''All that
is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing'' -
EdmundBurke
Welcome
S I E R R A H E
R A L D
Vol XI No 5
The
tendency sometimes to protect perpetrators for the sake of
peace...doesn't help society. Impunity should not be allowed to
stand. - Kofi Annan on Waki report
Sunday
September 21, 2014
- It is another Sunday - a time for genuine
prayers and a call to action for our great
nation as we battle this creepy, all-devouring
and deceptive menace called Ebola. Let us all
pray, whatever our faith and belief that the
deadly and vicious Ebola scourge will be
defeated. And prayer, we add, should go hand in
hand with the right action.
We have been
following how the three-day lockdown has been
progressing in Sierra Leone - and we do not mean
the capital Freetown only as the good, the bad
and the ugly of the 72-hour lockdown is
revealed. We have seen snippets of reports
saying a number of dead bodies, human bodies
were discovered in houses with relations
unwilling to allow the lockdown burial teams to
take over and safely remove the bodies while
others speak of burial teams not turning up to
do their designated duty because of a lack of
logistics - there is not enough of personnel and
ambulances to cope despite the empty streets. A
witness told state television the burial team
initially had to abandon the five bodies in the
street and flee. Lahai said later the burials
were successfully completed after police
reinforcements arrived. In northern Sierra
Leone, health worker Lamin Unisa Camara said
Saturday he had received reports that some
residents had run away from their homes to avoid
being trapped inside during the lockdown. We got
this report from
Reuters news
on the first day of the lockdown - "Streets in
the capital of Sierra Leone were deserted on
Friday as the West African state began a
contested, three-day lockdown in a bid to halt
the worst Ebola outbreak on record. President
Ernest Bai Koroma urged people to heed the
emergency measures as health workers, some clad
in protective biohazard suits, went house to
house, checking on residents and marking each
doorway they visited with chalk.
The New York Times
had this - There is no large-scale treatment
center for Ebola patients in the capital,
Freetown, so many patients have to be placed in
a holding center until they can be transported
to a facility hours away — that is, if an
ambulance can be found to pick them up and if
those packed facilities have room. In the
streets of the capital on Friday, one woman lay
curled in a fetal position, eyes shut,
precariously balanced on cardboard sheets next
to an open gutter in front of locked
storefronts. From a wary distance, the
anti-Ebola volunteers said she had high fever.
Hours of calls had produced no ambulance.
The BBCadds - ...families were struggling because
the price of food had gone up. In the hours
leading up to Sierra Leone's lockdown, there was
traffic gridlock in Freetown as people stocked
up on food and essentials. Cities and towns
across the country were quiet without the usual
early morning Muslim call to prayer and the
cacophony of vehicles and motorbikes that people
wake up to here. With running water a luxury for
the many poor, where would they get the water
for washing their hands? Where would they get
potable water for cooking purposes and other
chores in a country whose capital Freetown has a
recent history of water shortages with owners of
trucks carrying large containers of water doing
a roaring trade with the noveau riche?
Thursday
September 18, 2014
- UN Security Council says the Ebola crisis in
West Africa is a threat to international peace
and security. Secretary General Ban says a new
international mission - UNMEER has been set up as he promises further
action to eradicate the Ebola scourge in West
Africa.
The UN Security Council has today Thursday
September 18th, 2014 declared the Ebola scourge
ravaging West Africa a threat to international
peace and security as the 15-member UN body
unanimously passed a resolution (15-0 in favour)
that calls on all countries to urgently send
medical personnel and supplies to contain the
menace. The US ambassador to the Security
Council Samantha Power whose country drafted the
resolution says its a call to action not just
from the Security Council but from the whole
United Nations family of countries. She later
tweeted - after the passing of the resolution -
"UNSC Ebola resolution has 131 cosponsors, by
far the most of any of the 2,176 resols since UN
created. But its what happens next that counts."
In his speech,
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said - "The Ebola crisis has
evolved into a complex emergency, with
significant political, social, economic,
humanitarian and security dimensions. The
suffering and spillover effects in the region
and beyond demand the attention of the entire
world. Ebola matters to us all. The outbreak is
the largest the world has ever seen. The number
of cases is doubling every three weeks. There
will soon be more cases in Liberia alone than in
the four-decade history of the disease. I
applaud the leadership of United States
President Barack Obama, and warmly welcome his
announcement that the United States will deploy
3,000 troops to provide expertise in logistics,
training and engineering. I also thank the many
Governments that have made contributions –
including Canada, China, Cuba, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, France,
Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya,
Norway, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Rwanda,
South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda and the United
Kingdom. I hope other countries will follow
suit. Airports in Senegal and Spain are serving
as logistical hubs. The AU, ECOWAS, European
Union, World Bank, African Development Bank,
Gates Foundation and Global Fund are also
engaged. We are looking to all those in a
position to help. The business community, for
example, is well placed to contribute in the
health, transport, communications and
information sectors.
We have, in the
past, called the attention of the authorities in
Sierra Leone to the need for proper care for
people who have tested positive for the Ebola
virus. Testing positive for the virus should
not be seen as a death sentence.
Pictures that we have seen of patients being
handled in a most disrespectful way by these
brave health care workers should be discouraged
so that the afflicted will develop that needed
will to live if they are treated with due
respect and the necessary care. We have also
called the attention of the health delivery
workers about the need for people to be given
the proper nutritional support so that their
immune system can rise up to the challenge and
hence help their recovery. It is also worth
noting that in a country like Sierra Leone,
indeed in the entire sub-region people
identified with Ebola could also be suffering
from other ailments and sometimes serious
conditions that could be overlooked as health
workers focus on the Ebola infection.
Tuesday
September 16, 2014
- US President Obama takes the lead in the fight
against the Ebola scourge. Promises troops,
doctors and health officials with a military
command centre in Liberia to support civilian
efforts across the region. A very grateful
sub-region awaits as more continue to die in
countries with health delivery systems that are
a shame to the 21st century.
US President Barack Obama
has finally spelt out the US commitment to help
contain the scourge that is destroying lives,
families, communities, villages and towns in
Sierra Leone and other countries across the West
African sub-region. It was a welcome speech
delivered at the Centres for Disease Control in
Atlanta, Georgia where he met health care
workers who have been to the region, seen what
it is all about and even contracted the disease.
We have decided to link you to the pages that
contain today's speech as well as providing you
with an easily-accessible channel on our pages.
We do hope you will find them useful and not
only that, but hear from a Head of State who
really cares. These lines from the President's
speech goes to the heart of the message he was
trying to send - about the suffering and the
hopelessness and helplessness of it all.
"The scenes
that we’re witnessing in West Africa today are
absolutely gut-wrenching. In one account over
the weekend, we read about a family in Liberia.
The disease had already killed the father. The
mother was cradling a sick and listless
five-year-old son. Her other son, 10-years-old,
was dying, too. They finally reached a treatment
center but they couldn’t get in. And, said a
relative, “We are just sitting.” These men and
women and children are just sitting, waiting to
die, right now. And it doesn’t have to be this
way. The reality is that this epidemic is going
to get worse before it gets better. But right
now, the world still has an opportunity to save
countless lives."
President Obama
also revealed plans that clearly showed that he
cares - noting that the Ebola outbreak was now
an epidemic that was spiralling out of control
with decrepit health care delivery systems
unable to cope and completely overwhelmed. "So
today, I’m announcing a major increase in our
response. At the request of the Liberian
government, we’re going to establish a military
command center in Liberia to support civilian
efforts across the region — similar to our
response after the Haiti earthquake. It’s going
to be commanded by Major General Darryl
Williams, commander of our Army forces in
Africa. He just arrived today and is now on the
ground in Liberia. And our forces are going to
bring their expertise in command and control, in
logistics, in engineering. And our Department of
Defense is better at that, our Armed Services
are better at that than any organization on
Earth. We’re going to create an air bridge to
get health workers and medical supplies into
West Africa faster. We’re going to establish a
staging area in Senegal to help distribute
personnel and aid on the ground more quickly. We
are going to create a new training site to train
thousands of health workers so they can
effectively and safely care for more patients.
Personnel from the U.S. Public Health Service
will deploy to the new field hospitals that
we’re setting up in Liberia. And USAID will join
with international partners and local
communities in a Community Care Campaign to
distribute supplies and information kits to
hundreds of thousands of families so they can
better protect themselves. We’re also going to
build additional treatment units, including new
isolation spaces and more than 1,000 beds. And
in all our efforts, the safety of our personnel
will remain a top priority."
We hope
this fact sheet from the
White House will help in getting
a picture of what the United States intends to
do in fighting the Ebola scourge. Sierra
Leoneans should pray that with the combined
efforts of countries such as the United States,
the United Kingdom, Cuba and other countries as
well as the work of local and international
NGO's we can at last heave a sigh of relief that
help is on the way and that we need it quickly
too.
Monday
September 15, 2014
- We are sad, very very sad. We have lost
another doctor as the fight to contain the Ebola
scourge rages. We have lost Dr Olivette Buck - a
woman who had been in the frontlines in the
battle against this nasty and all-invading
beast. We have lost a woman who was determined
to give her all in the fight. We mourn the
passing away of Dr Buck and we pray that the
Good Lord will grant her the rest that she truly
deserves. Rest In Peace.
We had to hold the
front page yesterday as news of the death of Dr
Olivette Buck began filtering through. We at
first hoped and prayed that it was just another
false rumour generated from the mills - but as
the day wore on - it became clear that indeed we
had lost another frontline battle commander in
the fight against the terrible and vicious Ebola
scourge. What is now emerging it seems, is the
satanic antics of a government "information" set
up to deny all interested persons the true
picture of the afflicted, the dying and the dead
in Sierra Leone.
On the passing
away of Dr Olivette Buck, the
Sierra Leone Telegraph
had this one line and grim heading - Dr.
Olivette Buck is dead - and goes on - "After
several days of desperate, frantic efforts and
pleas for president Koroma to spend some of the
vast amount of money that he and his wife have
collected from private donations, as well as
from international aid to save the life of
Sierra Leone’s first female doctor to contract
the Ebola virus, she is now confirmed dead.
Rather than dig deep into their moral conscience
and do what is right, State House instead had
chosen to sit and watch Dr. Buck die, just as
they presided over the death of Dr. Khan, Dr.
Modupe Cole, and Dr. Rogers – four of Sierra
Leone’s finest handful of doctors. History will
not judge president Koroma kindly, nor will the
people of Sierra Leone ever forget the fact that
he has now become known as the weakest and most
docile of presidents, to ever occupy State
House. For a head of state to be weak, docile
and inept is one thing, but to lose that one
critical leadership quality that sets heroes
apart from the chaffs, is something else. And
that something else can only be described in two
words: immorality and hubris"
We have noticed, with some amount of
trepidation, actions by ruling party activists
that tend to give credence to critics of the
rat, that the government is still not taking the
Ebola fight as seriously as it should. In
neighbouring Liberia, President Sirleaf gave
officials out of the country a week to be back
or get their marching orders as she asked all
her ministers and officials to join hands and
ideas in the fight against the scourge in her
country. In Sierra Leone we read reports of
government officials travelling abroad at the
expense of dying taxpayers on one pretext or the
other with the rat's chief advocate for an
illegal third term one Balogun Koroma who also
doubles as Transport minister. He is at the head
of a delegation in Russia talking about a mere
MOU, Memorandum of Understanding with some
dubious entity to create a new railway!!!. He
and others are out of the country at a time when
all hands are needed on deck - especially
officials who feed fat from the resources of the
ordinary and afflicted Sierra Leoneans. We also
note another unusual if not cruel twist - health
officials abandoned their wards and patients to
fill seats reserved for the public in Parliament
to witness that august body approve the new
Health minister and a deputy to boot whose only
credential is that she is an offspring of the
Siaka Stevens APC era and we would stop at that
as the poor lady was "appointed" by the hapless
rat who saw this as rewarding the sons and
daughters of the old party activists some of
whom were around and approved of the Ginger Hall
attack on the opposition party enclave in that
part of the city. What a shame, what a display
of heartlessness, of a lack of compassion for
the sick, the dying and the dead!!!!
UPDATE -
We have just seen this picture on the right and
story on the pages of
AWOKO on
the death of Dr Olivette Buck and its aftermath.
We pray that the Lord Almighty will strengthen
members of the family as they try to get to
grips with this unexpected tragedy. To our
brother Canon Jenner Buck we say - Courage
brother and keep the faith. The Good Lord knows
best.
Thursday
September 11, 2014
- BBC launches new programmes on Ebola. A look
at the virulent and treacherous scourge and how
it attacks the human system rendering it weak
and unable to fight off a beast that is
determined to kill.
l.
We recommend the
series to all those who are worried and
interested in a terrible and devastating
affliction that has never before hit us. This is
a must see for the rat and his media motor
mouths foaming at the mouth in sheer ignorance.
This is a must view for those who think a
three/four day lock down aids the fight even as
they use the terrible scourge as an outlet for
getting youth activists, untrained and
unqualified in matters of health and who could
be carrying the virus, to check on compatriots.
And if we know
the system well, it would be a field day to show
the invincibility of the APC and how it provides
for its own - never mind the unfolding tragedy.
This latest episode has the theme - "The
Ebola virus. No-one knows exactly where it comes
from but one thing is certain - it's one of the
most virulent infections known to science.
This special episode of
Horizon meets the scientists and
doctors from all around the world looking for
the cure and hears first-hand accounts of what
it's actually like to catch - and survive - this
terrible disease."
We would urge
all Sierra Leoneans and friends of our once
beautiful country to follow the series of
programmes put together by the BBC. We see this
as a part of the BBC's service to public
education, knowledge and understanding of a
terror that continues to devastate communities,
villages, towns and cities. This should provide
education to all those who do not understand the
severity and deadly seriousness that should be
attached to a killer that knows no limit, no
boundaries. Kindly recall what the BBC's
Director of Global News, Peter Horrocks promised
-
"The Ebola
outbreak in Western Africa has so far claimed
more than a thousand lives. As medics struggle
to treat the sick and stop the spread of the
disease, there is another vital front in the
battle – bringing people the accurate and
up-to-date information which can, literally,
save their lives. Countering misinformation is
crucial. In Sierra Leone, for example, myths and
rumours about Ebola abound – such as the claim
that it is not a real virus at all or the theory
that it can be prevented by traditional
medication.
And this is
where the BBC World Service can play a part. As
a trusted source of news in the affected
regions, with millions of listeners, the World
Service is ideally placed to bring the latest
life-saving information to its audience. From
today (Wednesday 13 August) the BBC World
Service will join forces with the BBC’s
international development charity,
Media Action,
to produce and broadcast special Ebola updates
which will air across BBC Africa language
services broadcasting to Africa on Wednesdays
and Fridays. These updates will cover the basics
of how the virus is contracted, the symptoms and
what to do if people suspect they or someone
close to them is affected. They will cover the
latest expert advice and new developments, as
well as debunking myths and rumours, and
combating misinformation."
Thursday
September 11, 2014
- 13 years ago today, the United States of
America was subjected to a deliberate and
well-planned attack that saw more than three
thousand losing their lives as iconic and
strategic targets are hit in the heart of the
country.
13 years ago
today, the United States was hit in an attack
that was as unexpected as it was ferocious -
meant to take out as many lives as possible and
wanting to bring one of the world's greatest
democracies and the world's most advanced
military power to its knees. It was an attack
that made the world's greatest military power
take a closer look at itself and examine not
only the genesis of such a ruthless and brazen
attack, but to take a second look at residents
within and outside the country and more
importantly - why the United States should
become the target of such a planned attack that
involved the use of planes loaded with
passengers as flying bombs and missiles of
destruction. Allow us to recount events through
the eyes of the
History Channel.
On September 11, 2001,
at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded
with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the
World Trade
Center
in
New York
City. The
impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story
skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in
higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway,
television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a
freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing
767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward
the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor. The
collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over
surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.
The
attackers
were Islamic
terrorists
from Saudi
Arabia and
several
other Arab
nations.
Reportedly
financed by
Saudi
fugitive
Osama bin
Laden’s
al-Qaeda
terrorist
organization,
they were
allegedly
acting in
retaliation
for
America’s
support of
Israel, its
involvement
in the
Persian Gulf
War
and its
continued
military
presence in
the Middle
East. Some
of the
terrorists
had lived in
the United
States for
more than a
year and had
taken flying
lessons at
American
commercial
flight
schools.
Others had
slipped into
the country
in the
months
before
September 11
and acted as
the “muscle”
in the
operation.
The 19
terrorists
easily
smuggled
box-cutters
and knives
through
security at
three East
Coast
airports and
boarded four
flights
bound for
California,
chosen
because the
planes were
loaded with
fuel for the
long
transcontinental
journey.
Soon after
takeoff, the
terrorists
commandeered
the four
planes and
took the
controls,
transforming
ordinary
commuter
jets into
guided
missiles."
On the eve
of the
anniversary,
US President
Barack Obama
outlined his
plans for
degrading a
new and even
greater
threat to
the world.
An
organisation,
though
claiming to
be committed
the ideals
of the good
faith Islam
attacks and
kills with
ruthless
abandon all
those who
cross its
path -
Muslims,
Christians,
atheists and
every human
being it
feels should
be killed.
Says the
President
- "Let’s be
clear: While
this group
may call
itself the
"Islamic
State," it
is not
"Islamic."
No religion
condones the
killing of
innocents,
and the vast
majority of
ISIL's
victims have
been Muslim.
Nor is it a
"state." It
is not
recognized
by any
government,
nor by the
people it
subjugates.
This is
nothing but
a terrorist
organization
with no
vision or
goal other
than to
slaughter
all who
stand in its
way. While
we have not
yet detected
specific
plotting
against our
homeland,
these
terrorists
have
threatened
America and
our allies.
And the
United
States will
meet this
threat with
strength and
resolve.
Already, our
military has
conducted
more than
150
successful
air strikes
over the
past month
against ISIL
targets in
Iraq --
strikes that
have
protected
American
personnel
and
facilities,
killed
hundreds of
ISIL
fighters,
and helped
save the
lives of
thousands of
innocent
men, women,
and
children."
Sunday
September 7, 2014
- Clueless and rudderless cabal wants a 72-hour
curfew to keep people indoors as the blustering
spokesman for the rat, one Alpha Sahid Bakar
Kanu tells the world that the incubation period
for Ebola is 2-3 days. Is the army of 21,000
untrained and unqualified health volunteers an
outlet for APC party activists?
Can suspected cases be removed for treatment
fast enough?
The international
air waves, radio and television had been full of
it - that the authorities in Sierra Leone are
planning what they call a lockdown of the entire
country starting 18th September.
CNN notes -
Sierra Leone plans a three-day nationwide
lockdown in an effort to halt an Ebola outbreak
that has killed hundreds, a move that a leading
medical charity said Saturday will not help.
People will not be allowed to leave their homes
for three days under the plan, set to start
September 19. The lockdown is being billed as a
predominantly social campaign rather than a
medical one, where volunteers will go
door-to-door to talk to people. "We believe this
the best way for now to identify those who are
sick and remove them from those who are well,"
said Alhaji Alpha Kanu, Sierra Leone's minister
of information and communication. But Médecins
Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without
Borders, said such a lockdown is unlikely to
stop the spread of the disease. "Large scale
coercive measures like forced quarantines and
lockdowns are driving people underground and
jeopardizing the trust between people and health
providers.
Tom Dannatt,
founder of
Street Child,
a charity which employs 650 people in Sierra
Leone and Liberia, also raised concern over the
scale of the lockdown. He said: "Can you imagine
telling everyone in this country you have to
stay at home for three days?" He also expressed
concerned about the country's street children,
many of whom live in food markets which will be
closed. "Where will they go?" he asked. But
Dannatt said he hoped the measure would make the
international community wake up to the severity
of the outbreak. "It will highlight the fact
Ebola is touching everyone. It's not just the
thousand who have contracted it," he said. Alpha
Kanu talks glibly about giving people enough
warning to stock up for the days when the
country would be shut down and says we are used
to such a situation as we did during the war!!!
This cad is a real beast. How many people in
Sierra Leone can afford to stock up food for
three or four days? When we saw this on a BBC
page, we could not believe our eyes - "Health
ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis told the
BBC he did not expect the public to object. "You
follow or else you'll be breaking the law. If
you disobey then you are disobeying the
president," he said. So is it treason these days
to disobey the rat? Who is he - is the rat a
servant of the people or an overlord? Over to
you Sidie. We'll leave it at that for now. This
link is for Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu who says the
incubation period for Ebola is 2-3 days. It is
from the
World Health Organisation,
the WHO. "The incubation period, that is, the
time interval from infection with the virus to
onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days."
Thursday
September 4, 2014
- Lest we forget. It was on this day and indeed
on a Thursday 17 years ago that residents in
Freetown woke up to face a grim reality. That
many civilians had been killed and many more
wounded, some gravely following overnight sounds
of heavy firing around Mabaylla in the east of
the capital.
Thursday September 4, 1997
-
Tragedy unfolds. Scores are reported killed by
bombs/missiles. Junta claims massacre carried
out by ECOMOG forces based across the estuary in
Lungi. Anti-Nigerian/ECOMOG/pro-democrat
hysteria and hate whipped up on junta-controlled
radio and television. One medical staff
interviewed by junta-controlled TV publicly
discloses that some of the victims bore wounds
consistent with those inflicted by bullets. It
was a frightening day as the junta of Johnny
Paul, RUF/AFRC coalition of evil paraded the
streets of the capital forcing out people to
demonstrate against the Nigerian contingent of
the ECOMOG peace keeping force based mainly at
the international airport across the estuary in
Lungi.
Pictures of the
dead, dying and wounded were flashed across
junta-controlled television and spokesman Allieu
Kamara accused the Nigerians of the atrocity
committed against unprotected and innocent
civilians on Wednesday night and the early hours
of this day, it was not lost on many in the
capital that the kind of noise generated by the
junta and what few supporters they had could
only mean one thing - it was the junta that had
carried out the murders and not a shell fired
from the Nigerian ECOMOG positions across the
estuary. Clips from the murder scene and
confirmed by one of their narrators, now a part
of the rat's many feeding outlets, showed
victims had suffered wounds consistent with
bullets fired from automatic weapons as well as
those from missiles like the junta's
much-favoured and menacing rocket-propelled
grenades, the RPG's. Those who survived but kept
sealed lips speak of seeing men in military
fatigues firing into them from vantage
positions, wondering what they could have done
to deserve this. Any who dared raise their heads
in protests were gunned down, keeping them quiet
forever. Seventeen years on, architects of the
Mabaylla massacre are still walking the streets
and alleyways of Freetown and other parts of the
country with a number rewarded by the rat. Among
them,
the present Head of the
Army one S O Williams who during
our troubles threatened to raze Freetown to the
ground should ECOMOG forces move from their
positions and head for the capital Freetown.
Wednesday
September 3, 2014
- UK Ebola victim flown from
Sierra Leone is alive - and well again. William Pooley admits that he was really scared,
thinking he was going to die. Praise the Lord -
he is now declared OK after evacuation from
Sierra Leone by specially-equipped air force
C-17 plane.
The first UK
victim of the Ebola virus to get infected in
Sierra Leone
nurse William Pooley has been given
the all-clear by medical teams and is back home
no doubt trying to recall where he could have
got it wrong and got infected. His story again
highlights the need for proper care and good
health delivery for those who contract the
disease thereby buttressing our call that more
be done for Ebola victims in Sierra Leone. That
having the infection need not be a death
sentence.
The BBC has
this story - "Mr Pooley was given the
experimental drug ZMapp and has praised the
"world class" care at the hospital. About half
of the 3,000 people infected in the outbreak,
which started in Guinea, have died. The pace of
the outbreak has been accelerating with more
than 40% of cases in the past three weeks. Mr
Pooley was working as a volunteer nurse in one
of the worst affected countries, Sierra Leone,
when he contracted the virus. He is unsure when
he became infected, but started feeling sick and
needed a blood test. He recalled the moment his
fears were confirmed: "I was woken early that
evening by one of the World Health Organization
doctors and immediately I knew it was it was bad
news." I was worried that I was going to die, I
was worried about my family and I was scared.
He said: "I
was very
lucky in
several
ways;
firstly in
the standard
of care I
received,
which is a
world apart
from what
people are
receiving in
West Africa
at the
moment.
"And my
symptoms
never
progressed
to the worst
stage of the
disease,
I've seen
people dying
horrible
deaths, I
had some
unpleasant
symptoms,
but nothing
compared to
the worst of
the
disease."
Another
UK-based
news outlet,
the Daily
Mail
(not to be
confused
with that
rubbish
online
red herring generated by
degenerate
and
self-serving
praise
singers of
the rat) has
this other
aspect - "Mr Pooley, who
comes from
the small
village of
Eyke in
Suffolk, was
airlifted
back to
Britain in a
specially
equipped C17
RAF
aircraft.
The hospital
said in a
statement:
'Following
10 days of
successful
treatment in
the high
level
isolation
unit - the
only one in
the UK - Mr
Pooley is
being
discharged
from the
Royal Free
Hospital
today.'
Close to
1,500 people
have so far
died across
Guinea,
Liberia and
Sierra Leone
in the worst
epidemic
since the
disease was
first
identified
38 years
ago. Mr
Pooley had
been
volunteering
at the ebola
centre in
Kenema, one
of the worst
affected
areas, for
just five
weeks when
he fell ill.
Previously
he had been
providing
palliative
care to
patients at
the
Shepherd's
Hospice in
Sierra
Leone's
capital
city,
Freetown,
and had been
there since
March. But
as the ebola
epidemic
began and he
heard that
healthcare
professionals
were fleeing
for fear of
catching the
disease, he
decided to
go to Kenema.
Mr Pooley is
the only
Briton to be
have ever
been
infected by
ebola
outside the
laboratory.
The only
other
British case
was in 1976,
when
scientist
Geoffrey
Platt
pricked
himself with
a needle
contaminated
with the
virus.
Please
world,
please
humanity -
come to our
aid and help
us fight the
scourge.
Help us with
isolation
units. Help
us with
medical
personnel.
Help us with
food and
drugs. Help
us with beds
and
trolleys.
Help us with
protective
gears. Help
us raise the
trust and
confidence
levels of
our citizens
who have
grown to
distrust any
word that
drips from
the lips of
politicians.
Please come
to our aid.
Do not wait
until Ebola
decimates
us. We do
not deserve
this.
Thanking you
in advance
for your
anticipated
help.
Monday
September 1, 2014
-
The rat and his cabal still not getting things
right in the fight against the deadly and
vicious Ebola Virus Disease. A case of too many
cooks spoiling everything. All the hallmarks of
a lack of direction and vision laid bare.
In the past couple of days, the visionless and
directionless rat at State House came out with a
badly-worded press statement in which he stated
that he has sacked his Health Minister one
Miatta Kargbo and he was actually expecting to
be applauded for something he should have done
ages ago.
The wording of
that statement also brought into focus what we
had been saying all along - that there's no
credible and down-to-earth strategy to combat
the scourge with everyone close to him and his
kitchen and inner closet staff falling over each
other to show just how "sagacious" their dear
leader was. However what put the icing on the
cake in the catalogue of political stupidity and
arrant nonsense was a widely publicised event
held at the ruling party headquarters, the APC
that is "to honour the fallen heroes" in the
fight against the Ebola scourge. This was the
dumbest activity one could not have imagined
from a party which had all along insisted that
the fight against the scourge should involve
everyone irrespective of ethnic affiliation,
regional and party loyalty.
Having failed
initially, we think there should not be any
excuse for Sierra Leone not putting in place
robust and practical strategies in place and the
fact that in two of the statements above the WHO
and the Chief Medical Officer are now getting
truly involved showed that the whole affair had
been poorly handled and this new announcement
from the office of the rat came as a result of
the visit of the WHO officials at State House.
They could well have bluntly told the rat that
the Ebola crisis is not getting the treatment
that is needed...and that the lack of resources
was not the main problem as they made clear that
the initial resources generated locally if
properly utilised could have gone a long way in
stemming what is now an overwhelming tide.
We have raised
this question before and we would ask again -
after the rat ordered that the brave health
workers be absorbed into the staff role of the
Ministry of Health - how many of them were duly
registered? This what he said in a
July 2014 address
to the nation on the disease - "We
commend the volunteer nurses and health workers
in Kailahun who are making the personal and
professional sacrifices to identify, diagnose
and treat Ebola patients. I hereby instruct the
immediate absorption of these brave volunteer
nurses and health workers in Kailahun and Kenema
into the civil service."
Sunday August 17, 2014 - International
broadcaster, the BBC joins national media in
Sierra Leone to spread awareness on the deadly
Ebola. A bold and innovative move and would want
to see more broadcasters getting involved.
Is the rat at State House losing the plot?
We say - take the pressure off Kailahun and ask
for help in setting up isolation and treatment
wards in other parts of the country.
We are indeed happy to note the effort of a
number of key journalists in the country to
raise awareness on the deadly Ebola - a scourge
that had never before hit our country, nor
others in the neighbourhood like Guinea and
Liberia and now Nigeria. We have been informed
that the smoke and mirrors rat of a President
had called in members of the Sierra Leone
Association of Journalists, SLAJ, to brief them on what
his outfit intends to do to stem the ravaging
tide of the deadly Ebola. The latest that we
have is that SLAJ has also initiated a fund that
encourages members to chip in ensuring that
all contributions are properly recorded and
accounted for so that the organisation cannot be
seen as just one of the many mushrooming
fund-raising outfits. Some of these outfits
while pretending to raise funds for the victims
and the fight against the scourge have one and
only one aim - to make money out of the misery
of the suffering masses.
We are pleased to receive this note from the
BBC headlined -
BBC World Service Joins The
Fight Against Ebola -
"The BBC World
Service is to
broadcast
special Ebola
updates which
will air across
BBC Africa
language
services on
Wednesday and
spoken local
dialects:
Liberian English
in Liberia,
Soussou in
Guinea and
Pidgin in
Nigeria.
These updates
will cover the
basics of how
the virus is
contracted, the
symptoms and
what to do if
people suspect
they or someone
close to them is
affected. They
will cover the
latest expert
advice and new
developments, as
well as
debunking myths
and rumours, and
combating
misinformation.
“As a trusted
source of news
in the affected
regions, with
millions of
listeners, the
World Service is
ideally placed
to bring the
latest
life-saving
information to
its audience"
We wish the BBC and
its arm
Media Action in Sierra
Leone well. We are indeed
saddened like many concerned Sierra Leoneans and
friends of our great country to hear of the
passing away of another top frontline doctor Dr
Modupeh Cole in the fight against the Ebola
scourge.
Tuesday July 29, 2014 - A sad day...a sad, very
sad story as we announce the passing away of a
true hero - a man who gave his all that others
may survive. Dr Sheikh Omar Khan is no more. He
succumbed to the ravages of Ebola today at the
MSF health clinic where he had been receiving
treatment after he contracted the disease while
attending to Ebola cases in the government-run
Kenema Hospital.
The reports have been flooding the world's media
outlets - with this from the pages of the
UK-based
Guardian newspaper
- The doctor leading Sierra Leone's fight
against the worst Ebola outbreak on record has
died from the virus, the country's chief medical
officer said. The death of Sheik Umar Khan, who
was credited with treating more than 100
patients, follows the deaths of dozens of local
health workers and the infection of two US
medics in neighbouring Liberia.
Another outlet, the
Daily Mail
has this opening - "Sierra Leone's top Ebola
doctor dies after contracting the virus while
fighting the outbreak as Nigeria admits precise
number of people U.S. victim Patrick Sawyer
could have infected is unknown."
International broadcaster
Al Jazeera
also reported the passing away of Dr Khan -
SSheik Umar Khan
was infected earlier this month and died on
Tuesday at a ward run by medical charity Doctors
Without Borders in the far north of the country.
Miatta Kargbo, Sierra Leone's health minister,
called Khan a "national hero" and praised his
"tremendous sacrifice" in working to save the
lives of others. His death comes days after
Samuel Brisbane, a senior doctor at Liberia's
largest hospital, died on Saturday at an Ebola
treatment centre on the outskirts of Monrovia.
The Independent
newspaper states - Ebola virus: Top Sierra
Leone doctor, Sheik Umar Khan, dies of disease
aged 39 - The top doctor treating patients
infected with the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone
has died from the disease, officials have
confirmed. Reuters reporters who visited Kenema in June heard the doctor was “always
meticulous with protection, wearing overalls,
mask, gloves and special footwear”. Before his
diagnosis, Dr Khan told reporters: "I am afraid
for my life, I must say, because I cherish my
life." "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," he added.
We
pray that the Good Lord/Allah or whatever you
perceive Him to be grants him the rest which
only He can grant.
RIP Dr Khan - you have fought the good fight and
Sierra Leone would be grateful and always
remember your supreme sacrifice for the common
good. RIP
