A nurse on staff will work with our missionaries in making sure that every person who exits and enters the Compassionate Home will be properly tested for Ebola symptoms. In this way, our missionaries, along with our widows and orphans, will learn valuable health lessons for the benefit of all. Of course, a staff nurse has been part of HEAL’s long-term budget plan from the start. But, the current health crisis has forced us to immediately seek the funding for this component of our plan!
If you have followed the news on the Ebola issue, part of the transmission problem stems from unsanitary practices of rural villagers. Such practices range from preparing the bodies of deceased loved ones to eating “bush meat”—rodents like rats, rabbit, and small monkeys that are easy to kill and cook. Ebola has been contracted in these ways. Because HEAL’s mission is in the middle of the rural village of Umuagwu, we will work to educate our villagers in sanitation so as to protect their health also.
By the time of our next newsletter, Leo Okonkwo will have arrived in Chicago! At our benefit on Wednesday, 10/29, we will update you on all the current issues we face, including how we are working to prevent Ebola. Also, in next Thursday’s newsletter, I will announce the well-known pro-life speaker giving the keynote address at the event! Please keep HEAL in your prayers in the upcoming weeks and months as we enter a critical phase for the growth and success of the mission!