René González was born in Valladolid, Spain, 40 years ago. At the age of 20 he made his profession of religious vows in the Order of Augustinian Recollects. In the year 2000 he was ordained a priest at the age of 26. His first assignment was at Saint Monica Parish in Saragossa, Spain, where he worked in the pastoral ministy while studying English Philology. In 2005, after a brief stay in England, he was assigned to Romareda College in Saragossa, where he taught for five years while helping in pastoral ministry. Three years ago, he gave up his teaching post to go to the mission in Sierra Leone, where he continues to work, together with three other Augustinian Recollects: Father José Luis Garayoa from Spain and Fathers José Prudencio G. Castillo and Jonathan V. Jamero from the Philippines. We spoke personally with René to learn firsthand how people are living with the Ebola crisis in one of the countries most severely stricken with the epidemic.
Question.- How are you living with the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone?
Answer.- Living with the Ebola epidemic is different in the rural areas from what it is in the cities. At first the people did not believe that Ebola was a problem for everyone. We must keep in mind that the educational level is very low or nil in the majority of the people. In reality, they are very accustomed to death, to sickness, and to corruption in government officials. Word got around that the epidemic was a government trick to get international financial help.
In the cities the alarm sounded and was heard. People began to listen to the news and to learn that the sick did not want to go to the hospital, and so they remained in their homes and infected the other members of their families.
Q.- What is the situation in the hospitals?
A.- Better not to describe it. There are no qualified doctors other than the foreign ones, and the hospitals have no facilities or equipment. A person from the West would describe a hospital as something out of a horror movie.
Q.- Are the people in general aware that we are in a very serious public health crisis?
A.- Because of the low educational level, many continue to believe that the water in the wells is being poisoned so that the people will die. Now they are beginning to put barricades around their wells.
People in the rural areas have begun to be aware of the problem because the government has prohibited travel in three districts and has stationed the army to control travel from some places to others. They are aware that people are dying every day, either in the houses where they have been hiding or in the hospital. This news has traveled to the rural areas, but very distorted, as there is no radio, television, or Internet.
Q.- What kind of impact is Ebola having on the local economy?
A.- Unfortunately, it is causing very grave economic consequences, because the price of food has greatly increased, and the people have no money. We are in a situation of tremendous poverty, in which poverty and hunger are increasing. Now it is impossible to exchange products because they cannot be transported. Teachers, for example, cannot travel to the cities to collect their monthly salaries. Travel is forbidden.
Physical Contact, a Tradition and a Problem
Q.- Why has Ebola spread so widely?
A.- The virus has spread extensively because people did not believe that it was Ebola. Ebola is tranmitted by contact, and in this culture of Sierra Leone, contact in greeting one another and in interralating with one another is totally normal.
Q.- How has the government reacted to the situation?
A.- The government has stationed soldiers at checkpoints to control the movement of people and of vehicles. They take your temperature when you pass. Since the time of the civil war, people know other routes, and it is easy to aoid these checkpoints.
The government is frightened by the economic and social situation. Sierra Leone is a country with many natural resources (petroleum, diamonds, gold, blackstone, . . .), and all the mining companies (African Minerals, London Mining, etc.) have begun to suspend their activity. In spite of this great wealth, the people are tremendously poor.
Q.- Is help arriving from outside the country?
A.- The government is receiving international help because of economic interests in the country, but it lacks qualified personnel and infrastructure. Yesterday they told me that the sacks of rice that were intended for those in quarantine were sold by the truckdrivers in places that they passed through along the way. Therefore the people see sickness as a business and even as a punishment from God for the evil of corruption and the lack of moral values.
Presence of the Augustinian Recollects in Sierra Leone
Q.- There are four of you Augustinian Recollects in Sierra Leone: two Spaniards, José Luis Garayoa and you, in Kanabai, and two Filipino religious, José Prudencio Castillo and Jonathan Jamero, in Kamalo. How are people living with the Ebola problem in those towns?
A.- The situation is similar in both Kamabai and Kamalo. Both communities are in rural areas ad are suffering the economic effects of Ebola. Up to now we do not have many cases of Ebola, since these towns are far away from the focal points of the disease in the cities. Perhaps Kamabai, being closer to the city of Makeni, has more access to information, but for the same reason also more risk.
Q.- Does your community communicate with José Prudencio Castillo and Jonathan Jamero?
A.- Communication between the two religious communities is very complicated because the distance is considerable, and there is no telephone signal. When the situation was normal, we would travel to be together, but it was a great sacrifice because of the condition of the roads.
Q.- How do you communicate with the rest of the Order?
A.- Our form of communication is text messaging. Communication with the Order has been our consolation and our strength. We know that we are not alone, and we have received messages of encouragement. It is also true that it is not easy to talk to us or especially to the community in Kamalo
Q.-What help are you offering to those affected?
A.- Our help consists mainly in accompanying the people in these sorrowful times. When we learn of cases of Ebola, we take rice to those affected so that they can survive their isolation. There are other diseases too, such as typhoid fever and malaria. In many cases of these illnesses, we pay for medications and medical treatment. Many people die of these diseases too, but they do not receive so much publicity. Statistics are broadcast about deaths from Ebola, but not about those from these diseases that also lie in wait for us.
Also, our pastoral messages in our celebrations are of encouragement and hope. It is beautiful that we all gather to pray, all religious denominations without distinction of creed: Methodists, Catholics, and Baptists.
Prayer, the Greatest Support
Q.- What can we who are not in Sierra Leone do in the face of this epidemic?
A.- Prayer is your greatest support for us at this time. We live many moments of each day walking the tightrope, and it is not easy to maintain our balance. After Ebola passes, we will once again have to deal with the reconstruction of the country, and then generosity will play a very important role.
Q.- What are your hopes and dreams during these times?
A.- I hope and pray that Ebola will cease, that the people will live better in Sierra Leone, and that I will be able to take my vacation at Christmas with my parents and brothers and sisters and enjoy my friends and the people I love.
From Teacher, to Missionary
Manuel René González Regorigo was born in Valladolid, Spain, on April 30, 1974, but lived during much of his childhood in Olmedo, Valladolid. In 1988 he entered the minor seminary at Colegio San Agustín in Valladolid. After completing his secondary studies there, he moved on to Colegio San José in Lodosa, Navarre, for four years of his bachillerato. He did his final year at the Instituto Público in Lodosa, since at that time there were very few students in the minor seminary. After completing studies in Lodosa, he made his novitiate in Monteagudo, Navarra, and professed his simple vows there on August 20, 1994. He spent the following six years studying philosophy and theology in Marcilla and was ordained a priest on August 20, 2000, in Olmedo. His first assignment as a priest was at Saint Monica Parish in Saragossa, where he divided his time between pastoral activities and the study of English Philology. In 2002 he was sent to England to study a course in English at the Metropolitan University in London. While there he alternated his studies with pastoral ministry at the Spanish American Chaplaincy. The following year he returned to Saint Monica Parish in Saragossa to complete his studies at the university. For the final year of his studies, he went to Paris to perfect his knowledge of French at the Alliance Française. When he returned from Paris, he was assigned to Colegio Romareda in Saragossa to teach during the 2005-2006 school year, and then, in June of 2011, he was transferred to Sierra Leone.