The Deacon's Bench
This morning a local school teacher who performs mission work in Kenya is blaming her resignation on the Ebola scare.
Susan Sherman taught students at Saint Margaret Mary on Shelbyville Road.
In her letter of resignation, Sherman said she had been told many students, teachers, parents and parishioners are unhappy with her decision to travel to Kenya.
Sherman stated she is committed to going there once a year.
Sherman told WLKY news she blames her situation on ignorance.
Kenya has not reported a single case of Ebola.
I’m hoping there’s more to the story, and that this woman wasn’t fired over ignorance.
UPDATE: A local TV station reports that Sherman was asked to stay home for 21 days after she returned from Kenya. This, even though Kenya is more than 3,000 miles from any place in Africa that has been infected. You can’t make this stuff up.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS late today, from the Louisville Courier Journal:
The school…had asked Sherman to take a paid “precautionary leave” of absence of 21 days upon her return from her trip after “strong parent concerns” about Ebola. It also asked Sherman, who is a registered nurse, to provide a doctor’s note stating she was in good health.
There have been no reported cases of Ebola in Kenya. Indeed, the archdiocese, in a statement released last month regarding Sherman’s trip, noted that the Kenyan village where Sherman was working — the remote village of Migori — is “in Eastern Africa, thousands of miles from West Africa, where the main outbreak of the virus is located.”
The recent medical mission trip to Kenya was the fourth trip that she and her husband, Paul, a retired orthopedic surgeon, had taken with faith-based organization Kenya Relief.
Last week, Paul Sherman sent a letter to Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, complaining that “unfounded fears” of some parents and parish staff “are triumphing over truth and reason.” He said he and his wife offered to give an educational meeting about Ebola and about their medical mission trip, but they “were put off until our ‘quarantine’ is over.”
He said all the other members of the team that went to Kenya have returned to their jobs with no problems.
Steve James, founder of Kenya Relief, said he’s only had one other mission trip participant experience a negative reaction upon returning home.
“We don’t have Ebola in Kenya,” James said. He said it’s unfortunate when people making decisions “haven’t paid attention to the facts.”
James said he knows the Shermans, and said he’s saddened that her life has been affected by Ebola fears. He said he hoped this would not deter others from wanting to help with relief efforts. “It’s unfortunate that someone with such a big heart has to suffer because of it,” he said.
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