Philly Liberians affected by Ebola paranoia

THE EBOLA crisis and scare have hit Welleh Taire, a Liberian immigrant who lives in Southwest Philadelphia.

Two of her cousins in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, died in August. Her 10-year-old daughter has not yet been allowed to travel here from Liberia. And people have asked her if she has Ebola just because she's from Africa.

"Three weeks ago, I was at work and this woman asked me, 'Do you have Ebola?' " Taire said yesterday. "I said, 'What made you think I have Ebola?' I tried to explain to her not all Africans have Ebola. I haven't been to Africa for a while now."

Taire works as a home-health aide. She said she came to Philadelphia in 2005 and is a U.S. citizen. Her message to people in the United States? "Stop being ignorant," said Taire, 27. "Try to help, not to be mean to Africans."

Taire's daughter lives in Monrovia with the child's father, with whom Taire is no longer in a relationship. Taire would like for her to come here, but she said the U.S. government has not issued the child a visa.

She says she tells people that her daughter doesn't have Ebola.

Ellen Sloh, a Northeast Philadelphia resident who was born in Liberia and came to this country when she was young, said she's also heard discriminatory remarks about people from Africa.

A few days ago, she was watching news on TV of the death of Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan,the first patient in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola who died in Texas last week.

An acquaintance, who was also watching the news, said to her, "Why is it that all the diseases come from Africa?" Sloh recalled.

Sloh, a U.S. citizen studying for a master's degree in social work at Temple University, said she found it hard to respond. She said she mentioned enterovirus D68, which recently killed a 4-year-old New Jersey boy, as an example that not all viruses come from Africa.

Sloh has many relatives in Liberia, none of whom have Ebola, she said. She said it is common sense for people in West Africa not to travel to the U.S. now.

She stressed that Ebola is a global issue. "Ebola is not only a West African problem," she said. "Ebola is a humanity problem."

More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola, most from the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In the Lehigh Valley, two coaches for the Northampton Area High School boys' soccer team resigned Tuesday after allegations that players had taunted a West African student on the opposing Nazareth Area High School team with remarks about Ebola at last Thursday's game, the Allentown Morning Call reported yesterday. The 16-year-old West African student came to the U.S. from Guinea about three years ago.

Eric Diahn, 29, who lives in Norristown and is from Liberia, finds it sad that his home country is the subject of bad news on TV. "If you see yourself being on the news, you want it to be something good," he said. Diahn, chairman of the United Men's Club, a local Liberian group, is collecting items such as protective gear, hand sanitizers, bleach and wipes to send back to Liberia. Donors may call him at 484-557-4803.