(ANS – Freetown) – We publish below the second part of the interview given by Salesian Brother Lothar Wagner to the magazine Politico.

What implications does the epidemic have for your work?

Currently we are giving intensive training to all our staff. More than ever we have to be keen observers. How do the children behave? Do they fall asleep on a bench? Are they ill? Have they a fever? We check their temperatures every three hours. The admission procedures to the homes take more time as we document the whole medical case history and record the surroundings the child has lived in for the previous three weeks. Many orphans and affected children are being admitted. Moreover, the number of incoming calls on our crisis line has quadrupled. At the moment these are almost exclusively emergency cries which take twice the normal consultancy time.

How are you doing personally?

Very well. As far as my health is concerned, physically and mentally, I do not have any complaints. It makes sense to be here on site at this moment, even if a lot seems to be senseless. But a lot is ambivalent in life and in faith. 

How do you cope with personal fears?

I am good at suppressing them (laughs). Fear only rises in me when there is a suspect case at our institution. This happened twice. In that case everything has to run smoothly. Immediate isolation, therapy and sending for the doctors. And when it takes some time until the child is picked up, I am in great tension and tortured by questions, such as are we protecting the other children and members of staff sufficiently from such cases. But we cannot close down now. There are lots of ethical dilemmas that we have to deal with.

What part do God and faith play in this situation?

Without God and my relationship with him I would definitely not be here. Or I would hide in my office and do logistics on the computer in order to soothe my conscience. Never before have I been so happy with my lot in life as I am here and now. Yes, I am happy. The daily encounters with the children and youths are for me encounters with Christ. I am standing at the Way of the Cross of our times, offering the cloth of St. Veronica, helping to carry the Cross. Now it is the young people who update the historical Christ for me in my life. Through them and through Christ I know that my life will not end with the crucifixion but that we live to celebrate Easter.

What would you like to tell the Western World?

There is great sympathy among the population, even global solidarity. This provides me with the strength to continue. 5,000 soldiers and civilians have volunteered in Germany alone. That is incredibly awesome! Now the German government must immediately give these volunteers the opportunity to help here on-site. It is taking too much time and the Western governments continue to hesitate. I appeal to you: send mobile hospitals with at least 5,000 beds, laboratories, experts in epidemiology as well as doctors and nurses. Now is the time to prevent a global epidemic.

Published on 22/10/2014