Fordham Student at Epicenter of Ebola Crisis

The July 29 death of Sierra Leone’s top Ebola doctor, Sheikh Umar Khan, from the disease has intensified fears about the epidemic that is overwhelming West Africa.

“On a daily basis, Ebola regularly comes up,” said Kathleen “Ellie” Frazier, a student in Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development (IPED) program who is working in Sierra Leone. “I overhear people discussing it on the street and there are awareness posters everywhere.”

Researchers are working to develop a treatment for Ebola, but right now there is no cure or vaccine.
Infected patients receive only supportive care, such as saline and fever-reducing medication.
Photo courtesy of BBC News

Currently, Sierra Leone is the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, which causes high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes internal bleeding. The highly contagious virus, for which there is no cure or vaccine, remains infectious even after a person has died.

More than 1,200 cases and 670 deaths have been reported across West Africa. So far, 454 Ebola cases have been reported in Sierra Leone.

Frazier is stationed in a rural area of Sierra Leone as an intern at Timap for Justice, the country’s largest paralegal network. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda, she has worked extensively only social justice issues, especially in post-conflict regions. In Sierra Leone, she is working with Timap to develop organizational assessment tools and training materials, and is observing paralegal activities in its various offices.

She was there just a week when Ebola cases began to emerge.

“In the first week I arrived, Ebola was confirmed in the eastern part of the country, marking its departure from the original area along the eastern border with Liberia and Guinea,” she said. Initially, she hesitated going to Timap’s rural offices. She even thought about leaving the country.

“But, with the exception of one mining company in the east, no one was evacuating their staff. The rural offices I was supposed to work in were not in the most heavily affected districts, so I decided to go.”

Frazier has not known anyone who has contracted the virus, although several Timap staff members fled a city with a major Ebola isolation unit after a prominent teacher there died. She said two of Timap’s offices in the east have been forced to temporarily suspend activities.

Image courtesy of BBC News

Frazier said that misinformation about the virus is rampant. Some Sierra Leoneans doubt it even exists, partly because Ebola symptoms are similar to the common diseases of malaria and Lassa fever. And there are some who insist the disease is a conspiracy, citing that the original contamination area is a stronghold of the opposition political party.

Conflicting messages early on from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation caused further confusion, Frazier said. In more remote rural areas, villagers have even driven out WHO and Doctors Without Borders workers.

Fear also breeds misconceptions, she said. Because of the virus’ high contagion rate, those who test positive for Ebola are immediately transferred to an isolation unit, where loved ones cannot visit. If they die, their bodies are bagged and buried in a designated area, denying family members the opportunity to perform customary funeral rites. As a result, many people see going to the isolation word as a “death sentence” and resist taking sick family members to health centers or hospitals.

“Some rumors go so far as to say that the wards are fronts for organ harvesting, or that they inject you with the virus once you are admitted,” Frazier said.

Frazier said that those affected by Ebola are facing discrimination. Health professionals are ostracized by friends and family because of their work with victims. Children from affected families have been driven away from school. People refuse to buy goods from affected families.

“Beyond individuals and families, it is likely that the districts most heavily affected will carry a stigma long after this outbreak subsides—whenever that may be.”

— Joanna Klimaski Mercuri

Goods of Conscience Comes to Fordham, Inspires Students

New service opportunities are sprouting in Fordham’s backyard following a presentation this week about a Bronx-based clothing enterprise that helps poor Guatemalan communities.

The enterprise, Goods of Conscience, provides livelihoods in Guatemala while also supporting environmentally sound cotton farming and giving work to the underemployed in the Bronx.

It was begun in 2005 by the Reverend Andrew O’Connor, vicar of Holy Family Church in the Bronx. In a lecture on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Rose Hill campus, he described the project and stoked students’ interest in either taking part or setting up similar international collaborations.

“Father O’Connor gave an inspiring lecture,” said assistant professor of chemistry Jon Friedrich, Ph.D., who arranged the event. Students in the Environmental Science and Environmental Policy programs attended, along with members of Students for Fair Trade and Students for Environmental Awareness and Justice.

“He has the ability to combine artistry, spirituality, and environmental justice into his projects in a unique way,” according to Friedrich. “Our students … were able to hear how relatively simple actions can legitimately affect other people's lives for the better.”

Goods of Conscience uses “Social Fabric” that is produced in cooperation with Textiles Proteje, a foundation serving the needs of Guatemalan Mayan weavers. O’Connor provides a synthetic, reflective yarn that the weavers combine with rare organic cotton, and the finished fabric is shipped to the Bronx, where it is fashioned into clothing by local garment workers.

The cotton is a heritage strain that naturally resists pests. It is produced through environmentally sound methods on the last commercial cotton farm left in Guatemala, and grows in vibrant colors because of the humid climate.

The distinctive reflective yarn used in the clothing ensures that it can’t be counterfeited, so workers can earn a living wage, O’Connor said. The clothing has gained visibility; some of it was modeled by Cameron Diaz in a 2009 issue of Vogue.

O’Connor got the idea for the project during a retreat in rural Guatemala. He wanted to help preserve the tradition off back-strap weaving and help the weavers earn a living wage.

The project has brought electricity to homes in one Guatemalan village and enabled residents to start building a church and community center, he said. Goods of Conscience has gotten involved in other projects, like helping to raise funds to construct a granary in the Ecuadorean village of Cotopaxi.

In the Bronx, the organization also offers courses in home arts, recycling, and conserving resources. Goods of Conscience also promotes local gardening, and will establish a yard this spring this spring to grow hops for use by the Bronx Brewery.

“It’s been growing pretty organically,” O’Connor said, referring to Goods of Conscience. “I just really want to enable people to be able to come up with ideas that are very generative, that help to promote Catholic social teaching.”

He said students could help in many ways—by working with children in the church’s grammar school, for instance, or by helping with gardening projects or helping to market Social Fabric clothing. “There are opportunities to come and help,” he said.

—Chris Gosier

Fordham's Feerick Center Hits Five

Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice celebrated its fifth anniversary on Sept. 26—five years to the day of its launch in 2006.

The center presented honored guest Senator George J. Mitchell (left above), a former visiting professor at the Law School, with the very first George Mitchell Lifetime Public Service Award, recognizing Mitchell’s social justice work in the Northern Ireland Peace Process and as Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace.

Over 240 alumni and friends attended a reception at the headquarters of Mutual of America, raising almost $400,000 for the Center’s initiatives on behalf of poverty and consumer law, pro bono counsel initiatives and other social justice programs.

Robert C. Sheehan, former managing partner of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, was honored with the "Spirit of Service Award” and David Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York, received the "Life of Commitment Award."

Attending the event were the center's founder and director John D. Feerick (right, above), former dean of the law school; University president Joseph M. McShane, S.J.; provost Stephen Freedman, Ph.D.; law school dean Michael M. Martin; former New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye, and Fordham president emeritus Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J.

Since its founding, the Feerick Center has been recognized for its outstanding work by the New York State Courts with their "Access to Justice Award," and by the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University with its "Bright Idea of 2010 Award".