(ANS – Monrovia) –The Young people attached to the two Salesian Communities  in Monrovia, at Don Bosco 8^th Street and New Matadi, have started a programme of  Community Sensitization and Preventive Education to respond to and cope with the current outbreak of Ebola in Liberia. Education and awareness are the best means to fight this deadly virus.

by Sony Pottenplackal, SDB

Liberia is the worst affected country and Monrovia, its Capital, is proving to be the most challenging setting to contain the outbreak. The present outbreak has so far killed more than 1800 people in Liberia alone.

With the theme: “Each One Reach One” the youth have taken the fight against this deadly virus to the streets of Monrovia. They were trained at first by health care professionals and doctors from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the training team of the Catholic Church Emergency Ebola Response, led by Dr. Timothy Flanigan, MD, an infectious disease specialist from Brown University, Rhode Island, who is also a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church.

The young people are going from community to community and to the various city streets and slums instructing people through songs, drama, and door-to-door visits, telling people how to avoid infection and keep themselves and their families protected. They distribute flyers and posters, sanitary items like buckets, Chloride, soap, washing powder, etc. and demonstrate how they can use them to prevent this deadly disease. Their goal is to convince people that Ebola is real and they need to protect themselves and their families.

The young people have taken the leadership role in fighting fear and ignorance to communicate hope and positive attitudes. They are expressing their patriotism and sense of solidarity in this moment of national crisis and suffering. So far the young people have been able to reach out to over 5000 people during the past four weeks.

These two teams, of 105 young people, are motivated and animated by Fr. Daniel Libby, SDB, the youth coordinator of Don Bosco 8^th Street, and Fr. Raphael Aeroboam, SDB, the youth coordinator of Don Bosco, New Matadi. The activities are supported by Salesians and by the generosity of many local people and members of St. Joseph’s Parish, Capitol Hill.

Published 30/09/2014