Sewa News Stream

In support of the government of Sierra Leone and the U. K. international development department, British Army medical teams, stores and aid experts arrived at Freetown's deep water quay Thursday on Royal Fleet Auxiliary aviation support ship Argus. The arrival of Argus is the latest deployment in a joint operation to assist the UK aid mission, with 800 deployed personnel. The Argus’ helicopters and  fleet of vehicles will speed up the delivery of emergency supplies and personnel across the country, a Dfid official said. Three Merlin Mk2 helicopters, from 820 Naval Air Squadron, will be used to help teams move quickly around the country. Two landing craft vehicles and 3 rigid hull inflatable boats, from 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, will be used for moving equipment and personnel inland along Sierra Leone’s river network. Personnel from 5 British medical regiments are helping to train more than 800 Sierra Leoneans at the Ebola Training Academy in the nation's capita...

The logo for the 2018 World Cup was revealed by Russian organizers Tuesday, and it’s been the talk of the Internet ever since. RT reports say the emblem resembled 'The Scream' by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Others said the emblem bore a striking resemblance to Disney's Nemo or Roger the alien from the 'American Dad' television show. In a Twitter interview Wednesday, Leslie Koroma wouldn't be drawn on the new logo, but he did have a lot to say about racism in Russian football. Leslie Koroma   @lesliepkoroma Follow @SewaNews @BlessnOkagbare Well there are quite a number of things that can be discussed but my biggest concern is that of #racism 9:37 PM - 29 Oct 2014 Leslie Koroma   @lesliepkoroma Follow @SewaNews @BlessnOkagbare  Racism towards African Players is a problem and the Russians have been one of the biggest offenders 9:38 PM - 29 Oct 2014 ·            Koroma, who heads Songhai Sport...

Producer, writer and director Nzinga Blake (center) took questions on Twitter Wednesday about the End Ebola Now campaign. From PSAs to informational flyers to viral campaigns, the Los Angeles, California-based group made up of Sierra Leonean-Americans in the entertainment industry, are focused on ending the Ebola crisis. To do that, the campaign is reaching out to West Africans in the United States, and works with organizations such as Emergency USA in Sierra Leone to raise awareness about the work they do. Since 2001 EMERGENCY has helped over 464,801 people in Sierra Leone. The goal is to spread information and raise awareness about the disease and its impact through artistic community activism.  To read the interview via the Sewa News Twitter channel @SewaNews, click here  https://twitter.com/SewaNews/status/527514062255849472 Please click below for more information on End Ebola Now and Emergency USA - Sierra Leone End Ebola Now EmergencyUSA

Sierra Leone's capital Freetown has tripled the number of safe burials of Ebola victims in the past week and the challenge now is to expand that coordination across the country, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told Reuters on Monday. Power is visiting to see how the world is failing in its response to the epidemic, Reuters said, "Seeing them turn a 30 percent safe burial rate in Freetown into a 98 percent safe burial rate is a tribute to a combination of top down presidential leadership, finally the kind of coordination that's been needed throughout and a willingness on the part of Sierra Leoneans, notwithstanding the stigma, to step forward and be part of burial teams," Power told Reuters. According to the report, Britain has so far committed several hundred million dollars, some of which is being used to build treatment beds, community care centers, train health care workers and burial teams. About £10 million ($18.2m) of the latest £80m ...

There’s an old legend about a mayor of Freetown who paid a visit to Gambia to meet with the mayor of Banjul. Two days into his stay, Freetown’s mayor thought that most people in Banjul knew somebody's name in his city 500 miles away. Everywhere he went, he ran into someone who had family or friends in Freetown. Historical, trade, and cultural ties go back centuries between the two African countries. So it came as a bit of a shock when the Gambia announced in April that all flights from Sierra Leone (as well as Guinea and Liberia) to Banjul had been cancelled to prevent the spread of Ebola. The decision left passengers, mainly traders travelling to Banjul, stranded, while Sierra Leone’s government was still in talks with Banjul. “Given the severity of the Ebola virus disease, I support the decision,” said Felice Oluremi Lawrence. They were “safety measures taken by the government of Gambia to prevent the virus from entering its borders,” she said. Sierra Leonean born Felic...

The Sierra Leone-United Kingdom (U.K.) Diaspora Taskforce is supporting UK-MED’s drive to recruit healthcare professionals for deployment to Sierra Leone. 400 healthcare workers are needed each week to cope with the Ebola outbreak. Please direct further enquires to info@slwt.org  SLWT (Sierra Leone War Trust for Children) is dedicated to promoting the education, health, rehabilitation and self-sufficiency of children and yong people in Sierra Leone through advocacy and the provision of financial and technical support. SLWT works in collaboration with established local partners.

“Everybody must know what they can do to avoid getting the disease…Everybody in every house in every community in this country is very important in our fight against Ebola.” - President Koroma Health organizations worried Sierra Leone's mandatory quarantine could drive panicked communities into further isolation, and Médecins sans Frontières expressed concerns about where new cases would be treated. But almost two weeks later, a place imagined to be the one of the worst equipped to deal with an outbreak of Ebola is taking serious precautions other than staying at home. Kroo Bay, a sprawling slum in the capital, Freetown, conducted a two-day door-to-door campaign to identify any potential Ebola cases that have been hidden among an estimated beachfront township of 15,000 people. According to Awareness Times , the community came together on the decision to find out the severity of the outbreak in their area following the death of a local herbalist, Santigi Bangura, also known...