Ebola in Texas

Thomas Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died this morning at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. I couldn’t help but wonder, had the hospital not sent him home, would he have lived?  My heart goes out to his family and friends during this time as it does to all of those people in West Africa who are suffering from this disease and fighting so hard to treat it.

I know I’ve mentioned this before in an earlier post, that I believe there will be a cure or treatment for this disease within the year. There’s already several experimental treatments on the market today, which we’ve seen when the two US aid workers were brought to the US earlier this summer for treatment. Once these types of calamities show up on our shores we suddenly start to care and the resources are put behind them to stop them in their tracks. I hope that Duncan’s death isn’t in vain and that it helps push the drug companies even further to find a treatment or cure for this deadly disease.

What Ebola in Texas has done, is further reinforced the fact that we are no longer sequestered in our countries as in decades or centuries before. People travel and they travel widely. When an outbreak occurs in one place it will ultimately end up in others.

One thing I am proud of in this whole situation is the treatment that Duncan and his family received from our local officials. Especially Judge Clay Jenkins, who worked tirelessly to secure Duncan’s family a new place to stay and even entered the home without a hazmat suit. He was the epitome of a strong leader and showed true compassion in his goal to show kindness to this family during such a scary and difficult time.

I’ve seen so much fear-mongering on social media, as to be expected, but what’s important to remember is that this was a person, who lost his life to a horrific disease and now his family is left to mourn that loss.

Murder on the Mediterranean

European countries along the Mediterranean have seen an influx of immigrants in recent years due to the ongoing conflicts and Africa and the Middle East. This year is one of the biggest surges yet. Not unlike Haitian or Cuban refugees in North America; migrants from Africa and the Middle East often board vessels bound for Italy in the hopes of giving themselves and their families a better life.

In the past two days, three shipwrecks have claimed more than 700 lives; more than 3,000 this year. One of these boats was intentionally sunk by the smugglers when the people refused to be transported from one vessel to another. The Guardian is reporting that up to 100 children are presumed dead in this heinous act. Imagine you’ve survived rape, famine, bombs, or ethnic cleansing to find yourself drowning in the middle of the Mediterranean.

While the root of the problem is obviously to try and resolve the conflicts in these migrant’s home countries, the interim solution is to provide better protection on the seas by having better coordinated rescue missions. This falls under the watch of the European Union which has a track record of turning people away instead of letting them in. Once a refugee has reached a country’s shores, the host country is under a legal and moral obligation to assist them in any way possible. This of course directly applies to countries in the EU as they are part of the UN and thus subject to international law. Immigration reform is another issue and with better practices and better access people would no longer need to risk their lives to get to safety.

We have these same problems here in the United States with the massive influx of Central American refugees fleeing corrupt and war torn regions. Once they are on American soil they must be interviewed and vetted before they are turned away and sent back home. The reception and treatment many of them have seen from my fellow Americans has been nothing short of shameful. Instead of standing at the border and screaming why not do something useful to try and help the people that do arrive on your shores. Organizations like the International Rescue Committee are a great place to start.

Out of Africa

No I don’t mean the stupendously wonderful 1985 film starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford; I’m talking about three important stories that have come out of Africa in the past few days. While I am aware of the recent news out of Nigeria with the military being accused of war crimes I am not going to cover that in this post, I will cover that later however in a more encompassing look at war crimes.  I volunteer with a respite program for special needs kids and their siblings. At the end of the night when their parents return to pick them up we practice what we call the Oreo theory. What’s the Oreo theory? It’s simple, you start with something good, slide in something not so good and finish on something good.

So now our first good out of Uganda. In February, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law an anti-homosexuality act that went into effect in March. Members of the LGBT community in Uganda have long suffered from discrimination and the new act only made things worse, with many of them fleeing the country under threat of their life and loss of their income. Sadly, the message of homophobia is often preached from the pulpit and homosexuals are portrayed in an almost demon-like manner (clearly the love thy neighbor and do unto others message has been missed here). However, on Friday, August 1, Parliament overturned the law on a technicality stating that when the act was passed Parliament did not have the required quorum to make the vote legal. Now it remains to be seen whether or not the bill is reintroduced into Parliament for another vote but for the time being this is a small victory for the LGBT community in Uganda.

Now for the not so good. West Africa is experiencing one of the worst Ebola outbreaks in history with more than 1,600 people diagnosed and almost 900 deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 90% of patients that contract Ebola die. Ebola first appeared in 1976 and since that time outbreaks, of varying intensity, have occurred from time to time. While the outbreaks are typically reported as a quick blurb on the evening news something has changed in recent weeks. Why is that? First, one of the leading doctors fighting the disease, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, contracted the disease and died. Second, two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly and a missionary named Nancy Writebol were infected with the disease. Both Americans have been flown to the United States for treatment and an experimental drug has seen some very promising results. So why am I calling this something not so good? It’s simple, I predict that by the end of 2015 if not sooner there will be a vaccine for Ebola, or this experimental drug will be readily available to West Africans and the world. All it took was two, white, Americans to contract the disease to save thousands of others. If you don’t think that race plays a part in the decisions of major corporations you would be badly mistaken.

And for our last good. For months the world was riveted by the plight of Sudanese Doctor and Christian Meriam Ibrahim who was sentenced to death- for the straight out of Genesis archaic law of apostasy – which means to renounce your religion. Meriam gave birth to her daughter shackled to the floor awaiting her execution. I signed every petition that Amnesty International sent my way with every email address I have. It’s against international law to execute a pregnant woman or a woman who is nursing. The UN Declaration of Human Rights also protects a person’s right to practice the religion of their choosing. Meriam is marred to a Sudanese-American and they now have two children. After intense international pressure she was released from prison only to be rearrested by the Agents of Fear when she and her family were trying to leave Sudan. After intense negotiations between the Italian and Sudanese governments Meriam and her family were finally allowed to leave – stopping in Rome to meet Pope Francis – before finally arriving last week in Manchester, NH. Despite the fact that her case was a serious misstep in US foreign policy – everyone knew the danger she was in and she should have been taken immediately to the US embassy and sent to America – this story has a happy ending. Not only are Meriam and her family free but her story goes to show that ordinary people all over the wolrd signing petitions and taking action really can make a difference even if it is for one person.

The Talmud (or the ending of Schindler’s List) says it best: And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.