(Dec. 3, 2014 - by Lee Sonius, executive director, Sub-Saharan Africa Region)  Keeping up with the news has become a vital part of my daily routine. And each day I’m anxious to know the latest about Ebola whether I’m listening to the radio, watching television, reading the newspaper or surfing the web. You see, the Ebola crisis is very personal to me.

I was born to missionary parents in Sierra Leone and lived there until I was 8 years old. Then we moved to Liberia, and I consider Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, my home. Now the city is considered ground zero in the war against this terrible virus that has also devastated neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea. So far it hasn’t spread to Ghana where my wife, Michelle, and I serve in Accra.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, I often listened to SIM’s Radio ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa)—also home to a hospital and school. It was the perfect place to grow up—an idyllic location on the shores of the Atlantic.

There were so many coconut trees that visitors would say, “It must be tough living in [a climate like that of] Hawaii.” The beach was our front yard. Now this place is known for housing the world’s largest Ebola containment unit.

My last trip back “home” to ELWA was this past January, just months before Ebola started showing up in Liberia. I was there to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the station.

Little did I know what was about to happen and how Ebola was going to affect all of my friends in Liberia. In September things were so bad at ELWA that Ebola victims had to be turned away from the treatment centers as all the beds were occupied. Tragically, most went back home to die. Hundreds of men, women and children have died at the ELWA treatment centers, but thankfully, many have also survived.

I have personal friends who have died in Liberia, and I know some of the missionary medical workers who were evacuated to the U.S. after contracting the deadly virus.

Among those was Dr. Rick Sacra and family whom we have known for more than 20 years while serving in Liberia. We prayed, along with people around the world, for these missionaries whom I consider to be heroes. God answered those prayers, and they survived.

Yet my mind is filled with questions: Why do some people survive while others die within a matter of days? Why have so many children lost both parents, forcing them to fend for themselves on the street because people are afraid to take them in?

Is it any wonder that I have struggled with nightmares? There have been many, and in those dreams I’m back in Liberia, doing what I can do to help, wondering every minute if I’ve contracted the virus.

Lately there’s been good news as the number of new cases in Liberia is declining—the first glimmer of hope in months. But the war on Ebola is far from over, especially as the situation may be getting worse in Sierra Leone or Guinea. It’s much too early to relax.

The Reach Beyond-UK office recently produced some excellent audio spots, helping to educate and inform the public about Ebola from a Christian perspective. These programs in Liberian English and West African French are being aired on many radio stations in the affected region.

I’m so thankful for all the healthcare workers who are putting their lives at risk to fight this virus. All of us need to do what we can to help eradicate this outbreak. Please continue to pray and give to those organizations on the front lines.

Now isn’t a time for panic. It’s a time for action.

Source: Reach Beyond