Golu Update - Post 3 day door to door health check

We got an update from Golu and thankfully, there are still no cases of Ebola. The people are well educated and taking precautions to stay safe. The three day door to door health check extravaganza over the weekend resulted in 112 new Ebola tests in the country, of which 49 tested positive. Many believe that the three day house to house health checks were successful in helping the country to bring the Ebola crisis under control. During this time health professionals were handing out soap and rumors spread that the soap was laced with Ebola, intended to infect people. One of the challenges the Sierra Leonian government and International health agencies are facing, is gaining the trust of everyone and getting them to follow the suggested precautions to prevent further spread instead of listening to these rumors. For the most part people are back to their "normal" lives. They are still staying close to home, avoiding big gatherings and limiting their travel but shops and markets are open for business. There are talks of another door to door health check in October but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

The Village Link continues to work with our partnership to plan on the installation of the digital library once the crisis is under control. Lots of work to do!

Village Link Project Update

Last week was a busy week for TVL. We had a number of meetings on the East Coast in NY and Washington D.C., all to help us reach our mission. Part of our mission is to work with community entrepreneurs and other organizations to encourage economic growth. Our first meeting of the week was with an interesting nonprofit called Sustainable Travel International that aims to "help communities, businesses and governments build a better future for themselves and their environments through travel and tourism". When we first heard about Sustainable Travel we knew we needed to talk to them to see if there would be any interest in adding Sierra Leone as a destination. Not only do we love what they are doing, we think Salone is a great destination. The country has beautiful beaches, charming villages and markets and a fun and exciting nightlife in the cities. A little bit for everyone! Sierra Leone has a lot to offer the adventurous traveller. In addition to spreading the word that this country is a hidden gem to visit, this could be an opportunity for Golu and its residents to provide goods and services for its visitors, all the while improving their economy. We've just begun the talks but our ambitious goal is to get to Salone before the end of the year to host Sustainable Travel and prove to them that Salone is a destination worthy to add to their list! Travel contingent on the Ebola situation and travel restrictions. 

Our second meeting of the week was really exciting for TVL! We've already shared with you that we are looking into bringing a digital library solution to Golu that would operate on a solar powered server intranet system that would be up to date with both local and global content ranging from Khan Academy to primary learning modules to Sierra Leonean School Syllabus content. The company that we have been vetting out is Lam-Tech, a local Sierra Leone tech consulting business with a nonprofit foundation to help schools and nonprofits like TVL provide an innovative approach to learning. For us, this was an exciting and successful meeting because it gave us a chance to learn that Lam-Tech and TVL share the same passion to help facilitate continued learning opportunities. Lam-tech is as passionate about this as we are. This week our Director, Ibrahim, was scheduled to meet with Lam-tech team members in Freetown to discuss how to adapt their product to Golu's environment. More to come on this as things progress.

Another interesting potential project that came out of this meeting was the initial discussion of TVL helping to facilitate the development of a small manufacturing facility, possibly in Golu, for Lam-Tech hardware. Again, the interest that TVL has in this is to be the conduit between Lam-Tech and the people of Golu to encourage entrepreneurship, job creation and economic development. More to come on this later too.

Our last meeting of the trip was with one of our board members, Michael McGirr and a fellow past Peace Corp volunteer, Don Wilson. The three of us volunteered in Golu during the 70's together. This was a strategic planning meeting to start discussions on where to take TVL in the future.

All in all, it was a successful week with good developments but still a lot of work to do!

Daily Life In Sierra Leone Amidst The Ebola Outbreak

Daily life in Sierra Leone has drastically changed for residents with the growing fear of Ebola and all that comes with this terrible viral invasion. People have had to learn how to operate daily tasks amongst this fear. Running normal everyday errands such as getting groceries, has become a risky activity. For example, in the last few weeks random check points throughout Freetown have been set up to measure body temperatures in an effort to prevent the spread of Ebola. If you're selected to be tested you are first asked to clean your hands. Then, your body temperature is measured with a non-contact laser thermometer that gets a reading from your forehead. If you have a fever, you have no choice. Immediately you are taken into quarantine until it is determined if your fever is from Ebola or not. People are avoiding the hospital and roads even if they are sick due to other illnesses, such as malaria, in fear they will contract Ebola from being near an infected person or seized and taken from their loved ones without notice. These random check points for Ebola symptoms has made moving around the city a risk. Restrictions on traveling throughout the country have been in place some time, affecting the already fragile economy. Worse, borders have been closed preventing commerce. With people staying inside they are unable to go shopping, leaving the countries families and individuals feeling the financial stress of lower incomes.

Despite this bad news and worrisome situation, we are happy to report that as of now Golu has no reported cases of Ebola. What we've learned over the past few months is that education about this virus and how to avoid spreading it, is the most useful tool in prevention. The residents of Golu have been well educated on how to prevent the spreading of Ebola and have been exercising these precautions to keep their community safe. Though it is good news to hear Golu has no Ebola cases, they too have fallen victim to the other challenges that come out of preventative care and country wide travel restrictions.

In Golu, one of the primary sources of income and resources is going to the weekly market in the nearby junction town, Gerehun and  to the closest city, Bo, to buy and sell goods and food products. Gerehun has no reported cases of Ebola but a nearby village, Jebehun, has one confirmed case. Bo now has 31 confirmed cases of Ebola so this has scared many Golu residents from making the trek to Bo's market. Unfortunately, fear as well as the prevention and quarantine practices are leaving this small community with fewer resources and income. In addition to this, it's rainy season so the community resource center's main source of revenue - cell phone charging stations - are moderately being used due to lower solar power reserves and financial difficulties making communication in and out of the village difficult.

Overall throughout the country everyone is feeling the affects of this terrible virus and all the other issues and challenges that come along with it. This country has been through so much and somehow the people of Sierra Leone are able to remain positive and have proven to the world time and time again that they are resilient when faced with challenges that would most likely devastate many other countries. We know that Sierra Leone will bounce back from these hard times and pick up where they left off. The Village Link remains committed to helping the countries underrepresented communities to gain self-sufficiency once again.

Below are the current facts and figures for Sierra Leone according to the CDC and WHO, along with a couple interesting videos on the virus.

• The Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone and WHO reported a cumulative total of 1026 suspect and confirmed cases, including 935 laboratory-confirmed cases, and 422 deaths.

• Cases have been confirmed in 11 of 12 Sierra Leone districts.

2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Outbreak DistributionMap

Golu Resource Center Well on It's Way to Being a Self-Sustainable Facility.

So far we have been able to complete the construction of the resource center, install solar power and provide a few computers and other equipment to get things started. The Golu community has played an extremely active part in getting the center where it is today. Volunteers from the community have stepped up to help manage the facility and provide security. The center and village has even started to generate revenue from solar powered cell phone charge stations and they even have plans to start charging admission to watch sporting events and movies on a projected screen. All revenue will stay in the community and go towards running the facility. The center has proven to be useful in more ways than what TVL originally anticipate by providing both Golu and surrounding villages the benefit of solar power during night time deliveries for the health and safety of mother and child . It's amazing that the center has been able to contribute to the community in this way!

The village members are really entrepreneurial at heart and want to better their home and provide opportunity for their young. The center may have been built through TVL but during each step in the process we have stuck to our goal of working with the community to ensure they get what THEY need vs. told what they need. Through our experience and expertise, we have been able to provide innovative solutions to meet these needs. The resource center is well on its way to being the self-sustaining operation we have been working towards. We just have a few more milestones to reach before closing this chapter.

1. Install a digital library with local and global content
2. Provide education for community volunteers
   1. Solar Power Maintenance
   2. Cell Phone Carrier Training Program (Top Up Minutes)
3. Generate Enough Revenue to sustain building requirements

If you'd like to help us reach these milestones you can do so through a contribution here.

Address to the Nation on the Ebola Outbreak By His Excellency The President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma July 30, 2014

"Today, I ask the entire nation to mourn with the families of our national heroes including Dr. Sheik Humarru Khan who lost their lives battling the Ebola outbreak in our country. They were true patriots, paragons of service. We must win this fight in honor of their memory, and with prayers in our hearts, for all our compatriots who are victims of this deadly disease. Since the outbreak, my government, in collaboration with development partners has continued to mobilize and deploy resources and expertise nationally and internationally to fight the disease. I have been in contact with world leaders and global partners to meet the challenges; we have set up coordinating mechanisms with the World Health Organization and other international bodies; we set up an inter-ministerial committee to mobilize MDA support activities; trained and deployed hundreds of health workers, contact tracers and burial teams; and facilitated awareness raising on the disease by paramount chiefs, religious leaders, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, musicians, okada riders, market women, the media and ordinary citizens.

The disease is beyond the scope of any one country, or community to defeat. Its social, economic, psychological and security implications require scaling up measures at international, national, inter-agency and community levels.

Extra-ordinary challenges require extra-ordinary measures. The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) poses an extra-ordinary challenge to our nation. Consequently, and in line with the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act Number 6 of 1991, I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak.

In order to continue to take direct control of the situation, I have cancelled my trip to the US-Africa Summit in the United States of America. On Friday, I will be travelling to Conakry, Guinea to meet with my colleague Heads of State of the Mano River Union to discuss our sub-regional strategies to defeat the disease.

We are launching a National Response Plan to inaugurate Phase Two of our fight against the disease. I also hereby establish a Presidential Task Force on Ebola which I will chair to champion the implementation of the following:

• All epicenters of the disease will be quarantined;
• The police and the military will give support to health officers and NGOs to do their work unhindered and restrict movements to and from epicenters;
• Localities and homes where the disease is identified will be quarantined until cleared by medical teams;
• Public meetings and gatherings will be restricted with the exception of essential meetings related to Ebola sensitization and education;
• Active surveillance and house-to-house searches shall be conducted to trace and quarantine Ebola victims and suspects;
• Parliament is recalled to promote MPs leadership at constituency levels;
• Paramount chiefs are required to establish bye-laws that would complement other efforts to deal with the Ebola outbreak;
• Mayors, chairmen of councils and councilors are hereby required to support Ebola control measures in their local government areas;
• All deaths must be reported authorities before burial;
• New protocols for arriving and departing passengers have been instituted at the Lungi International Airport;
• Cancellation of all foreign trips by ministers and other government officials except absolutely essential engagements.

These measures will initially be implemented for a period of 60 to 90 days, and subsequent measures will be announced as and when necessary.

In addition, Government is establishing a special account for donations from corporate interests, organizations, the Diaspora and the general public to support the fight against Ebola. I also hereby declare Monday August 4, 2014 a National Stay at Home Day for Family Reflection, Education and Prayers on the Ebola outbreak.

Fellow citizens, this is a national fight, and it behoves all of us to stand together to promote the truth about this deadly disease. Ebola is real, and we must stop its transmission. There have been over 130 survivors of the disease. There is hope that early detection of the virus in persons can boost their chances of survival. This is why it is very necessary to get those with the virus to treatment centers not only to prevent others from contracting the virus, but also increasing their own chances of survival.

Fellow citizens, Sierra Leone is in a great fight. We are a resilient people. And we must not fail. The sustainability of our actions for prosperity depends on winning this fight. Failure is not an option. We all need to come together to win this battle.

Thank you for listening and God Bless Sierra Leone."