Ebola nixes holiday travel for West Africans living in Philly

The ebola epidemic in parts of West Africa is affecting holiday plans for many in Philadelphia with close ties to the region.

 

In Liberia, the number of ebola cases is starting to drop but health officials still report about a dozen new infections there each day.

Vuyou Kpaan says it’s been difficult for everyone. Like many of the thousands of West African immigrants living in Philadelphia, Kpaan had planned to travel to Liberia to see family there this month. But he postponed the visit.

“I feel a little bad because my brothers and sisters and kids on that side were expecting me to spend Christmas with them, but I had to cancel that,” says Kpaan.

Kpaan says instead, he and others here are checking in with family a lot, and working extra hard to provide additional resources those who can’t work or move around much because of the epidemic.

“For me I travel to Liberia once or twice a year. Like this month I should have been in Liberia, and I had to postpone this trip because my family [in Philadelphia] were afraid that maybe when I go there something would happen,” he said.