Last night was a bad one for me as I did not have a good sleep. The reason being that my phone kept ringing and interrupting my sleep. When I could not bear it any longer, I switched the phone to silence mode and slept off. By 4 AM, I woke up as usual for my morning devotion, only to find that the missed calls on my phone were too many.
What is wrong and why so many calls at night? Was there anything happening that people out there were trying to reach me? Or could there be some people out there in difficulties who need my assistance? These were the questions that kept bothering me when I saw these missed calls.
When I was done with my morning devotion I decided to return the calls. To my outmost shock and disbelief, the first person I called was a woman whose missed calls were five and this is what she had to say to me on picking my call:
“Ah, Obed, there is this information I have for you. There is Ebola in the town. A case has just been recorded and the instruction is that drinking warm salt water and bathing with same can serve as preventive measure to being infected by the Ebola virus. I felt I should let you know this because it would be unfair for me not to share this vital information with you,” said the woman at the other end.
“Is that all?,” I asked. “Yes o!” She said and then the phone went dead. I felt like kicking her. “This woman must be a Witch,” I muttered to myself. Thank God she was not there with me. To be sincere and candid, I was very angry about this. How could someone phone me late at night for such a trash?
I returned the second call, this time to an elderly man in my neighborhood. “Morning Sir,” I said when he picked the call. “Obed, I was calling you but you did not answer your phone, what is wrong?” He asked me. “Sorry Sir, I was tired and when I retired to bed last night I decided to place my phone in silence mode because I did not want to be disturbed,” I responded.
“It’s ok, I only wanted to let you know that a case of Ebola infection has just been recorded in this town. Now listen! Take warm salt water and also add salt to your bathing water. I have just done this and that is the only way we can prevent ourselves from contracting Ebola,” he told me.
“Is this a joke? Why are these people talking about salt and water being treatment for Ebola virus, and where are they getting this information from?” I asked myself. Is this some sort of a voodoo? Are these people into some fetish rituals and are trying to lure me into it? If not why are they asking me to drink and shower with salt water, and to do this late at night? These were the questions that kept turning in my brain.
“The devil is a liar! No, I can’t do such a thing. I will rather pray about this than sheepishly carry out some demonic instructions that could get me initiated into the devil’s cult,” I said to myself. After this second encounter, I decided not to make any further phone calls as I was very sad that in spite of the medical facilities we have, we still have persons who out of desperation want to adopt unorthodox measures to solve their problems.
If I thought that was the end of the unfolding drama about Ebola, I was joking, as in the morning what I found out was more disturbing. My wife went out to buy some few items in a provisions shop in our neighborhood and the news she brought back home was shocking. She told me that the crave for salt therapy for Ebola is all over as the woman in the provisions shop said she sold about ten big sachets of salt within five minutes of opening her store around 6 am this morning.
I sat there quietly, not knowing what to say. I quickly brought out my iPad and logged on to Facebook. That is one place I always pick news leads from. Lo and behold, Facebook posts I saw were almost all about Ebola and Salt. The posts had similar information: a phone call, and an advisory on salt therapy for Ebola infection.
God! The devil knows how to spread deceptive information, and the sad thing is that the gullible ones will always offer to be errand persons for the evil one as they will push such information to their friends and relations without minding the consequences of such actions.
I know that the elderly man whom I spoke to earlier was hypertensive and I am aware he has been on High BP drugs. Yet, he told me he had to drink the salt water therapy as a preventive measure for Ebola. The disturbing thing is that I had read some publications that warn against salt intake as this contributes to high rate of hypertensive cases. So, here we have a man who is hypertensive aggravating his case by drinking salt water in order to prevent himself from Ebola, a virus that is yet to infect him. What foolish wisdom is this?
To me, this is pure deception. Why will someone think about such a deceitful thing and cause panic across the country? What do those spreading this satanic information want to achieve? A serious health challenge like the Ebola pandemic should not be used to cause panic amongst the people and make them part with the little they have.
This Witch Doctor’s prescription for Ebola being spread across the country must be stopped. Nigeria cannot afford to be pushed to the point where falsehood becomes the gospel of the day. We must all be careful about what we say or do on issues we are not knowledgeable about.
Let us allow health experts handle the management of information flow about Ebola virus, it’s anatomy, its pandemic nature and management, instead of quacks and misguided ones amongst the populace creating unnecessary tension through spreading falsehood.
Above all, we must turn to God to find a solution to an ailment that has defied scientific remedies. The God that has created us has the power to give us wisdom to find a cure to this disease. So, do not panic but remain calm and see what our God, Jesus Christ, can do in this case.
So, native doctors, I beg make una leave us alone o!
Comments