Bishop John Yambasu, head of the Religious Leaders against Ebola
With Ebola continuing to wreak havoc across Sierra Leone with more than 140 people confirmed to have died, various efforts are being put in place in response to the outbreak. One such is the coming together of various religious denominations to form the interfaith group known as Religious Leaders' task Force on Ebola. Their Chairman is the Bishop of the United Methodist Church, John Yambasu. Umaru Fofana spoke to him in Freetown just days after they had organised a training programme in Bo for religious leaders and nurses.
Politico: Bishop Yambasu, why have you set up this task force?
Bishop Yambasu: We have set up this Task Force because we believe that as religious leaders anything that happens in the country affects us directly because 80 percent or more of the population of this country are either Muslims or Christians and we are leading that constituency of people. And who are the people that are dying of Ebola? Muslims and Christians. And so we believe that they are our members and they are dying every day. Besides they are Sierra Leoneans and therefore we need to come in to make sure that we work with government to bring an end to Ebola.
Politico: And what difference do you think your intervention will make? There has been civil society intervention, there has been the intervention of health practitioners. What difference will yours make?
Bishop Yambasu: We have found out that as religious leaders the vast majority of the people in this country listen more to their religious leaders than they do to government or civil society. That is not saying the government is not doing anything. But we believe that if we come in we can make a huge difference. For instance we have come in with a big force over the last couple of days. We have been all over the air just to change the attitude of people because people still believe that Ebola is not there. And what is even worse [is that] in Kailahun we are made to understand that there is a big rift between government health officials and the police [on the one hand] and the local people in that area [on the other].
Umaru Fofana: Kailahun being the epicentre of the disease
Bishop Yambasu: Yes. That’s the epicentre of the disease, and if there is that rift between the health workers and the people then of course we are in for great trouble. We understand that right now in Kailahun many of the people are in the bush because of fear that they might be “arrested” by both the police and health official for forceful screening and forceful testing. And what is more the information is that when these people come over, when they are taken from their local communities and brought to Kenema for testing sometimes they are just left there and nobody to take them to their communities.
Politico: Even when they are proved negative?
Bishop Yambasu: Even when they are proved negative. So that’s the reason why we have come in. In Kailahun the understanding is - and we have proven it - ...that in fact some of the roads going to those villages the people have dug trenches across the road so that no ambulances go there, no police go there, and it’s likely that people are dying of Ebola in the bush. So this is even a crisis for the country because if people die in the bush many of them will be affected and nobody is there to care for them. And the tendency is that they have no access to health treatment.
Politico: Why are they scared of the health workers who go and visit them?
Bishop Yambasu: Well Umaru, what really happened in this country like you know, Ebola came upon us in this country when we least expected. We were least prepared for that, you know health workers were not well equipped, we do not have the necessary tools to do that. And so the first information, the very first information of Ebola that went out in Kailahun was so negative that it sent fear and threat in the minds of people...And so many people were afraid and said "if I have Ebola and I am going to die why do I need to come to the hospital". And then that happened now the government officials started going from place to place when there was a case of Ebola. When they go there the information is that they are not only going in for that patient they are arresting every other person and bringing them to Kenema. And so as a result people were afraid and that is why there is this unsavoury relationship between the government workers and the people in Kailahun district.
Politico: You paint a very grim picture which is the reality on the ground as many other people have said. What do you think about the virus being declared a public health emergency which government has refused to do. Do you think it is a real public health emergency?
Bishop Yambasu: Well Umaru you well know that every day in this country the number of new cases is increasing and to us as religious leaders that is unacceptable. One person who dies of Ebola is one life too much to be lost in this country. So it goes beyond a crisis. To us it is an emergency because honestly our people are dying and as I say no one is to be blamed for this. We are not blaming government but what we need to do is for all us to accept the fact that people are dying and that we must go all out to ensure that in fact we bring healing to those people, it is an emergency.
Politico: And are you disappointed that the government has refused to declare it a public health emergency?
Bishop Yambasu: I am really disappointed. This has nothing to do with politics, I know there are political connotations when government says is not an emergency or when it declares it as an emergency - there may be political implications. But this is about life! This is about Sierra Leoneans dying, it goes far beyond politics. It is about life. It is about the future of this country. Hey look, let me tell you! in 1991 when the war broke out in this country we lost so many souls...and we are still struggling to emerge from the scourge of that war. Now what is happening [is] Ebola has come. Schools all over Kailahun district have been closed. Can you imagine the implication of that! If Ebola actually comes to Kenema and then to Bo and then to the other parts and then school closes all over these place in the country we are in trouble. Our educational system in this country would be so disrupted. We have lost twelve years of no education to our youths and they are all over...We cannot afford another loss of education for our young people. We need this crisis to be over. We want to work with government. And then we are appealing to government to ensure that we declare this as an emergency, and definitely I believe instead of the negative repercussion that government will be thinking we would have sympathizers from around the world who might really come in to help us because right now nurses are dying. We are just from Bo where we conducted a training session for 40 health workers and another 80 religious leaders. And I tell you the pictures they painted to us is grim. Nurses are dying every day for that matter. And if nurses continue to die the fear is then who will treat the patients when they go? So that even kind of makes the situation even graver.
Politico: Now religious leaders have intervened in the past particularly during the civil war which you spoke about. Just tell us how much impact that created that makes you feel that you can make a difference this time around again?
Bishop Yambasu: In fact Umaru it is as a result of our experiences of the past that we have invited ourselves into this Ebola struggle. The thing is that we are never invited but we invite ourselves. In 1991 again when the war broke out government did everything, international community did all they could do. We thank them for that. But then it was only with the intervention of the religious community, the inter faith community, we went into the bush and spoke to Foday Sankoh and his war people and they all came out of the bush and we brought them to Freetown. That was the beginning of the end in that war. But that’s not all, recently at the end of the last general elections there was a big rift between President Koroma and Maada Bio...Again it was we the religious leaders who held the hands of President Koroma and Maada Bio and brought them face to face so that they would work together for the peace of this nation. We have a lot to offer this nation and that’s why we are doing that. And I believe that if government can uphold us and embrace us and we all work together, we will in the very short time by the grace of God bring this Ebola to an end.
Politico: Finally how do you hope to do this as religious leaders, do you intend to use your pulpits in the churches and mosques, or do you intend to go out there and meet the people in villages and communities?
Bishop Yambasu: We are using a multipronged approach. First we working in collaboration with the government and second we are using our pulpit, our mosques, our churches. And thirdly we are moving out into the communities. First week in August we will be in Kailahun to do a solidarity visit to the people in Kailahun and we are already planning that. In Bo we just had training, a training for nurses and religious leaders...We are having another one in Freetown for the north and west...So we are using a multipronged approach - no one approach is enough. We want to explore as many opportunities that are available to us to ensure that Ebola is kicked out of this country.
(C) Politico 24/07/14
