DAN WOODING, of ASSIST News Service, reports (with DAVID ADAMS)…
(ASSIST News Service) with DAVID ADAMS
A former Australian rock-star atheist, who found Christ and became a fearless missionary to war-torn Sierra Leone, West Africa, has given a dramatic report from the centre of what he calls “the deadliest outbreak of Ebola so far in human medical history”.
He is Fr Themi Adams, who was once a member of The Flies, that shared the stage with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and now runs the Holy Orthodox Mission in Freetown, the capital city of the troubled West African nation.
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ON THE FRONTLINE: Fr Themi and some of his flock as they prepare to disinfect their compound “In a very real sense the epidemic is out of control. International medical help has been very slow in coming. They are now expecting that the death toll could soon rise up to 1000 per week.”– Fr Themi Adams |
“I find myself situated in a quasi-apocalyptic end time scenario of which I would never have imagined could be possible,” he writes in his latest update to supporters, posted on the internet.
“Some mornings when I wake up with a sniffle or a symptom of any type, I think to myself, ‘This is it. I have Ebola’, and then laugh it off wondering that if I make it to Heaven, will I be put in quarantine for 21 days before our Lord lets me in.”
Noting that the wet season has arrived in Freetown, he says that “while we do need rain here for the nation’s water supply during the dry season, nevertheless it comes at a bad time – in the midst of the Ebola outbreak”.
“You see the Ebola virus survives very well in fluid. So the risk of Ebola contaminated water rises. Once the dry season sets in I believe that the rate of Ebola infection will diminish. That is around December.”
Fr Themi says that the news is not good. “In a very real sense the epidemic is out of control. International medical help has been very slow in coming. They are now expecting that the death toll could soon rise up to 1000 per week.”
“Bodies are being left in the streets, and remain there. We had an incident a few days ago in Aberdeen a suburb of Freetown (this is the tourist section of Freetown where the up-market hotels are) where a body remained lying in the street without being collected by officials. This resulted in a huge demonstration by locals until eventually the body was collected.
“Near our compound in Waterloo (on the outer fringes of Freetown) a family died of Ebola. Most of the neighbors ran away in fright. However the bodies of the children remained in the house for several days. It was our chief nurse’s telephone call that eventually alerted officials to pick up the corpses. Part of the rapid spread of the infection is due to these bureaucratic rapid response lapses.
As of 29th October, the World Health Organization put the death toll at 4,922 cases from the outbreak with close to 14,000 cases currently reported in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone and the US and Spain. Outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were both declared over earlier this month.
Fr Themi writes that he believes the international community “has let West Africa down”. “The government here in Sierra Leone is doing its best, but they have neither the funds nor the experience to handle this evil Ebola. A few weeks ago, in my meeting with the President (Ernest Bai Koroma), his words were so sincere in thanking us for our small and insignificant help, I could see in his eyes the compassion for his nation, knowing the tidal wave that was to come and been helpless to protect his people of Sierra Leone.
“Sometimes when I am in prayer, my mind races and begins to plan what we could do if we had just one-tenth of the funds that the worldwide community have put into this Ebola fight.”
The priest says their is some good news. “None of the Orthodox Christian flock and workers here in Sierra Leone have been infected with the virus. This is the result of the grace of God, hard work and the assistance of our mission’s international supporters and sponsors such as HADAm, P4K/Australia and the USA,” he writes.
“I don’t know where we would be without those gloves and mask you sent. As you are aware, the most vulnerable segment of our Mission’s flock is the disabled community that we are housing and feeding in our Waterloo Compound. A person with disability is in a higher risk category for infection because of reliance on others for their mobility.
“Since infection by Ebola is primarily from body contact a disabled person is in a serious disadvantage. Add to this their propensity to beg in the streets of Freetown over the weekends then you have a lethal possibility of contamination. If one of our disabled residents becomes contaminated then it follows that our entire Waterloo compound could become Ebola contaminated – that is well over 100 families (including our nursing staff, clergy security guards, and construction workers).
“Thankfully we have managed to stop them from begging. This we have achieved through education, the distribution of protective items (gloves, face masks, chlorine etc.) increasing our financial assistance and providing them with rice supplies.”
Fr Themi says he intended staying with his flock – “to care for them and to protect them from the evil that takes no prisoners, that doesn’t care how old you are” – and quotes Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want.”
“And even though, I personally have no need for anything, there is great need all around me. We ask for your prayers and continued support as we enter the most critical period here.”
If you would like to help with this work, please go to www.paradise4kids.org/how-to-donate/.
