Ebola Update

October 24, 2014

We are sad to report that Joseph Lassayo, who supervises our work crew in Bauya, Sierra Leone, has lost his sister to Ebola. She lived in a village about 30 miles from Bauya. Our prayers are with Joseph and his family, and we ask for your continued prayers as well.

We are getting reports that there are 86 cases total in the district of Moyamba, all of which are in Moyamba Town, which, unfortunately, is the main source of food in the district. The end of the rainy season approaches soon, bringing harvest time, which will allow people in villages to avoid going to Moyamba Town and other cities in order to eat. And while the disease appears possibly to be slowing in the eastern districts, where it first entered Sierra Leone, Ebola is spiking in the western part of the country, particularly in the capital of Freetown.

The Paramount Chief in Kongbora has imposed a Le 500,000 fine for anyone caught eating bushmeat (such as bats and monkeys), the handling of which is suspected to be a way for the Ebola virus to jump from animals to humans. He continues to discourage people from crossing chiefdom borders.