Greetings Friends,

With all of the panic over Ebola in our region I wanted to update our sponsors as to the real situation on the ground.  Uganda does border DRC Congo and the border is pretty fluid, people coming and going every day.  There are even Congolese in the refugee camps alongside the Sudanese who are there.  Since the outbreak of Ebola two weeks ago, the border remained open and shortly after the outbreak was known the Ugandan border agents began screening everyone coming across.  As of yesterday, the Ugandan president decided it wise to finally close the border.  So that border is closed to Congo.

There are many dirt roads that lead into Congo and people use these roads constantly for trade.  They are not supposed to but the authorities look the other way.  So, these roads are a bit concerning.  The Congo is also a very volatile place with many, many rebel groups fighting each other.  This causes aid workers to veer away from these areas.  And those areas are also where Ebola is breaking out.

Lastly, the Congolese call Ebola the “white man’s disease” and think that whites are bringing it in and if they can chase these white doctors away then Ebola will also leave.  This is third world thinking due to lack of knowledge.  The Congolese villagers have already burned down one clinic set up for Ebola victims and have attacked another.  They don’t realize that Ebola comes from the animals they eat, such as bats and monkeys and wild bush meat.  There have been 17 outbreaks of Ebola in Congo alone because they refuse to get knowledge.

So, what is the status of Uganda?  So far, there have only been 7 cases and only 1 of them has died as they came too late for treatment.  These cases were all in the city of Kampala with a population in the millions.  Also, they are from the driver who drove the sick person and the sick person, and health care workers who were not aware of the Ebola at that time.  The traveler is the one who died.  Uganda is extremely well equipped to tackle Ebola and has always been.  They do a wonderful job of treating the affected and keeping death rates extremely low.  They are probably the world’s most knowledgeable country concerning Ebola and how to treat it.

All of the schools are now practicing the protocol used for Covid, a mandatory measure by the government.  I also provided each of our students a personal bottle of hand sanitizer.  At the Iris Base here, we also require all visitors to be screened and to wash hands and use hand sanitizer.  Obviously, the only way to stop the spread is to quarantine the nation but that is a bit extreme at this point, so we do what we can and trust God to protect us.

Also President Trump has made it known that the USA will not accept any American with Ebola to enter to get treatment.  He has stated that they are supplying a “state-of-the-art” facility in Kenya.  Kenya is not the place to put this facility as it is too far away from the outbreak and it could expose a country who has no Ebola simply because of their lack of border security.  The best place for this facility would be Uganda, who has more experience treating Ebola than any nation in the world.  We do request prayer for all of us here and my missionary friends who are now stranded in Congo.  They are Americans.  Pray for a vaccine to be made and tested quickly.