Update on Matt

He is back in the U.S. and is very happy he has this time with his family. The stress of training was hard enough adding family crisis made it even harder. Unfortunately, soon after he arrived there was another family medical crisis but thankfully things are looking good.

So as you know, recently the U.S. had it’s first case of Ebola within the country and people are freaking out. Most Americans believe Africa is one big country, but those of us who paid attention in geography know that is not the case. We are living basically the distance of California to probably Virginia to where the Ebola outbreak is. There is not Ebola here at the moment. Still, this does not stop others from believing Matt has brought Ebola with him.

A Somewhat Funny Story:

Matt is in Wal-Mart in his hometown getting some food when he runs into an old family friend. They are discussing all the recent family crisis and Matt’s experiences in Uganda. Afterwards, Matt continues his shopping and a man approaches Matt. “I overheard you say you are a Peace Corps Volunteer”, “Yes, I am” Matt replies. There is a long silence; Matt’s expecting him to say something like “oh that’s awesome my brother/sister did that” or “oh, how do you like it?”, something along those lines. But there is just more silence until the man replies, “....and you were in Uganda?”. At this point Matt has a somewhat good idea where this conversation is going and replies “Yes, I live in Uganda” , more silence. Then the man says, “Well you know they have Ebola over there right now”, Matt, “Sir are you asking me if I have Ebola?”.  The man, “….well I am a concerned American Citizen and well, I want to know if you have Ebola”. Conversation over, Matt walks away. Things that happen at Wal-Mart in small towns; we are pretty sure half of the town knows there is someone who came from Africa and that he probably brought Ebola. .....