In the still mounting Ebola crisis, Wesleyans worldwide are urged to help through faithful prayers and generous giving to the Wesleyan Emergency Relief Fund. Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised in that fund and through World Hope to date. However, double that amount is needed now to provide such things as:
- Provide Ebola hazard pay for nurses and nursing assistants at Kamakwie. There are ten professional staff at the hospital. Many government hospital staff have left work and gone on strike even with an Ebola pay incentive. The Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital Staff have remained faithfully at their posts.
- Purchase more of the protective gear such as scrub suits, masks and gloves for the Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital staff and other personnel, and more medicines, supplies, and equipment needed to treat patients and prevent the disease from spreading.
- Transportation to get blood samples efficiently from Kamakwie Hospital to Makeni for testing daily and more.
- Construction of an Ebola isolation ward, using locally available materials
- Help fund the information campaign to get the word out to thousands of locations on how to prevent and manage the disease in each village and locality in the region. “Ebola evangelists”–healthcare workers, pastors, officials, and others–will carry the actual facts about the disease, its prevention, and management to everyone.
- Print and distribute written materials to educate people in every location on how best to prevent and manage the spread of the disease.
Continuing to raise these funds now is essential in the fight against Ebola. There is a danger of exhausting all available resources that are needed not only for the Ebola battle, but for the ongoing care for malaria, typhoid, and other endemic diseases. Stopping treatment and care of the normal range of tropical diseases could have even further catastrophic consequences.
A large order of medical supplies was Flown to Sierra Leone and was cleared in record time.
The situation in Sierra Leone and Liberia is one of greatest urgency. Over 5,600 cases in West Africa have been confirmed, with more than 2,600 resulting in death. It has been reported that medical personnel at many health facilities have stopped reporting to work because of fears of the disease. According to the World Health Organization, the outbreak is continuing to spread unchecked and thousands of new cases per week are expected within 1-2 months.
Among the population, there is still considerable misinformation and mismanagement due to lack of correct information. There is one confirmed death with three suspected Ebola deaths in the town of Binkolo, a center of ministry with The Wesleyan Church. Many others there have been exposed. If information and training had gotten to Binkolo sooner, the outcome may have been different. The region has one opportunity, right now, to get the information, training, and supplies in place, before the acceleration of Ebola deaths in the region becomes more epidemic. Presently, it is still very much spreading in all regions.
Wesleyans can help stand against the spread of this horrific virus. Donate to the Wesleyan Emergency Relief Fund to help meet the needs above.
Specific prayer requests have come, suggesting how Wesleyans can be praying:
- Pray for us that God will intervene and remove this deadly disease in our country.
- Pray that we have enough supplies for the medical doctors and nurses to prevent them from being infected.
- Pray that God will protect Wesleyan and World Hope staff, pastors, and all the people in danger in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
- Pray that people will fully accept that Ebola is real.
- Pray that God will give us courage because of fear of being infected with the virus
- Pray that medical personnel will go back to work in their various hospitals around the countries as many of the hospitals are empty.
