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05/20/2015

Liberians give thanks after country declared Ebola-free

CHICAGO (ELCA) – Tenacity, determination and faith – that’s how the Rev. Andrea L. Walker described members and leaders of the Lutheran Church in Liberia, as well as people of the West Africa country, in response to their efforts to become Ebola-free. Walker is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) area program director for Madagascar, West and Central Africa.

Walker returned May 13 from a trip to Liberia. She was on one of the first few flights to depart Liberia for the United States since the World Health Organization declared Liberia free of the virus. “Sierra Leone is still not Ebola-free. People there need our continued prayers,” she said, although the epidemic is slowing down there with less than 10 new cases reported since the week of May 10.

“When Ebola was considered a crisis in August 2014, the people of Liberia took it very seriously, including the leaders and members of the Lutheran Church in Liberia,” said Walker. “People took up new practices. Instead of shaking hands to greet one another, they offered a thumbs-up, fist-bump or would place their hand over their heart.”

 

“People took every safety measure and engaged in public education,” she said. “Signs are posted everywhere. One of my first impressions departing the airplane and shuttle bus before entering customs is that everyone, including children, was directed to wash their hands in chlorine-tinged water. And before entering most buildings and public spaces, people washed their hands and had their temperature taken.”

“Even outside the church building, where I preached this past Sunday, there was a stone basin with three water spigots for hand washing,” said Walker. “When I said that today we mark an end to the Ebola virus in Liberia, there was an eruption of alleluias and praise in the congregation.”
“This was the vision of Bishop D. Jensen Seyenkulo of the Lutheran Church in Liberia – the tenacity, determination and faith to beat the virus. He walked with people, visited rural villages and was just in the midst of it all along with other leaders of the denomination. It was just amazing. The people of the church and country are just amazing,” she said.

“When Ebola first appeared and started devastating communities, the Lutheran Church in Liberia joined with other churches under the auspices of the Liberian Council of Churches,” said Seyenkulo. “We gathered to pray for direction for ourselves and the leadership of the nation and to share ideas and resources for the fight against the unknown. It was from these meetings that leaders learned of the seriousness of the virus. It was from there, we were initially empowered with supplies,” he said.

“When partners like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Global Health Ministries, a faith-based partner, heard of our plight, they rushed to our aid. We then shared our resources with government hospitals and communities, particularly those neglected,” said Seyenkulo.

“The prayers and actions of the Lutheran Church in Liberia were encouraging to our members,” he said. “The members of the church joined leadership in prayer, the dissemination of medical information, collection and distribution of food items for quarantined communities and in providing sanitation materials all across the county.”

“We lost members. We lost some of our pastors and a missionary. Of the seven ordained pastors and deacons that died, only one died of Ebola. The others died because health care services in the country were interrupted,” said Seyenkulo.

Because of the Ebola epidemic, many people feared going to medical centers and hospitals to seek care for other ailments, such as malaria.

“Most of the members of the Lutheran Church in Liberia see the Ebola-free status of the country as an act of God. They see it as an intervention of a gracious God who has stepped in to save them and their country. We are not angry with God. We are grateful to a gracious God, who never lets us walk alone and who gifts us with a myriad of healing possibilities,” said Seyenkulo.

The Rev. Themba Mkhabela, ELCA regional representative, traveled with Walker to Liberia.

“Ebola was defeated in Liberia because Liberians were willing to change their attitudes and adopt life-saving practices,” said Mkhabela. “This was a choice that Liberians had to make and in most cases a very difficult choice, especially when people had to let go of their dead loved ones to allow the government to dispose of dead bodies through cremation. Liberia made their choice, they chose life. People who have given up are not capable of making choices.

“Many Christians in Liberia, through the call of the Christian Council, were engaged in constant prayer and fasting. They attribute the reduction in the numbers of infections and the eventual end of Ebola in Liberia to God’s answer to their prayers and petitions.

“Liberians were hard at work during the Ebola crisis trying to save their way of life. They did not have time to feel sorry for themselves,” said Mkhabela.

Through Lutheran Disaster Response, ELCA members provided funds to support the efforts of the Lutheran Church in Liberia, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone, the ACT Alliance and, at the request of the Lutheran Church in Liberia, provided funds to Global Health Ministries. Funds supported the distribution of food, medical and other supplies, as well air-freight costs to ship personal protective equipment to Monrovia, Liberia’s capital.

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