A school has taken the step of cancelling the visit of a British charity worker and her son because of fears by parents that their children could be infected with Ebola.
Nine-year-old Kofi Mason-Sesay, who has joint British and Sierra Leonean citizenship, was due to study at St Simon’s Catholic Primary School in Hazel Grove, Stockport, for several weeks on a placement while his mother, Miriam was on fundraising duties for the charity EducAid which runs a network of free schools for vulnerable youngsters in Sierra Leone.
Last month, following the lodging of a petition by parents hostile to the forthcoming visit, the school tried to offer reassurance that pupils were at no risk of contracting the disease. The school took advice from health chiefs in the borough and passed on Public Health England’s guidance that anyone travelling from affected countries who is free of symptoms is not infectious. Yesterday, however, head teacher Elizabeth Inman wrote to parents to say that “with a very heavy heart” the school and its governors had taken “the pragmatic decision” to stop the visit despite Mrs Mason-Sesay and her son having been screened and given unrestricted movement in the UK.
She said: “I understand that there is a lot of misinformation about how Ebola is spread. A significant number of parents have been in touch with me to express their fears. As you know, I always listen to parents. Ebola cannot be spread as some parents have suggested.
“There are many parents who believe that the visit should have gone ahead and that we are contributing to misunderstandings by cancelling it.
“In this instance, it has been very hard to juggle justice to Miriam and the views of parents. Of course I would never endanger any child or colleague and I have to put my trust in the professionals.
“It is with great sadness that we decided to cancel the visit; the misguided hysteria emerging is extremely disappointing, distracting us from our core purpose of educating your children and is not an environment that I would wish a visitor to experience.”
Briton Miriam Mason-Sesay, 48, who has spent 14 years with EducAid Sierra Leone, said she and Kofi have both been given the green light to travel by the Health Protection Agency but misunderstandings over the virus has seen them treated like ‘lepers’.
Mrs Mason-Sesay said: “It’s heartbreaking. Unfortunately there was so much pressure from an ignorant parent body that the school had to act.
“The reality is it’s a difficult disease to catch and much of its spread in Africa is to do with traditional burial practices when sufferers have died.
“We are desperately trying to raise funds so we can take care of kids who have been affected by this and other diseases such as malaria.
“We’ve been met with leper-type attitudes from wealthy people over-reacting and trying to protect themselves from a threat which isn’t there.”
The school’s head suggested to parents that a sizeable donation should be made instead to EducAid to recognise its work in a country “which has received more than its share of setbacks”.
