Eboli virus in West Africa

[shali]

It's so scary that this fast spreading, deadly disease has broken out in West Africa. As of today, (4/8/14) there are 178 cases and climbing. I just got to know all our dear brothers and sisters in Guinea and Liberia and Leone thru our 2014 Yearbook and to think that they are being affected by this outbreak just tears at my heart. Please keep them all in your prayers. I pray they are cautious and aware of their surroundings.

[cricket246]

I never even thought about that affecting them!!!! Thank you so much for sharing! Will definitely be including them in my prayers tonight. & May Jehovah bless you for your loving concern.

[shali]

I never even thought about that affecting them!!!! Thank you so much for sharing! Will definitely be including them in my prayers tonight. & May Jehovah bless you for your loving concern.

You too my dear sister - you too!!!

[Sylv]

I follow the blog of a missionary sister in Guinea (http://ilynca.blogspot.ca/). She has mentioned the outbreak a few times (http://ilynca.blogspot.ca/2014/04/gilead-class-122-anniversary.html), and I am sure she and the other brothers and sisters will appreciate our prayers.

 

(moderators, I hope these links are allowed).

[shali]

I've prayed of little else this week.  I just can't imagine having such a highly contagious disease on the loose here in the states!!!!! Very few survive this.  Wish I could let these brothers and sisters know personally how much I love them and appreciate them despite all they go through!  I hope Jehovah will convey my heartfelt thoughts to them!

[cricket246]

The death toll is rising  I hope they can stop the spread... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26941698

[shali]

Oh please pray our our brothers and sisters in these countries! This disease is so hard to stop and is so contagious.  How would you feel if it was in your area of the world?!!!!  You can't even go to a funeral of someone who has died of this without worrying about being infected with it (yes, dead bodies can spread the disease!). Please continuing praying for Jehovah's Kingdom to Come! All our brothers and sisters EVERYWHERE need it, everyone is going through so much.  I've never shed so many tears in all my life then in these last few years and even more since I've come to this website.  If I feel this way, as a tiny spect of insignificant dust I can only imagine the loss and sorrow Jehovah and Jesus are feeling.

[cricket246]

I don't like to see people suffer and of course I don't want anyone to die, but strangely I've never really been "afraid" of death and I only cry at the funerals I've attended because of those suffering around me..I've always thought of peaceful deaths in this system as a release of sorts, allowing that person to die before things get really bad/scary in the last seconds of this system..... My prayers are with the dear brothers and sisters here though as this is anything by peaceful, and I hope none of them catch this horrible illness!!!!    It saddens me to think of what others things Satan will be throwing our way In the days still to come....

[shali]

They are expecting this outbreak to last for 2,3 or 4 months! I haven't found anymore numbers since April 9th.  Probably busy trying to contain it.  Last I saw, as of April 9th, the death toll is 100. 

[dennisdg]

Here is the latest I heard about this... we're truly living on the last days (Rev 6:8)

 

--------------------------------

Ebola has spread to Conakry, the capital city with 2 million residents

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/14/health/gupta-ebola-guinea/

[Miss Mouse]

That is so very scary Dennis . Thanks for that link . Haven't seen you for a while hope your well.

[Bluebell]

really interesting how they celebrate the Memorial:

 

"our memorial was conducted tonight was "Governing Body approved"  and our brothers followed instructions very closely.

 

 

Due to the Ebola epidemic, there was to be special precautions and arrangements made for our memorial and those in nearby cities and villages. 

 

The special instructions also said that to reduce the risk of contamination we should have no emblems present and not pass the bread or the wine. That's right, you read that right, no bread or wine for our memorial. 

 

And since there was no emblems, the talk did not have to be given after sundown. The first memorial held in our Kingdom Hall was not after Sundown. In fact, the first group of brothers who attended were headed home while it was still light out."

[Sylv]

I just want to clarify that the missionary sister who writes this blog lives in the "Forest"  not in Conakry, but I am sure the brothers and sisters in the capital practised the same precautions.

 

http://ilynca.blogspot.ca/2014/04/unforgettable-memorial.html

[shali]

Wow!  How wonderful to know that Jehovah is flexible about such things when our lives are involved.  It really shows his care and concern to allow such precautions, such as not passing the emblems and allowing the talk to be given before sundown.  I'm sure it seemed very different and unusual.  From now to the end of this system, we will see the organization make such changes and decisions I'm sure, we already have this year (with the D.O.'s and Circuit assemblies).  I'm so glad to belong to a group of people who's God loves them so much.

[shali]

Sylvie, thanks for the link to that sister's blog!  A very interesting read!

[Miss Mouse]

Thank you for the link so encouraging and seeing how the GB are so attentive to each individual situation .

[Jackbornholm]

The virus has reach Western Ghana and of course it is something the brothers talk about. And the high death tolls among the infected are scary. And if Ebola ever was to gain as much momentum as to become a Pandemic it would be a enormous problem. But it has never happened and as long as Ebola doesn't radically chance its nature it will not happen.

 

First of all Ebola is not very contagious as have been mentioned. You have to be in the same room as a infected room and inhale or absorb fluid from this person. Like touching him or inhaling some airborne drops the person has spread by coughing. Yes death persons can spread the sickness as well - of you touch them. Witch is quit normal at worldly funerals. But the virus is not airborne as such and can not spread in ways of insects, the water supply or fruit.

 

That is why Ebola have only killed about a thousand people ever. While malaria kills more than a half million people every year. And Cholera kills more than one hundred thousands every year. Of course our hearts goes out the the brothers in the local areas of the outbreak. And it is wonderful to see how even at the memorial we use good scientist practices that, if everyone follow them, would end the outbreak in a matter of weeks.

 

I don't know if any Jehovah's Witnesses have died from Ebola. I guess that Kumasi in Ghana is the first city with a dense population of Witnesses to be hit, and current reports say that the situation is under control in Western Ghana. Keep the victims of Ebola in your prayers, just remember those brothers and sisters that every year dies from Malaria.

[MizPeg]

Wow!  How wonderful to know that Jehovah is flexible about such things when our lives are involved.  It really shows his care and concern to allow such precautions, such as not passing the emblems and allowing the talk to be given before sundown.  I'm sure it seemed very different and unusual.  From now to the end of this system, we will see the organization make such changes and decisions I'm sure, we already have this year (with the D.O.'s and Circuit assemblies).  I'm so glad to belong to a group of people who's God loves them so much.

I imagine that seemed strange, those arrangements. Thankfully the slave class set things straight. in time. As said before, we will have to be prepared to not hesitate if we get i structions that seem odd.

[trottigy]

I follow the blog of a missionary sister in Guinea (http://ilynca.blogspot.ca/). She has mentioned the outbreak a few times (http://ilynca.blogspot.ca/2014/04/gilead-class-122-anniversary.html), and I am sure she and the other brothers and sisters will appreciate our prayers.

 

(moderators, I hope these links are allowed).

 

Great blog.

 

Here is her post about the memorial

[Áine]

I follow her blog...she writes really well

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Miss Mouse]

Jack said:

First of all Ebola is not very contagious as have been mentioned. You have to be in the same room as a infected room and inhale or absorb fluid from this person. Like touching him or inhaling some airborne drops the person has spread by coughing. Yes death persons can spread the sickness as well - of you touch them. Witch is quit normal at worldly funerals. But the virus is not airborne as such and can not spread in ways of insects, the water supply or fruit.

Wow Jack have you ever seen a slow motion video of how far a single sneeze ( moist particles ) can travel. Saw a documentary on BBC and now I cringe every time someone sneezes ! All I can say is be careful and run for cover ! Be safe

[Jackbornholm]

Fortunately the virus cant keep alive for long in open air. Some doctors even say that you have to be in direct physical contact with an infected person, but better safe than sorry. So there is no chance that a big city market could be infected by one person sneezing. Not like Tuberculosis who kills millions every year. The good thing about Ebola is also why it is so feared. It kills it victims before they can spread the virus to enough people. That said you are of course correct, if your village have a Ebola victim you are in big trouble and it is taken deathly serious by everyone. But this is Africa, there is a lot of things that can potential kill you. And Malaria, which I can get by sitting on my porch kills many many times more people than Ebola.

 

But hay, I am also more scared by the Ebola outbreak 200 km away than I am from the Malaria that are just outside my window. Of course I am, because I have the money to get treated if I get malaria, with Ebola it is over. I am just saying don't blow it out of proportions Ebola is an extremely rare virus that right now hits a few people in Westafrica. And maybe one or two brothers will die of it. But every month there is brothers and sisters dying of Malaria, mostly because they don't have access to the medicine that is normal in the western world. That is simply the facts of life.

[shali]

This is the bottom line - would you be so cavalier if an Ebola outbreak was within a mile of your home?  Would you say that more people die of heart disease than Ebola?!!! Would you be telling everyone that Ebola is not that bad if 178 people got it and 100 died of it in just a couple of days?  Do you think Jehovah would make exceptions at the Memorials if this wasn't serious?  I know I'm gonna get flack for this because basically it seems like you can't say anything in these forums without someone picking your words apart and wanting to make you wrong and themselves right, but I DON'T CARE - people contract this disease and die pretty soon afterwards and I don't want that to be my brothers and sisters. Compassion is important.

[Jackbornholm]

I don't say it is not serious, I just say it is nothing to be overly concerned about. If it hid my village of course I would follow the guidelines so we could stop it fast, and of course it would be bad for my village. But I wouldn't be more afraid of it being in the next town as I am now when it is on the other side of the river. Death is more close to everyday life in Africa than it is in the western world. And compassion is important but is seems for people living in America and Europe to be easier to be compassionate about a little outbreak of a very deathly and rare virus. But I see no discussion in here about Malaria. A single village and a single person get more emotions from people than a million nameless persons suffering in silence.

 

So if you want to feel compassion for a few victims of Ebola please do, for their family and friends it doesn't matter if they die of something common or something rare. You are commented for caring. But it seems that many people are scared of Ebola and unless you are in the direct contact with the sick there is no need to be.

 

It is a little bit like the brother that came to me yesterday. He had heard about the problems in eastern Ukraine and was now extremely concerned for the brothers there, even though no one has died yet at all. But he had no concern for more than 100.000 brothers in Eastern Congo which never know what terror tomorrow will bring.

 

But please feel compassion for anyone you want, there is far too little of it in the world as it is. Sincerely, I am not trying to mock you.

[shali]

Believe me, I pray for the brothers in the Democratic Republic of Africa, South Korea, Eritrea, Ukraine, West Africa and any other name I can remember (the Phillipines still and I know witnesses were affected by the mudslide here) as well as the whole brotherhood.  I just know that if I were going through something life and death that was affecting me I would like to think that someone out there was praying concerning the situation (even if they don't know me personally).  And it's not a matter of praying for these ones to get out of the situation but rather to ENDURE it and still be able to do Jehovah's will.  Jehovah has his reasons for allowing certain situations to continue like those in Eritrea and South Korea (they give an answer to Satan's taunt at Prov. 27:11) but that won't keep me from praying for them to have comfort and joy despite their horrible, deplorable conditions.