On December 9, 2014, on the celebration of the International Day of Human Rights, the famous North American Time Magazine named the persons who fought against the Ebola as “heroes of 2014”. In this case the recognition is given to a group of persons who continue the fight against the virus. This is different. In the preceding year only one person was named, Pope Francis.
They are heroes who “risked their life, they persisted and offered themselves in sacrifice to save lives”. Nancy Gibbs, the director of the magazine, recognizes the labor of those who did what they could to stop the spread of the most fatal outbreak of Ebola. As of December 6 according to the report of the World Health Organization the virus, the greatest threat to the world since Aids, has already claimed 6,331 lives from among the 17,800 persons who have been affected in the territories of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Nancy Gibbs adds: “Ebola is both a war and a warning. The health system of the world is not strong enough to ensure our safety from infectious diseases. It is a threat that claims many lives every day. The rest of the world can sleep with tranquility because there is this group of men and women who are disposed to resist and to fight. These tireless and courageous persons, who spend their time, sacrificing and facing all kinds of risk, are the heroes of the year.”
Missionaries in Sierra Leone
Time observes how doctors and nurses from many parts of the world go to these places where governments lack the means to respond to the crisis and where the World Health Organization is lost in boundless bureaucracies. The magazine mentions the collaborators of religious organizations and the “Médicos Sin Fronteras”. “It is not the shimmering arm that fights the battle, but the heart of the hero”, recalls the report. “Whoever treats the victims of Ebola, risks becoming one of them”, affirms Nancy Gibbs. She calls them “heroes”, these persons who, in helping the sick, face the risk of getting the disease.
Among these fighters, and in the front line, are many missionaries. Some gave their life in fighting against the disease. We have, for example, the Spanish missionaries, Miguel Pajares and Manuel García Viejo. There are 26 religious from Spain who work in places with the most number of Ebola cases. They belong to different religious institutes: Salesians, the Religious of Jesus Maria, La Salle Brothers, Brothers of St. John of God, Augustinian Recollects, Xaverians and Marist Brothers. There are other congregations: “The Josefites, the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, Claretians, Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa and the Cluny Sisters. They struggled the whole year to fight the diseases by attending to persons affected by Ebola.
Five Augustinian Recollects remain in Sierra Leone
The Augustinian Recollects attend to the pastoral needs of the communities of Kamabai and Kamalo in the diocese of Makeni. Eight missionaries were assigned to the mission, but beginning the month of September and due to varying circumstances, four remained: Jonathan Jamero and Dennis Castillo from the Philippines and Jose Luis Garayoa and Rene Gonzalez from Spain. They collaborate with the priests and the religious in the diocese of Makeni, which is headed by the apostolic administrator, the Xaverian Natalio Paganelli.
The two religious from Spain were scheduled to leave the mission territory the first week of September, but because of the outbreak of Ebola, they opted to remain a little longer. They left the place on the 10th of December, leaving behind years of service, but in their heart, they bring with them Sierra Leone and the peoples they loved to serve. On December 7, a few days before their departure, three religious from the Philippines joined the mission. They are Russel Lapidez, Dominador Jr. Mercado and Vincent Cadeliña. The first two are returnees to the mission. They came back to Sierra Leone after their rest in the Philippines. Cadeliña was in the mission in Labrea (The Amazons, Brazil) for some years. He is a new volunteer to Africa. They are young, with the oldest at the age of 42. At present two of them work in Kamalo and three, at Kamabai. Meantime, they continue to prepare the house for a new community in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
Charity-solidarity
Russel Lapidez said that it was in the first week of August and at the start of the Ebola outbreak, when six confreres who were then in Sierra Leone, gathered in a meeting to assess their situation. It was in that reunion when they opted to remain and continue with the mission entrusted to them. They wrote a letter last August 4, asking permission from the prior provincial, Lauro Larlar, if they could stay to continue the church work. The letter states: «We are afraid, but we wish to remain with our people, to animate them to live with hope especially in these difficult times; to witness to the gospel while we educate them about the Ebola virus; to give a new sense to our apostolic work».
And José Luis Garayoa shares his story in his blog: «I stopped for a moment to talk with one family under quarantine, to offer them some comfort. The virus with its macabre dance has started to spread panic among our villages. There was widespread distrust among the villagers. Gone is the spontaneous embrace, although I still allow that a group of children cling to my arms when I appear in the villages. I know that I cannot raise the dead, nor can I cure the sick… I can only share their pain by letting them feel I am near. I feel ashamed not being able to embrace them, to simply smile and move away when they call me. This is the most that can be done so as not to be affected by the virus that runs in their blood. ».
These are our heroes of the year: heroes for the Time and for the world; but before God and in his hidden plan, they are simply missionaries.
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https://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=39903
https://www.elmundo.es/television/2014/12/10/5488456d268e3e1f6d8b457c.html