Methodist Church joins awareness campaign

The United Methodist Church of the Liberia Annual Conference in collaboration with the United Methodist Communications based in America is involved in massive sensitization campaigns across Liberia on the Ebola Virus Disease.

Speaking to the NewDawn correspondent in Margibi County prior to the launch of the campaign recently, the district superintendent of the Weala District Conference of the United Methodist Church Liberia, Annual Conference and the National Director of Hands of Hope Foundation in Liberia, Rev. Paye Cooper Mondolo, said the campaign has already covered three counties, including Margibi, Grand Bassa and Rivercess, respectively.

He the various arms of the Church, including the departments of community services, human resource, communications and development,  are involved in creating awareness in various communities, towns and villages.

Rev. Mondolo said the department of health and welfare is also equipping various clinics with PPEs or Personal Protective Equipment as well as training nurses and health practitioners how to keep safe while treating infected patients.

The Weala district superintendent further detailed that the team is also letting people know that Ebola is real, it is in Liberia and is a deadly virus that should be prevented by taking all prescribed measures, such as washing of hands, avoiding contact with infected persons’ bodily fluid or dead bodies, among others.

The district superintendent said the impact the campaign is having on the lives of Liberians is that the United Methodist Church is spread across the country so the awareness is being taken to communities and towns with clear messages.

Speaking on the role of the Hands of Hope Foundation in the entire process, Rev. Mondolo narrated that the organization has partnered with the United Methodist Church to make sure that PPEs are brought into the country for United Methodist doctors and nurses, and added that other equipment were  on the way from the United States of America.

Rev. Mondolo said they have started distributing buckets, chlorines and other basic hygienic materials to citizens in towns and villages, adding, that over US$3,000 of an estimated $6,000 earmarked for the exercise has been expended to help curtail the spread of the virus.

He said due to the Ebola outbreak, the United Methodist Church in collaboration with the Hands of Hope Foundation has suspended a nationwide evangelistic campaign scheduled for 2015 in four counties namely: Margibi, Bong, Grand Bassa and Montserrado.