Many people might remember the rumblings about Ebola that began back in February or March of 2014.  In all the previous cases of Ebola throughout Africa, this might have been a story for a few days or weeks but then it would have died out, along with the disease, and life would have returned to normal.  The Ebola crisis of West Africa, unfortunately, was, and is, very different. 

The initial warnings about this new Ebola strain went largely unheeded as cases began emerging in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.  By the time enough major organizations realized that it wasn’t going to be contained quickly, as in previous outbreaks, people were scrambling resources to manage the situation.  Entire health systems were completely shut down as people were afraid to leave their homes and health workers had limited resources to deal with such a disease.  Liberia, a country only recently out of a brutal civil war, had just begun its recovery when Ebola hit.  It would now be thrown backwards and lose any ground it had gained in that recovery.

As I watched the news and heard the stories of health workers going to serve, my heart ached for all of the people suffering…both those infected and those affected by the disease.  I knew there must be something that all of my years of training had prepared me to do that could be of help in this situation.  I began looking for ways in which I could help, both within International Ministries and with partnering organizations.  I soon realized that most organizations had pulled missionaries out of Liberia for safety reasons and very few were sending in more personnel.  One such organization was Medical Teams International (MTI).  I heard about them through a friend and when I read that they were helping to rebuild the local health care clinics so that regular health services could be restored, I knew this was the group I wanted to work with.  I just had to find the way to fit this into an already packed fall schedule!

And if things couldn’t become more complicated, in November, only 2 days after returning from Thailand, my 91-year old grandmother died.  My grandmother had always followed my travels and once told me that she was living vicariously through me as I wrote to her in my journals.  She shared them with her friends at church and knew that I had a short break between Thailand and Liberia.  I believe that she was holding out for this time home.  Being a missionary often means missing out on many important family events and I’ve missed 2 of my other grandparent’s funerals when I’ve been overseas. 

After rescheduling my departure for training in Brussels, a quick trip to North Dakota and time with family, I was ready to leave.  It seemed like when I left, most of the US was pretty upset about the Ebola crisis; full of misinformation and almost angry at people who chose to go over to help.  I had, therefore, decided not to tell most people about my decision to go.  I let my church, my family and, of course, International Ministries personnel who needed to know, but I otherwise kept things to myself.  It was the first trip I had taken where I didn’t just shout it out that I was leaving and what I was going to do.  I just didn’t know how people would react. 

The trip was planned so that I would have just enough time to do my 21 days of self-monitoring in the US before leaving for another missions trip to Bolivia.  We had contacted the Bolivian consulate to make sure that was ok and I wouldn’t have any trouble entering the country.  Everything was set.  I was ready to go…excited, eager to help and curious about what exactly we would be doing.

Training in Brussels helped me to know that there were a lot of like-minded people in the world who were going to West Africa to serve people because their hearts were breaking for the suffering there.  Like me, they wanted to get the best training so that they were prepared to understand the Ebola virus and knew how to protect themselves and others.  The training was phenomenal.  Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has opened up their training to anyone who is going to work with Ebola in any capacity.  There were people there from every imaginable agency.  People involved in logistics, air ambulances, orphanages, nutrition, Ebola treatment units (ETU), laboratories, health centers and even administrators of agencies that wouldn’t actually be in-country but wanted to understand the situation better.  We learned how to don the protective gear and work in an ETU, how to test for Ebola, how to interview patients, the psychological trauma associated with Ebola…really everything you could imagine.  Again, it was fantastic preparation.  They shared all of their information with us, asking that we continue to share with anyone we wanted, so that more people were getting educated about Ebola.  They said they quickly realized that in this particular crisis, lack of good information was killing people.  In previous disasters, many major NGO’s often kept to themselves and didn’t share information.  Ebola is breaking down this wall because without working together, this battle will be lost. 

The night before I left Brussels for Liberia, I didn’t sleep very well.  I remember lying in bed, not scared for my health or worried I would catch Ebola, but wondering if I would make a difference…if I would be in the way or if I could contribute in a way that could help change the course of this crisis.  Looking back today, I believe that I made a difference and that my presence has helped, if only in a small way.

I can’t wait to share more of this journey with you!  I will talk with you about what I did in Liberia and what I learned there as well as what this means for the future and how we can all continue to help.  I hope that you will walk with me on this journey and continue to allow me to share what I’ve seen.