Conakry, Guinea is HAPPY!

This video has just emerged from Guinea and I couldn’t imagine a better way to show the happiness and energy that radiates from Conakry. Life continues!

Ebola can’t stop the dancing.

>$20,000 Awarded to 7 NGO’s Fighting Ebola

It’s been awhile since I’ve written. I’ll confess that I haven’t felt inspired. I’m working, spending time with family and friends, enjoying the comforts and freedom that America offers. I’m also really cold.

Like EXTREMELY cold.

But life continues as usual — albeit swaddled in wool sweaters and covered up with glittens. Time continues to march onward and upward, the days are getting shorter and the nights are growing longer and colder.

Ebola’s still out there. As surreal as that statement is for me to make, it’s true. 5,000+ lives have been claimed in West Africa. There’s an alarming decline in U.S. healthcare volunteers signing up to help — likely due to the forced 21-day quarantine that has been placed on some of the heroic people who have given up 6-8 weeks of their paycheck and life to help end an outbreak that is leaving destruction in it’s wake. Fear is a contagion, spiraling out of control across the globe. I lay in bed at night, stare up at my ceiling and quietly ask the universe “why?” and “what can we do to stop this?”

The fire is not out. The fight has not yet been won. We must press forward to end this outbreak at the source. We are all at stake. Outbreaks do not stop at borders.

As I’ve written before, I’m working with the National Peace Corps Association’s Ebola Relief Fund to get money to those fighting Ebola in their home country. Last week we awarded over $20,000 in funding to 7 different NGO’s in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. As they implement and complete their projects they will be sending back evaluation, testimonies, photos, and videos — all of which I will be sure to share with you. We will be awarding a second round of funding in December 2014.

Check out the seven organizations we’ve selected for our first round:

GUINEAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE INCORPORATION OF WOMEN IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS & GOVERNANCE (AGUIFPEG) — KINDIA, GUINEA

AGUIFPEG is mounting a community awareness campaign in an area where an estimated 75 percent of the population is not literate. The project was awarded $3,000 to educate on Ebola prevention through a theatrical presentation in 4 indigenous languages. Participants will be encouraged to pass on the health information through conversations in their families, bar-cafes, restaurants, markets, fields, mosques, churches and other public places.

AMIS DU MONDE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT (AMD) — SAMOÉ, GUINEA

AMD was awarded $2,839 to create awareness of Ebola prevention practices. Team members will establish an information and intervention system using community leaders to encourage healthier personal hygiene and food preparation.

ASSOCIATION GUINEENNE D’EVEIL AU DEVELOPPEMENT DURABLE (AGEDD) — FORECARIAH, GUINEA

AGEDD was awarded $3,000 to conduct sensitizations for teachers in primary schools and the association of parents of Forecariah and Maferinyah in Guinea. Teachers and parent volunteers will be trained to educate their communities while distributing prevention materials (leaflets, soap, chlorine, buckets, kettles).

WOMEN’S CAMPAIGN INTERNATIONAL (WCI) LIBERIAN RURAL WOMEN’S PROGRAM — LIBERIA

The campaign draws on its existing network of local women leaders to form community action committees at the town and clan level in areas affected by Ebola. Communities have fed quarantined families, paid burial teams to remove bodies and distributed prevention information and materials in a dozen communities. NPCA’s award of $3,000 will allow WCI to expand activities to ten more rural communities.

FACE ACTION AFRICA — RIVERCESS COUNTY, LIBERIA

With the $3,000 grant from NPCA, FAA will provide administrative and logistical support to the Rivercess County Health Team, train contact tracers, facilitate the setting up and management of community care centers and the procurement of personal protective equipment for health workers.

ACTION SALONE ON HEALTH & EDUCATION (ASHE) — EASTERN SIERRA LEONE

ASHE was awarded $3,000 to support the work of Sister Josephine Karmara and a community of nuns in Kailahun in ongoing care of children whose parents died of Ebola. Goals are to provide physical and emotional security to the children, feed and care for them in a home-like environment.

SCHOOLS FOR SALONE — SIERRA LEONE

Schools for Salone was awarded $3,000 to help fill the education gap caused by  school closing due to the Ebola epidemic. The project will distribute radios to impoverished communities to allow them access to Ministry of Health daily broadcasts specifically targeting primary school students for three hours in the morning and secondary school students in the afternoon.

Thanks to all donors who have gotten involved. We are committed to sending 100% of your donations to reputable, community-based NGO’s in the affected countries who are working against directly related Ebola issues. As we continue to receive applications from NGO’s, we continue our fundraising efforts stateside. Consider getting involved today to help us fund even more organizations and end Ebola NOW!

Find more information about the NPCA Ebola Relief Fund here and make a donation here.

Updates on Ebola Relief Fund

I won’t go in depth in this post about the severity of the Ebola outbreak.

It’s all over the news.

What is disturbing me is not the U.S. cases of Ebola, but the shift of focus in media coverage.

Our nation has been enveloped in a cloud of paranoia, blinding us of the realities. African communities in the U.S. are being shunned, sent home from work, stigmatized. Groups of people are stock-piling face masks, preparing for an end of all ends. Calls to cease flights in and out of the affected countries are gaining more traction. And all the while, people continue to die in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

Source: Andre Carrilho

Let us not forget the reality of the on-going outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

Let us step up to help end the suffering of humans, because we are humans and that is what we do.

Several weeks ago I introduced you all to the National Peace Corp Association’s Ebola relief fund. I am a member of the fund steering committee and have spent the past few weeks connecting with non-governmental organizations in Guinea to encourage their applications. We have received 32 project requests from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — 16 from Guinea alone! And they are still coming in! These project requests all combat Ebola and directly-related issues.

Today, I get to announce the release of a microsite that I have been working on for the past two weeks along with the staff at NPCA. Please check it out and pass it along!

http://www.NPCAebolarelief.org

Since the launch of the fund last month we have passed the $10,000 mark in contributions, which continue to come in steadily. But demand for project funding is far outstripping the amount we’ve raised.  The 32 requests already received have a need totaling close to $95,000. We have planned to distribute available funding by November 1st.

Source: John Moore/Getty Images

Ebola isn’t waiting, so why are you? Every day, every moment, this gets worse.

“The people who come help: we need them yesterday. So let them come tomorrow!” – President Ernest Bai Koroma, Republic of Sierra Leone

Can you help? Donate today.