THREAT OF EBOLA IN EUROPE - Updated

UPDATE: The UK government have now decided to install screen tests at all ports.  The US has them already installed.  It is reported that the Spanish nurse is getting worse. Hopefully she will get better and we send all out best wishes. 


At the moment, in the UK there is  not only the danger of IS coming back from fighting and plan attacks on the British public but there is also the threat of Ebola spreading all over the world.

The main concern is to contain the virus and hopefully even to eliminate it. The army plans to fly out over 100 medics to Sierra Leone which seems the main affected area. At the moment they are training 13 hours a day with protective clothing with personal pretending to have Ebola. The drill centre in Strensall Barracks, Yorksh. has various temperature for the staff to be prepared for the African heat.

22 Field Hospital, of Aldershot, Hants, set up 12 beds where volunteer medics can be treated.

On a visit yesterday, Armed Forces minister Mark Francois said: "The critical point is to have a world class medical facility that can give other medical workers comfort that they get the best treatment,"

In the US a 46 year old man died. He came from Liberia and showed no symptoms. After awhile he developed the symptoms and was treated in Texas but they could not save his life.

In Spain a nurse was struck down with it who was working in Sierra Leone. So far she seems all right.

All theses cases seems to be on the increase and experts predicted that there is a 50 per cent chance it could reach Europe and spread across within 16 days. Therefore full alert has been given and hospitals in the UK and the mainland Europe are preparing for the worst.  After all 6,000 people arrive in Britain a week from roughly 40 flights from Nigeria, Ghana and The Gambia. There has been suggestions to screen people but the time and costs does not justify it because most of the people do not show any symptoms on arrival.

Mr Cameron spoke to the Sierra Leone president Ernest Koroma. A spokesman said:"They discussed how the £125million in UK aid was helping efforts. The president said the situation was very serious and they need to train more medical staff and improve the burial process."

My comment to this information is first of all £125million is an incredible sum to give to Sierra Leoneevery year which in their money is enormous. The pictures which had been posted show people live in very, very deprived conditions. All housing built with wood and no sanitation. Dirt and water running on the unpaved streets. So what had they been doing with £125million and that is only in one year. Besides they have oilfields as well. It is no surprise that viruses are rampant.

The other remark is that Liberia burned the people who died of Ebola. It was seen in the newspapers that Sierra Leone still buries them and the gravediggers worn no protections which leaves them wide open to pick up the virus. It is irresponsible after all the months the Ebola is there. So what is the president doing all this time?

Now, not only spent the UK £125million but sends the army  with all the equipments and medical experts out there to help which is more expense. It is incredible.

UPDATE:  The latest news after the emergency meeting "Cobra" yesterday it was decided that the Government is now sending 750 staff and a hospital ship to fight the disease.  It is a better arrangement for the staff as well as for the sick but higher costs. This is not meant to begrudge the people urgent treatment but the Sierra Leone which does not make the slighted effort despite the £125million from the UK alone and other millions of pounds from other countries.

Where does that money go? One thing for sure they are fighting a civil war since 1991 and as always have money for that. 

SAMHAIN AND ALL SAINT'S FESTIVAL

The Samhain and All Saint's festival are not far apart as it is assumed by the majority of people.

Samhain is the end of the light half and the beginning of the dark half of the year. The Celtic people celebrated it as the New Year.

It is the time were the line between the mortal world and spirit world is the thinnest. Therefore it is the best time to cross the line one way or the other.

Samhain is two words samh "summer" and fuin "end".

In the old days the tradition was to leave food for the spirits or bury apples to nourish the souls.

Pope Gregory changed that in 835 and the church bind the two together and called it All Saints' day.

This was the time when cattle were slaughtered and preserved for the winter, fruit and vegetables gathered and preserved. Plants and trees died down and therefore Samhain became the festival to celebrate death.

ON "ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL" 
PEOPLE VISIT THE GRAVES 
PUT FLOWERS AND CANDLES

Despite Christian Churches saw it as a pagan holiday, the feast continued every year and people are unaware of the connection.

Whichever you celebrate - Samhain or All Saints Day - it is a time to remember the death and thank them for what they have done for us and sacrificed for us.

SUMMARY: It is amazing and astonishing to find out how closed the Pagan religion and Christian religion really is. Unless you look way back into the so-called dark ages and learn about it, this fact will not be noticed. In order to introduce Christianity to people in those days it was a common practice to incorporate pagan festivals into the Christian religion. Over the century the pagan festivals were almost forgotten and only in the last few decades people rediscovered the paganism. It was then brought into focus that many Christian festivals originated at pagan times.

BOOK REVIEW TENKO

Tenko, a name given to the most infamous Prisoner-of-War camps in the Second World War. It was in Japan and Margot Turner was imprisoned there with many other women. Tenko means a "roll call" and the prisoners had to stand there bowed all the time during the counting.

Margot Turner was 21-years old and a theatre sister in Singapore. The Japanese forces were overrunning Singapore in February 1942. Margot and 350 other people tried to escape. They boarded a cargo ship in Keppel harbour. The ship was hit by a shell. Military personnel and civilians swam to a nearby island. After few days Margot boarded a cargo ship again which was heading for Batavia. There she got torpedoed again. She was fighting for her life in shark-infested water constantly fighting dangerous currents. Margot and another nurse put a sort of a raft together. All the others on the raft died either from wounds or sun or dehydration.

Although she burned black and had blisters Margot survived by eating seaweed and drinking rainwater collected in her powder compact. She stated afterwards that she had always the feeling that a higher power was watching over her.

One day she was picked up by a Japanese destroyer. This started a three-and-a-half years of being a prisoner-of-war and lived and worked in Japanese camps. Although, her experiences were often incredible she kept morale high. She managed to keep the humour going which help a lot.

She remembered that they kept irritating the Japanese because we laughed a lot. The Japanese didn't know what we were laughing about.

In spite of the poor nourishment, hard labour, and lack of water the malaria-carrying mosquitoes and diseases, they kept going. The other irritating spontaneous call was "tenko". They had to bow very low in front of a Japanese guard. They had to line-up every time the Japanese shouted "tenko"

Margot got one day irritated because she realized that these guards were not very educated. She thought that after all she is a British officer and a British Army nurse. After all she wasn't Japanese. She decided to stand upright and did not bow. She was hit so hard that it knocked a tooth out. After a hard lesson learned she was bowing again. Another torment they had to suffer if the Japanese saw something they didn't agree with, they stood the women in the sun. When women died they buried them. She remembered to have made three cemeteries.

The only thing they were able to endure and survive plus achieve many thing, it was friendship, comradeship and caring for each other. Despite the hostile environment and tropical climate they managed to build from nothing, schools, hospitals, social clubs and religious concerts which were planned and organised.

To show their defiance to their captors they developed a determination not to live a docile and obedient live.

A book was written called "Surviving Tenko" by Penny Starns. Also a TV series was produced but with so many untrue situations shown that Margot was disgusted. They even were so disrespectful and portrait her as a lesbian which was completely untrue. She had many admirers but was not interested in marriage and having children. Margot just liked the life she was leading which would not have been possible if she married.

Margot Turner became a matron-in-chief and director of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps after the war. She died in 1993 at the age of 83.