[Diocese of Texas] The current Ebola crisis in Africa is of personal concern to the Rev. Johannes George, a native of Sierra Leone, one of the worst hit regions fighting the virus. The Houston priest has been in contact with friends and family daily for updates and calls for experimental drugs to be made available immediately.

Along with his congregation at Christ the King Episcopal Church in Alief, George has gathered a larger group of pan Africans in Southwest Houston, to pray and raise funds to help.  He also meets online each Saturday with Muslims and Christians across the country to pray for victims and health workers in Africa. This Sunday, August 17, he will hold a special prayer service focused on the Ebola crisis.

Episcopal Relief and Development is working directly with the Anglican Diocese of Bo in Sierra Leone and the Episcopal Church of Liberia supporting awareness-raising efforts and providing personal protection equipment and disinfectants to under-resourced hospitals and clinics in the affected areas.

The New York Times page one story August 12 painted a grim picture of the virus’s spread in one small village of Njala Ngiema, where George once served and preached. The village of 500 has lost more than 10 percent of its population, many of whom are subsistence farmers. George worries that the quarantine of many villages will further distress the poverty stricken population by cutting off what little food supplies they have.