July 29. Don’t look back! I will just move on.

I am evacuating Sierra Leone. However, I would not want to say I am just walking away from Ebola. I feel most comfortable if I say relocation. Yes, I am relocating from Sierra Leone to Tanzania because Ebola outbreak has been got into uncontrollable confusion in Sierra Leone. But I am still oppressed with big debt; I awe a debt of gratitude to all World Vision Sierra Leone (WVSL) staff. It is a critical moment for everyone to become one mind and fight with Ebola, but only myself is going to leave this country. I feel so sorry but the only option for me is relocation. Liberia has already closed most of its borders over the weekend, and Nigeria shakes with fear the fact that first Ebola case has been confirmed. I have to take action before worst case happens; before being trapped in West Africa, I get on an airplane to fly all across the African continent, West to East.

<Liberia closes its borders to stop Ebola> 

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/28/health/ebola-outbreak-west-africa/

<Why Ebola reaching Nigeria’s largest city is a whole new level of scary>

http://qz.com/241241/why-ebola-reaching-the-nigerian-capital-is-a-whole-new-level-of-scary/

The last day in WVSL. I asked staff to take picture with me.

I appreciate World Vision takes the precautionary nature of this action for Global Research Fellow. Yes, I can say with confidence that public health is all about prevention. While I was taking the course for certificate: Basic Security In The Filed II (BSITF II) from United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), I found the most memorable statement.

“How can we save the lives of others if we cannot save the lives of our own? – Unicef”

My evacuation insurance from International SOS tells me, "Individuals and organisations may choose to evacuate their operations or their staff from a region or a country based on individual circumstances.” In other words, this is my, or organization’s decision to evacuate this country or not. In other words again, insurance company is willing to provide assistance to me only when I am sick. This is not the situation until I wait for getting ill; Ebola fatality rate is up to 90%, so if I contract Ebola, my possibility of death is 90%. WVSL National Office urges all staff to restrict their movement, and gets ready to provide basic supplies – food, water, and clothes – to the WV base/zonal area (rural area). Ebola has been spread across the country from the border of Guinea and Liberia, and we have to overcome this tragedy with both strong belief and realistic solution.

I express my full respect to Doctors Without Borders/ MSF because they lead from the front to treat people in the highest Ebola affected area, Kailahun District and Kenema city and all other areas; this is a life-and-death emergency medical aid.

Here is the good article to know about Ebola epidemic in West Africa and their effort to contain this disease.

<Struggling to Contain the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa>

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/struggling-contain-ebola-epidemic-west-africa

When can I see this gate again? Maybe, someday...

I board an airplane for going to Tanzania today. After long holidays for 3 days (including Eid-Ul-Fitr on Monday, public holiday for Muslim), it was good to be in WVSL National Office. As usual, staffs were doing a bright start to the week by busily engaging in their work. I went down to breakfast, near to the office. Sadly, they did not sell breakfast because of holidays. I wished I could have eaten my last breakfast, Crain Crain... in Sierra Leone. Coming back to the office, I visited every department to say good-bye to staffs. I took pictures with them to memorize this unexpected and sudden farewell moment.

“When will you come back to Sierra Leone?”

People ask me. I do not want to say that everything I feel and see this morning would be the last memory of Sierra Leone. I wish I could say “Good-bye, for the meantime.” I cannot promise to come back and cannot take a rain check.

“I don’t know. Maybe, someday?” I say. This answer has a full of ambiguity, but someday does contain the clear meaning that I would leave without any promise of return.

‘Someday, we may meet again, though nobody knows where we are going.’

I am about to make my farewell before I leave, keeping short but strong and intense two-month memory in Sierra Leone. I take water taxi to get Lungi international airport, exact opposite way when I arrived in and came into Freetown on June 9.

‘Nothing controls and concentrates my mind better than the fact that I might die tomorrow.’

In the water taxi. This is the last time to look back. 

We may die someday. Either just this minute, or later. We never know when that happens. We may die of Ebola, cancer, various diseases, random gunfire, bomb, traffic accident, and many other reasons. There is something that we, human beings, can never control. So then, what should I do now? Should I tremble with fear and do nothing in the room?

The most precious moment is right now, at this very moment. I can breathe, and I can feel the sea breeze in the water taxi, so I do realize that I am still alive. This moment will live in my memory everlastingly. I got off from the water taxi. Behind me, there should be ocean. But do not look back! I will just move on.

Then…

I load my body into the airplane. I am really leaving now.

Bye, Sierra Leone! Though absent in body, I am present with you in spirit!