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Post by b6k on Aug 14, 2014 7:19:30 GMT 3
Folks, as British Airways and others take the tough decision to suspend all their flights to the Ebola ravaged region of West Africa, are KQ being a responsible airline by keeping the lucrative route open? We are told Ebola isn't transmitted by air a la SARS but with an incubation period of up to 21 days, in theory an airline passenger could travel to JKIA whilst in perfect health thus evading all the "screening" only to get sick weeks after his/her arrival. In the jet age therefore, Ebola can go airborne in a non-traditional way.
Today Naikuni's set to give a statement on KQ's stance on the West Africa route. Will they do the responsible thing and suspend all flights to and from West Africa or will they succumb to the "Kenyan disease" and chase the mighty dollar at all costs, potential WHO endorsed travel advisories in addition to existing ones be damned? Should GK take proactive action and suspend all flights including other carriers which total a staggering 76 flights per week?
I saw Health CS, James Macharia, say GK is keeping tabs on all passengers arriving from the Hot Zone. Does that mean people arriving from West Africa are being physically tailed or electronically monitored (say via cell phone) for 21 days to ensure they are Ebola free? Wouldn't it be simpler to terminate all direct flights and then red flag any in-coming passengers whose passports show recent movement (say one month) within the Hot Zone?
Over to you, Titus...
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Post by kamalet on Aug 14, 2014 8:56:42 GMT 3
I have just become a victim of Ebola....
Okay not the disease, but the impact of Ebola means that a conference I was to attend in Botswana has been cancelled due to Ebola fears as there was an expected large entourage from West Africa. KQ was actually going to ferry most of the delegates to Gaborone. Poor KQ must be torn between commercial imperatives and the health concerns everyone seems to have. Cancelling 76 flights in a week would seriously hurt KQ if it took the unilateral decision as it would leave Ethiopian and Rwanda Air as the two other airlines operating in west Africa. I get the feeling that it is a case of who will blink first between ET and KQ by withdrawing their flights. I suspect the carrier with the first victim will be the one forced to shut down.
But then even as Ebola is a quick killer, it is not as easy to spread as other diseases. We have other killers such as cholera which became easy to manage initially with good education and finally a vaccine. Ebola can be managed with information that helps keep it from spreading but the fear mongering one sees around is not helpful. The incubation period in itself is a lot more dangerous as one can interact and infect many without even knowing if they had the disease. I understand that contracting the disease need not kill you if you get treatment early. I would therefore expect that people would stop the peculiar African habit of waiting until one is showing the actual symptom to go for treatment and that they would adopt a mode of being checked for symptoms if one visits an area where the disease has affected people or if you come into contact with someone who has been in the area and has not been treated/checked.
Talking of scaremongering, there was a scare of Ebola on a KQ flight coming from South Africa this morning where a sick passenger was feared to be suffering from the disease!
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Post by mank on Aug 14, 2014 13:32:01 GMT 3
I think travel policy under such concerns as Ebola or terrorism should be a governmental obligation. There should be an office in the health ministry charged with advisory service to the sate to guide policy on case by case basis. I don't know if we have such a structure. This need not be the only purpose of such an office - that is I am not thinking of a whole office that stays idol waiting for when Ebola shows up to say "there should be no direct flights to the Ebola country". Trusting business to make moral decisions at the expense of their business agenda is unrealistic, and subjects the business to conflicts of interest.
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Post by b6k on Aug 14, 2014 14:18:54 GMT 3
Kamalet, it seems even the media has finally caught wind of the fact that reporting every single case of suspected Ebola isn't doing Kenya any favors. First case was a case of a stroke victim with diabetes complications. The second one that was ferried all the way to KNH even after we were told JKIA has isolation units was a case of food poisoning. All these headlines are monitored by embassy folks here in Nairobi. Little wonder that Korean Air will suspend all their 3 flights per week to JKIA effective 20th August.
Mank, sadly the government representative in the guise of CS for Health was cozying up to KQ and telling us everything is under control. Whether this decision was informed on the strength of mitigating the effects of the ongoing travel advisories that have already affected tourism only he knows best. Meanwhile the Kenya Medical Association has also chimed in and called for suspension of all direct flights. It makes you wonder which stakeholders the CS consulted other than KQ which is yet to announce whether it will keep flying into the Hot Zone or not...
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Post by b6k on Aug 14, 2014 18:11:43 GMT 3
So KQ has thought long and hard over the Ebola crisis and put profit before our health or peace of mind. With Transport CS by his side, Naikuni reiterated that all's well and the flights into the Hot Zone will continue unabated. More on the KQ Statement & GK greenlight here.
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 14, 2014 18:25:29 GMT 3
So KQ has thought long and hard over the Ebola crisis and put profit before our health or peace of mind. With Transport CS by his side, Naikuni reiterated that all's well and the flights into the Hot Zone will continue unabated. More on the KQ Statement & GK greenlight here.} It is a foolish move, b6k, word out there by WHO is that East Africa is now a risk area, especially Kenya, because of continuing flights between Nairobi and the stricken area. Nairobi JKIA risks a quarantine by other international airlines to overseas who will value the evaluation of WHO higher than KQ CEO Naikumi and CS Kamau. So which one is of higher economic value to Kenya. The lucrative Ebola passenge routes, or the flghts of horticulture and flower exports to the EU and beyond?
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 14, 2014 18:34:34 GMT 3
I think travel policy under such concerns as Ebola or terrorism should be a governmental obligation. There should be an office in the health ministry charged with advisory service to the sate to guide policy on case by case basis. I don't know if we have such a structure. This need not be the only purpose of such an office - that is I am not thinking of a whole office that stays idol waiting for when Ebola shows up to say "there should be no direct flights to the Ebola country". Trusting business to make moral decisions at the expense of their business agenda is unrealistic, and subjects the business to conflicts of interest. Even if we had such a structure Mank, business will still have room to make its own risk-taking moves. So there is the amazing story told with, believe it or not, giggles, why the Malaysian airline still overflew the combat zone in East Ukraine, while all the others --BA, Lufthansa, Turkish, Aeroflot ... were all taking 1000km detours! For some airlines fuel is more expensive than passenger lives, is the horrid joke. KQ could just be like the above, led by tough men who would import Ebola to Kenya to decrease the population, while making a first buck on the route. The screening at the airport is a joke!
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Post by kamalet on Aug 15, 2014 13:36:00 GMT 3
Even if we had such a structure Mank, business will still have room to make its own risk-taking moves. So there is the amazing story told with, believe it or not, giggles, why the Malaysian airline still overflew the combat zone in East Ukraine, while all the others --BA, Lufthansa, Turkish, Aeroflot ... were all taking 1000km detours! For some airlines fuel is more expensive than passenger lives, is the horrid joke. KQ could just be like the above, led by tough men who would import Ebola to Kenya to decrease the population, while making a first buck on the route. The screening at the airport is a joke! I think KQ and GOK are being pragmatic about this. American Airlines are still flying from the west african capitals that KQ is flying people through Nairobi. The management of an epidemic needs careful thought and planning and not simple rash decisions. I think we all recall the UK reaction to Foot and Mouth disease in the UK a couple of years ago. The result was the mass 'murder' of farm animals whether infected or not infected. I made jokes about this with my colleagues in the UK saying that we have such outbreaks in Kenya and all we do is a simple quarantine of affected areas which allows for the treatment of the animals. Shutting down west africa will not stop the spread of the disease more so after we have had several people from the affected areas already in other countries. I do not think prevention means closing the door! Using a condom and being celibate are preventive measures of HIV only that one is extreme! Of course if a country feels that it is not equipped to handle the epidemic, then it makes sense to take the celibate route. Kenya is capable hence the decision to use a condom for preventive measures! Jakaswanga thinks screening at the airport is a joke.....? As an update on the JKIA incident yesterday morning. When the flight landed, it was quarantined in an area of the airport and no passenger was allowed to disembark. Health officials boarded the aircraft and did immediate tests on the suspected sick passenger. Once they had confirmed all that we was suffering from was a flu, every passenger on board was required to fill out the preventive forms indicating their full details, previous destinations, current and future contacts. It was only after these formalities were the passengers allowed to disembark. At the arrivals hall, they were all again subjected to the infra-red temperature test before being allowed into the country.
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Post by podp on Aug 15, 2014 14:37:02 GMT 3
The screening at the airport is a joke! I Jakaswanga thinks screening at the airport is a joke.....? As an update on the JKIA incident yesterday morning. When the flight landed, it was quarantined in an area of the airport and no passenger was allowed to disembark. Health officials boarded the aircraft and did immediate tests on the suspected sick passenger. Once they had confirmed all that we was suffering from was a flu, every passenger on board was required to fill out the preventive forms indicating their full details, previous destinations, current and future contacts. It was only after these formalities were the passengers allowed to disembark. At the arrivals hall, they were all again subjected to the infra-red temperature test before being allowed into the country. let him think so but KQ should continue flying to West Africa. ebola although, deadly, the virus is not as infectious as the flu or measles - it requires contact with infected bodily fluids. www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/10370227/Ebola-screening-at-NZ-airportsSamples would be sent to a high security reference laboratory overseas for testing. Confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The World Health Organisation has declared the spread of the virus an international health emergency, and on Friday reported a death toll had reached 961. Although deadly, the virus is not as infectious as the flu or measles - it requires contact with infected bodily fluids.
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Post by b6k on Aug 15, 2014 15:22:33 GMT 3
Having watched Citizen 9 o'clock news last night I have to once again bash our local media outlets. The day Who declared Kenya Level 2, the news channel I happened to be watching had a map that showed the Level 1 countries in red, Kenya Level 2 in blue, and the rest of Africa which they didn't discuss in white. KE therefore looked like an isolated island of risk in a clear, and presumably Level 3, rest of Africa.
Well it turns out as the Health CS said yesterday that All of Africa is Level 2. In addition to that the WHO was also lambasting airlines that decided to lock out West Africa as they'd have a hard time sending in medics without airlines on the route. Unfortunately the CS was interrupted with breaking news about Gachangi's resignation so he never quite got a chance to inform viewers of all the preparations.
Our media tend to over-hype things...
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 15, 2014 19:13:49 GMT 3
I Jakaswanga thinks screening at the airport is a joke.....? As an update on the JKIA incident yesterday morning. When the flight landed, it was quarantined in an area of the airport and no passenger was allowed to disembark. Health officials boarded the aircraft and did immediate tests on the suspected sick passenger. Once they had confirmed all that we was suffering from was a flu, every passenger on board was required to fill out the preventive forms indicating their full details, previous destinations, current and future contacts. It was only after these formalities were the passengers allowed to disembark. At the arrivals hall, they were all again subjected to the infra-red temperature test before being allowed into the country.
let him think so but KQ should continue flying to West Africa. ebola although, deadly, the virus is not as infectious as the flu or measles - it requires contact with infected bodily fluids.
www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/10370227/Ebola-screening-at-NZ-airports
Samples would be sent to a high security reference laboratory overseas for testing. Confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The World Health Organisation has declared the spread of the virus an international health emergency, and on Friday reported a death toll had reached 961. Although deadly, the virus is not as infectious as the flu or measles - it requires contact with infected bodily fluidsYOU guys talking about thermal screening, eh? Let us run it through our minds and see what we come up with. www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/diagnosis/index.html So, afwandes, what do they do at your airports? You all know there are no POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION TESTS AT YOUR AIRPORTS! As for Thermal screening, this is merely another way of saying measuring temperature. --But a thermometer stuck up your ass, or armpit, or below your tongue takes ages at a busy airport, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of thermometers that will be needed. So you have this thermal seeking scanner app which works high-speed like the supermarket price-code reader --bleeping at 38 d/c ;-|or thereabouts! Your thermal test can not conclusively outrule any of the following –-- malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers!Such a diagnostic aid is nonsense in my opinion! A joke! But a heroic public relations exercise a lot of consumers will fall for. Not me.
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Post by mank on Aug 16, 2014 7:33:01 GMT 3
Keep that Ebu-ola away ... at all costs.
But it could come to Kenya through other routes too ... there's a cost in blessings. That's why US, for example, has to worry more about terrorism than any other earthly nation (I don't know about elsewhere).
I remember reading a book by the title "The Hot Zone" which was about various 'evil' haemoragic fevers including Ebola, Mercer, Murburg, etc. Those dan fevers have the habit of hanging low in the forests till they are out of the human mind ... that's when they come out, flying high and confident!
The book starts with a medical practitioner manifesting a strange fever ... I believe while practicing at Nairobi Hospital... or otherwise visiting as a patient. I have burned too many things since then to realistically expect my neurons to retrieve the full record, but in abstract, not long after that, the flame ranged somewhere in Uganda just as it is doing in Western Africa right now. Forensics ended showing that the physician at Nairobi hospital had visited a certain 'Cape Tum' in company of others, any of whom could have been patient zero....
That book, all about real cases, was pretty much a premonition of the current heat .. they ended ferrying monkeys over to Atlanta, for study. This time of 'Ebola' they ferried breathing humans, life Ebuola bombs, ... yes, to Atlanta! I might be making some of this stuff up without knowing, but the big picture is that the heat was in the heart of Kenya before any sign anywhere. If Ebuola comes knocking, it won't be the first time ... perhaps that is why some are willing to play cheap with this sucker topic.
I would be more surprised that no ebuoala has been in Kenya in 2014 than that it vistas tomorrow. Many of those missionaries will go to a hospital in Kenya the first moment they are stung by a harmless honey manufacturer. Check the records ... how many came to malaria- negative diagnoses while complaining of favor in the last few months? What did they actually have? You don't know? I guessed so. Where were they from? You don't know that either? oh my ggg... let me holor in alarm to our brothers ... the Ethiopians, Somalis, ... I am sure all others don't need us to be in danger.
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Post by b6k on Aug 16, 2014 8:22:11 GMT 3
Mank, you've brought back memories! I have that book, "The Hot Zone" but it must be somewhere in the highlands of my Nyalgunga.
The doctor you mention was A Dr Musoke who was practicing at Nairobi Hospital in the '80s. He was infected when to wazungu who had gone researching God knows what at Kitum cave in Kenya came down with the Marburg virus. Marburg, like Ebola, is a hemorrhagic fever and can result in death. However its not as efficient a killer as Ebola. Mind you Marburg was first identified and isolated in the European city of Marburg. Ebola of course was first seen at the Ebola River of Congo. Might be a case of European bee mild, African bee killer yet again. So yes we've had hemorrhagic fever cases in Kenya but they were non Ebola.
Another interesting thing about the West African strain of Ebola doing its rounds there is it's not as deadly as the original Ebola that had death rates of 90%. This one is batting at 55 to 60% so our GK and KQ honchos probably decided to gamble and say with a 50-50 chance of Ebola sneaking in and killing 55% of the unfortunate, let's go for the mighty dollar...
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Post by b6k on Aug 16, 2014 20:15:36 GMT 3
Finally some level headed thinking from KQ and GK. All flights to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will be suspended from midnight tonight. Flights to Nigeria and Ghana will continue but will be fully monitored and may be suspended should the situation on the ground change. This is what they should've done on the day the WHO declared the West Africans were blundering. Namely cut off those countries where it's out of control and work with those who appear to be on top of the situation....
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Post by b6k on Aug 16, 2014 21:17:04 GMT 3
Whoa! It's more than level headed. The ban actually takes effect on Tuesday midnight. The 3 most affected countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) will have a total ban on anyone coming into KE from them by air, land or sea. Only exceptions will be for medics coming out of the Hot Zone. Anyone attempting to come into KE by first flying to another country and then coming in by road will be turned away at the border...
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Post by mank on Aug 17, 2014 0:48:27 GMT 3
Mank, you've brought back memories! I have that book, "The Hot Zone" but it must be somewhere in the highlands of my Nyalgunga. The doctor you mention was A Dr Musoke who was practicing at Nairobi Hospital in the '80s. He was infected when to wazungu who had gone researching God knows what at Kitum cave in Kenya came down with the Marburg virus. Marburg, like Ebola, is a hemorrhagic fever and can result in death. However its not as efficient a killer as Ebola. Mind you Marburg was first identified and isolated in the European city of Marburg. Ebola of course was first seen at the Ebola River of Congo. Might be a case of European bee mild, African bee killer yet again. So yes we've had hemorrhagic fever cases in Kenya but they were non Ebola. Another interesting thing about the West African strain of Ebola doing its rounds there is it's not as deadly as the original Ebola that had death rates of 90%. This one is batting at 55 to 60% so our GK and KQ honchos probably decided to gamble and say with a 50-50 chance of Ebola sneaking in and killing 55% of the unfortunate, let's go for the mighty dollar... Thanks amigo, for confirming that I have not succeeded in burning or clogging my neurons with carbon. I agree, that was not ebola ... but my thesis is that we could have ebola at any of our hospitals any day in the same way we had Marburg at Nairobi hospital. I still doubt that ebola has not passed through Kenya. KQ has stopped flights to the hot zone, as it ought, but hospitals cannot turn patients away.
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Post by b6k on Aug 17, 2014 14:39:54 GMT 3
Mank, no worries. The monkeys in The Hot Zone also ended up in Reston, Virginia not Atlanta, Georgia. Meanwhile it seems Ebola may have just gone global. It appears that a Nigerian man in his thirties has been admitted in a hospital in Alicante, Spain with high fever and vomiting. Keep in mind the 71 year old priest who was helping African victims died of Ebola in Madrid not too long ago so this is a totally different case. I just hope KQ haven't brought about their ban for KE too late... www.thespainreport.com/10398/spanish-health-authorities-alicante-activate-alert-protocols-two-possible-ebola-cases/
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Post by mank on Aug 17, 2014 17:00:30 GMT 3
Mank, no worries. The monkeys in The Hot Zone also ended up in Reston, Virginia not Atlanta, Georgia. Meanwhile it seems Ebola may have just gone global. It appears that a Nigerian man in his thirties has been admitted in a hospital in Alicante, Spain with high fever and vomiting. Keep in mind the 71 year old priest who was helping African victims died of Ebola in Madrid not too long ago so this is a totally different case. I just hope KQ haven't brought about their ban for KE too late... www.thespainreport.com/10398/spanish-health-authorities-alicante-activate-alert-protocols-two-possible-ebola-cases/Hmmm ... a little clogged after all. Methinks a country that detects and contains an infection is in a better state than the untried. The untested are more vulnerable. I wonder what Kenya would do if a human ebola bomb was detected in Nairobi. Do we have extreme measures protocol in place, or would that be the time to think? holly molly ... I read this: Ebola patients flee after armed men attack quarantine centre in LiberiaLunatic!
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Post by b6k on Aug 18, 2014 7:34:36 GMT 3
Mank, that mob in Monrovia has set back Liberian efforts to control the Ebola outbreak big-time! Suffice it to say if they thought Ebola is a hoax, handling those bloodied sheets and beddings they looted will soon show them otherwise. This looting spree brings out the Afro-pessimist in me. SMH... Meanwhile Spain can breathe a sigh of relief as the Nigerian suspected to be an Ebola victim has been declared Ebola free.
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Post by kamalet on Aug 18, 2014 10:48:44 GMT 3
Mank, that mob in Monrovia has set back Liberian efforts to control the Ebola outbreak big-time! Suffice it to say if they thought Ebola is a hoax, handling those bloodied sheets and beddings they looted will soon show them otherwise. This looting spree brings out the Afro-pessimist in me. SMH... Meanwhile Spain can breathe a sigh of relief as the Nigerian suspected to be an Ebola victim has been declared Ebola free. Whilst everyone is being cautious, it would appear anyone with the diverse symptoms before Ebola sets in and who is quarantined is being labeled an Ebola suspect immediately and when the media pick up the story the word 'suspect' seems to disappear. This is what happened to to the three people being tested for the same where the Alai's of twitter claimed the disease was in Kenya and was being hidden from the public! As it turned out the tests for Ebola turned negative! The folks at KEMRI I am told are quite thorough and more advanced than the KEMRON chaps!
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 18, 2014 21:15:32 GMT 3
b6k, looks like the first ebola case has been confirmed in one of Nairobi's hospitals. i can not think anything else than that it came with one of the KQ flights from ground zero. Unless the strand can be identified to be either the Sudano variant or the Congo-basin genome. or even a totally new one! bat caves of Suswa, kenya!
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 18, 2014 21:17:57 GMT 3
Mank, that mob in Monrovia has set back Liberian efforts to control the Ebola outbreak big-time! Suffice it to say if they thought Ebola is a hoax, handling those bloodied sheets and beddings they looted will soon show them otherwise. This looting spree brings out the Afro-pessimist in me. SMH... Meanwhile Spain can breathe a sigh of relief as the Nigerian suspected to be an Ebola victim has been declared Ebola free. On a serious note b6k, what in the world do have to think about this! when they believe ebola is a hoax! I am disoriented.
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Post by b6k on Aug 19, 2014 12:09:19 GMT 3
Kamale, the latest suspect is a Nigerian woman who died in UAE en route for cancer treatment in India. My money is on cancer being the cause of death. But then again this underscores why KQ should've suspended flights to W Africa much earlier than they did?
Jakaswanga, when one is desperate enough to loot Ebola soaked sheets, do we blame the looter, sirkali ya Sirleaf or Mama Afrika?...
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Post by KOLONEL BRISK on Aug 19, 2014 18:46:27 GMT 3
Kamale, the latest suspect is a Nigerian woman who died in UAE en route for cancer treatment in India. My money is on cancer being the cause of death. But then again this underscores why KQ should've suspended flights to W Africa much earlier than they did? Jakaswanga, when one is desperate enough to loot Ebola soaked sheets, do we blame the looter, sirkali ya Sirleaf or Mama Afrika?... Meanwhile in Nairobi hell break loose Death is never a simple feat. Everyone will always scamper for safety in situations that are dangerous. But a Church located in Nairobi lost all the congregants when a renown pastor who was preaching at the pulpit shouted.."There is someone in our midst with Ebola and let him be healed in Jesus name." The pastor got so shocked. No sooner had he finished the statement, than the church became empty. The worshipers took less than one minute to disperse.
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Post by jakaswanga on Aug 19, 2014 19:08:11 GMT 3
Kamale, the latest suspect is a Nigerian woman who died in UAE en route for cancer treatment in India. My money is on cancer being the cause of death. But then again this underscores why KQ should've suspended flights to W Africa much earlier than they did? Jakaswanga, when one is desperate enough to loot Ebola soaked sheets, do we blame the looter, sirkali ya Sirleaf or Mama Afrika?... Meanwhile in Nairobi hell break loose View AttachmentView AttachmentDeath is never a simple feat. Everyone will always scamper for safety in situations that are dangerous. But a Church located in Nairobi lost all the congregants when a renown pastor who was preaching at the pulpit shouted.."There is someone in our midst with Ebola and let him be healed in Jesus name." The pastor got so shocked. No sooner had he finished the statement, than the church became empty. The worshipers took less than one minute to disperse. Kolonelbrisk! Please confirm this is just national humour! The idea of healing to deal with ebola! yawa!
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