[i]With Kendall away, and we elves also having limited blogging time, now’s your chance! If you were Kendall (or an elf) for a day, what entry or entries would you post at T19? In the comments, please provide links to any good articles, videos, sermons, etc. that you think T19 readers would enjoy and find edifying. Please provide more than just the link itself, but a sentence or two as to what the article, etc., is about, and why you recommend it. Thanks. -the elves[/i]
Here is a topic I have not seen covered on T1:9. How about some information about our Messianic Jewish brethren?
They just had their large international conference, MESSIAH 2014, back in June. Here is the link to the [url=http://www.mjaa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=rd_Messiah2014_LiveStreaming] MESSIAH 2014 conference archives[/url]. The page says live streaming at the top (it was live streamed) but now it is an archive.
For more general information, try the IAMCS website. They have a great [url=http://iamcs.org/#/about-us/what-we-believe] “What we believe”[/url] page as part of their website.
I hardly ever read articles at the NYT since I don’t have a subscription, but I couldn’t resist this one from yesterday:
Using a Tactic Unseen in a Century, Countries Cordon Off Ebola-Racked Areas
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/science/using-a-tactic-unseen-in-a-century-countries-cordon-off-ebola-racked-areas.html
It’s very interesting in terms of the decision-making and ethical dilemmas about trying to impose a “cordon sanitaire” in the hardest-hit regions. (And gives some interesting historical examples of such cordons being imposed.) Also, it gives some of the detail about the epidemiological research that was done to identify the “index” case of Ebola back in Dec. 2013., and how Ebola spread further. Epidemiology was one of my favorite courses in grad school, so this story really grabbed my interest.
Another Ebola article… this time from the UK. (Sorry to have a one track mind, but this is a story that I’m following closely for many reasons. It hits very close to home.)
In Sierra Leone, an exhausting struggle to contain Ebola
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/08/13/in_sierra_leone_an_exhausting_struggle_to_contain_ebola.html
This is an article giving extensive detail about what the Ebola battle is like on the front lines and the incredible exhaustion and overwhelming conditions facing those who are fighting this disease. It’s probably the best article I’ve read in the past two weeks in terms of really bringing home what the medical teams are facing. An excerpt:
[blockquote]In Kailahun, the district with the highest number of cases in Sierra Leone, the struggle remains lonely and exhausting. The fight has largely fallen to Sierra Leoneans like Daniel James, who volunteers his days burying infected corpses, or Ahmed Lengor, paid $10 per shift to clean vomit and diarrhea teeming with virus.
Everyone is exhausted. The day after Jimmy’s death, 10 more people died at the MSF centre, sending Chenard into the isolation ward five times, even though protocols discourage more than three daily entries to avoid fatigue and mistakes.
Only four ambulances serve this district of roughly 465,000 and one pulls up with five people crammed inside — three are confirmed to have Ebola. If the other two were not already infected, and did not have protection, chances are they probably have the virus now.
And at the treatment centre, the biggest ever built by MSF, they have reached maximum capacity. More than 150 trees had to be cut to make space for what was to be a 50-bed centre. There are now 80 beds.
MSF is refusing to expand. Without additional staff and resources, patients and staff will be put at risk, says Anja Wolz, who has been running MSF’s emergency response in Kailahun. She already served Ebola missions in Guinea and Liberia when MSF asked her to come to Sierra Leone. A few days ago, she finally went home for a much-deserved break but says she expects to spend Christmas in West Africa.
With Ebola, you need to be a step ahead, she says. In Sierra Leone, they have been “two steps behind, four steps behind.â€[/blockquote]
oops, hit send too soon, had wanted to include another excerpt from the article in the Star:
[blockquote]But in Kenema, five hours from Kailahun along a pothole-infested road, more than 20 hospital workers have died from Ebola since May 25, when the Sierra Leone outbreak was declared. Among them was Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, the country’s top expert on viral hemorrhagic fevers.
Chenard went to Kenema to help identify what went wrong. “It’s the worst place I’ve seen as an Ebola treatment centre,†says the 32-year-old Frenchman, a logistician who specializes in water and sanitation. “Take everything that you want to avoid in a treatment centre — and you are in Kenema.â€
There was blood on the walls, starving patients and hygienists using water that was “brown like mud.†Health workers moved from high-risk to low-risk areas without changing clothes; “you never knew who was next to you,†Chenard says. “It could be a patient, suspected or confirmed … it could be hospital personnel.â€
He recommended the hospital hire at least 46 specialists for its isolation ward. When he visited, there were only three.
“They don’t have the means to work properly,†he says. “It’s not like they do not try. They really try their best. But there are not enough numbers and there are not enough skills.â€
There are now plans to open an isolation ward outside of Kenema, which the Red Cross will run.
At the MSF centre, built on years of experience, the rules are fastidious. There is no touching, even at the compound where staff stay, and when a visitor briefly leans against a pole, she is quickly admonished not to touch anything.
The personal protective equipment, or PPE, is your lifeline in the isolation ward and it takes 15 to 20 minutes to put on, a slow, precise process that requires a supervising hygienist who checks for gaps, tears and oversights. But when you leave the ward, it becomes your greatest threat if you don’t disrobe properly, ensuring the contaminated suit does not brush against your skin or clothes.
Since nothing leaves isolation, doctors shout their medical notes to a nurse standing on the other side of the fence. “Abdominal pain,†a doctor calls out, as a nurse scribbles. “Needs diapers.†Twice a day, waste from the contaminated area gets burned in a large pit, including the 150 Tyvek suits used daily.
The 92 hygienists — all locals — perform one of the centre’s most gruelling jobs. Among them is Ahmed Lengor, a 46-year-old who since June has walked 20 minutes from his home to the treatment centre where he is paid a daily rate of 42,000 leones, about $10. His days are filled with vomit, stool, blood and bodies — which he must clean then dispose of.[/blockquote]
There’s even more detail I could quote – like the story of Baby Isata – a 22 month old whose parents died from Ebola. She was infected, but has now survived… what now happens to the Eibola orphans?
All in all, a gripping and heart-breaking tale, which provides MUCH detail to help spur me (and hopefully us all) on to greater prayer for the Lord’s mercy on these brave health care workers, and the ravaged families and countries where the hardship is just beyond imagination.
This reminds me of the AIDS endemic when it was happening in Africa. Too many children are orphans because illness takes the parents. So very sad.
I heard today that another doctor in Sierra Leone had died. It is appalling to consider that the best move now to prevent further spread is to simply close the borders of the countries where the infection is now active and wait. But even that might not work, with now ten dead in Nigeria from exposure to the one Liberian who flew there.
May the Lord protect the health workers and all the people in these countries. Lord, have mercy.
Hi Katherine,
I believe only 3 have died so far in Nigeria, and that another 10 are infected, and something like 190 folks in quarantine or being monitored as having been exposed to Patrick Sawyer (the Liberian-American man who flew to Lagos) or those who treated him. (Sadly, one of the exposed nurses who treated Sawyer disobeyed quarantine and returned to her village, thus putting another 20 or so folks in danger, who are now in quarantine.)
Nigeria seems to be making a very diligent effort in contact tracking, and the rise in number of cases is very slow, so *PERHAPS* it won’t explode there. But cases ARE still exploding in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
You can read the latest update from the WHO with a clear table giving a breakdown of new cases and deaths by country here:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_13_ebola/en/
Also here’s an interesting Ebola tracking map.
http://healthmap.org/ebola/
And three more interesting Ebola links for those who are also following this story:
Two articles that put Ebola in perspective – some very good points and interesting data in each article:
http://www.newstatesman.com/health/2014/08/few-things-are-much-scarier-ebola
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-c-levine/stop-worrying-about-ebola_b_5667018.html
A Forbes article with some interesting Ebola infographics:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2014/08/13/ebola/
Ok, time to prove I can comment on something not about Ebola!
Readers of Lent & Beyond may know that one blog I follow is by the Rev. Patrick Comerford, who is priest in the Church of Ireland (Anglican), Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the University of Dublin (Trinity College Dublin) and a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. His blog usually features special series during Lent and Advent, which is how I first discovered the site.
I’ve just seen that he has written an interesting piece on the Yazidi minority in Iraq – their history and details of their religious beliefs – his OpEd is published in today’s Irish Times.
http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2014/08/ancient-religion-of-yazidis-wrongly.html
[blockquote]The Yazidis’ syncretic religion has a rich oral tradition mixing Islamic mysticism with the dualism of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion, elements of early, pre-Islamic religions, including Mithraism, a mystery religion originating in the eastern Mediterranean, and some Christian practices.
In the Yazidi calendar, this is the year 6764. But the origins of the religion are found in the complex, syncretic teachings of their founder, Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a Sufi mystic who claimed descent from the Umayyad dynasty and who was proclaimed an incarnation of Malak Tawous, the principal figure in Yazidi cosmology. Sheikh Adi settled in the valley of Lalis, northeast of Mosul, and after his death in 1162 his tomb became the focus of pilgrimage.
The persistent prejudice that Yazidis worship Satan is founded on a misunderstanding of Yazidi beliefs. They are monotheists who believe God created the universe and rules the world through seven holy beings or angels formed from God’s divine light. The leader of these angels, Malak Tawous (the “Peacock Angelâ€) embodies humanity’s potential for both good and evil, light and dark.
They say Malak Tawous is the only angel who refused to bow down to Adam at his creation. He fell from God’s favour, but when he saw the suffering and pain of the world, his tears of remorse put out the fires of hell. Recognising his obstinacy as a sign of devotion, God then elevated Malak Tawous as the Peacock Angel to head the angels and to serve as the intermediary between God and humanity.[/blockquote]
Not sure if you saw this yet, but these dueling pieces in Wired are provocative:
Stop Writing Dystopian Sci-Fi—It’s Making Us All Fear Technology: http://www.wired.com/2014/08/stop-writing-dystopian-sci-fiits-making-us-all-fear-technology/
No, Dystopian Sci-Fi Isn’t Bad for Society. We Need It More Than Ever: http://www.wired.com/2014/08/no-dystopian-sci-fi-isnt-bad-for-society-we-actually-need-it-more-than-ever/