On today’s edition of Big Up Africa, we’d like to pay a special tribute to a very special group of people. Our beautiful continent – particularly in the West African nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra – was hit by an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in 2014. Though there isn’t much noise being made about it anymore, Ebola is still alive and well and a huge problem. According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as of the 26th March 2015, 10,338 people have died from Ebola in the three countries with widespread transmission.
A lot has been said about this dreadful disease and how the world, even Africans themselves, have been slow to act and step in to assist the affected countries. The tale of African leaders showing zero leadership when it comes to dealing with African issues is often told so we’re not going to focus on that. Instead, this post is to celebrate those who have stood up, shown compassion and taken action. The health professionals and volunteers fighting against Ebola hail both from the continent and beyond its borders.
For fear of leaving out people and organizations whose names may not be making it into the headlines and who truly are doing good work both by providing care and by their generosity in giving money, time and other resources to the effort, we’ll just keep it simple and say that today’s Big Up Africa is dedicated to all those at the front lines of the fight against Ebola.
We salute you.