to attend to them, making it difficult to reduce the number of new infections.  Because of hostility and fear, families are attacking doctors and people are refusing to take infected relatives to health facilities.

Officials report that some people don’t believe the disease is real or fear that white researchers have introduced it to experiment on Africans.

I now read that a case has been confirmed in Freetown, A woman from Wellington has been confirmed to have the disease, but her relatives stormed the Freetown hospital where she was held in isolation and took her away. Officials are searching for her.

I am very concerned as this is an area were we have been working. We need to pray for our friends, especially Dr. Samuel Kargbo, who heads the work of Faith Baptist Church in Wellington.  We are hoping to welcome out Programme Director from Freetown, Alpha Kargbo, to the UK in three months time.

Alpha Kargbo

Alpha lives in the neighbouring area of Kissy and is Samuel's brother. Both need our prayers. Will this visit go ahead?  We hope and pray that the situation will be under control.

Chief Ebola Doctor in Sierra Leone contracts the virus.

Sheik Umnar Khan

The President's office announced today that the Chief Doctor leading the fight against the Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone has contracted the disease. Sheik Umnar Khan, a 39-year-old virologist who is personally credited with treating more than 100 Ebola victims, has now been taken to an Ebola ward run by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has in recent weeks described the disease’s West African outbreak as “out of control”. The outbreak began in Guinea and has spread to both Liberia and Sierra Leone.

There is no specific cure for Ebola and the disease is normally fatal in 90% of cases. However in the current outbreak 40% of those infected have survived.  

Dr. Khan said recently, “Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk.”

The current advise for travellers from the British Foreign Office in view of the Ebola outbreak is 

"The World Health Organization does not recommend any travel restrictions to Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone at this time [2,9].  There has never been a case of EVD imported into the United Kingdom [10].

Public Health England (PHE) advises that the risk to tourists, visitors or expatriate residents in affected areas is considered very low if elementary precautions are followed [11]"