#Ebola - Newcastle Man Helping the Fight
Meet Calvin Laing - for the next few month's he'll be Metro Radio's "eyes and ears" in Sierra Leone.
A Newcastle aid worker has touched down in Sierra Leone to help stop the spread of Ebola.
Calvin Laing, 30, will be working on several projects for the global children’s charity Plan UK.
The Ebola virus has killed more than 8,000 people in West Africa, including nearly 3,000 in Sierra Leone.
Over the next 2 months Calvin will be our "eyes and ears" on the ground and at the frontline of the fight against the deadly virus.
We'll be speaking to him via Skype and running audio in the news as well as keeping an online blog of what he's up to and how his time is going in Africa.
Calvin will be helping to run a project that supports children orphaned by Ebola, he'll co-ordinate activities, visit communities and ensuring that help is getting to those in need.
Calvin said:
“Ebola is affecting the whole country. While the virus has slowed in some places, it is continuing to rise in others. The work we are doing in communities is really important. We have to continue to support local efforts to halt the spread.
Our immediate priorities are to scale-up our work decontaminating households where individuals have fallen sick with Ebola, so we can then support their families with replacement household items, such as mattresses, blankets and clothing.
All these soft materials have to be disposed of where there has been a case of Ebola, as they potentially carry the disease,”
Calvin, originally from Forest Hall, attended Longbenton Community College. He'll be based in Sierra Leone for two months but will also be travelling to neighbouring Liberia, where Plan is also working to combat the virus.
You can read Calvin's blog from his early days in Sierra Leone.
Photo Credit - Plan UK -