World Tour: Ebola in Uganda

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Africa.

Nigerian flooding— Today’s World Tour sets off here in Nigeria, which is facing record flooding.

AUDIO: [Floodwaters]

Residents in Nigeria’s southeast Anambra state used canoes to navigate through flooded streets after heavy rainfall.

The worst flooding in a decade is affecting 27 of Nigeria’s 36 states. The disaster has killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.3 million others. Floodwaters have also destroyed more than 800,000 acres of farmland.

Jude Ekene-Ane is a taxi driver in Anambra. He said his neighbors tried to use sand to keep out the flood from their street, but the water still entered his house.

EKENE-ANE: We paid for over five trips of sand that we would drop along these streets and in front of our yard to stop the flood from entering our house. But all to no avail.

Similar scenes played out in Kogi state, located at the confluence of two of West Africa’s biggest rivers.

Authorities blamed unusually heavy rains this year and climate change. But experts also pointed to poor city planning and infrastructure.

The Meteorological Agency said heavy rainfall will continue until the end of November in some states.

Uganda Ebola response— We head east to Uganda, where authorities are still trying to control an Ebola outbreak.

MUSEVENI: Movement into and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts is prohibited.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni imposed a lockdown on two districts at the epicenter of the outbreak over the weekend.

The 21-day restrictions bar personal travel, shut down churches and public places, and set a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The health ministry has reported 19 deaths and 58 confirmed cases since the outbreak began last month.

Ebola is spread through bodily fluids. The particular strain in circulation is called the Sudan Ebola virus, and has no vaccine.

Paris protests— Next, to France.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Thousands of protesters turned out on the streets of Paris on Sunday to decry rising living costs and government inaction over climate change.

Left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon led the rally. This year’s Nobel Literature laureate Annie Ernaux also attended.

AUDIO: [Speaking in French]

This 69-year-old retired railway worker said he wants higher purchasing power, better salaries, and an end to return-to-work orders.

The French prime minister warned striking oil industry workers that the government might use its requisition powers to force workers back to their posts… to ease fuel shortages.

Several unions also led a transportation strike that caused disruptions on Tuesday.

Jerusalem March— We wrap up at a global Christian gathering in Jerusalem.

AUDIO: [Singing]

Christians singing and waving flags from all over the world marched through Jerusalem last week.

They were celebrating Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles.

Participants blew traditional Jewish shofar horns, sang worship songs, and carried religious icons. The Old Testament festival commemorates a harvest of thanksgiving and the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert. Participants feast and build sukkots—or huts—o remember the huts the Israelites slept in during their days of wandering.

Carl Halberg came with his wife from Hamilton, New Zealand.

HALBERG: Every time I see a nation here, speaking in their language, singing in their language, it brings a tear to my eye.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Africa.

Nigerian flooding— Today’s World Tour sets off here in Nigeria, which is facing record flooding.

AUDIO: [Floodwaters]

Residents in Nigeria’s southeast Anambra state used canoes to navigate through flooded streets after heavy rainfall.

The worst flooding in a decade is affecting 27 of Nigeria’s 36 states. The disaster has killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.3 million others. Floodwaters have also destroyed more than 800,000 acres of farmland.

Jude Ekene-Ane is a taxi driver in Anambra. He said his neighbors tried to use sand to keep out the flood from their street, but the water still entered his house.

EKENE-ANE: We paid for over five trips of sand that we would drop along these streets and in front of our yard to stop the flood from entering our house. But all to no avail.

Similar scenes played out in Kogi state, located at the confluence of two of West Africa’s biggest rivers.

Authorities blamed unusually heavy rains this year and climate change. But experts also pointed to poor city planning and infrastructure.

The Meteorological Agency said heavy rainfall will continue until the end of November in some states.

Uganda Ebola response— We head east to Uganda, where authorities are still trying to control an Ebola outbreak.

MUSEVENI: Movement into and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts is prohibited.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni imposed a lockdown on two districts at the epicenter of the outbreak over the weekend.

The 21-day restrictions bar personal travel, shut down churches and public places, and set a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The health ministry has reported 19 deaths and 58 confirmed cases since the outbreak began last month.

Ebola is spread through bodily fluids. The particular strain in circulation is called the Sudan Ebola virus, and has no vaccine.

Paris protests— Next, to France.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Thousands of protesters turned out on the streets of Paris on Sunday to decry rising living costs and government inaction over climate change.

Left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon led the rally. This year’s Nobel Literature laureate Annie Ernaux also attended.

AUDIO: [Speaking in French]

This 69-year-old retired railway worker said he wants higher purchasing power, better salaries, and an end to return-to-work orders.

The French prime minister warned striking oil industry workers that the government might use its requisition powers to force workers back to their posts… to ease fuel shortages.

Several unions also led a transportation strike that caused disruptions on Tuesday.

Jerusalem March— We wrap up at a global Christian gathering in Jerusalem.

AUDIO: [Singing]

Christians singing and waving flags from all over the world marched through Jerusalem last week.

They were celebrating Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles.

Participants blew traditional Jewish shofar horns, sang worship songs, and carried religious icons. The Old Testament festival commemorates a harvest of thanksgiving and the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert. Participants feast and build sukkots—or huts—o remember the huts the Israelites slept in during their days of wandering.

Carl Halberg came with his wife from Hamilton, New Zealand.

HALBERG: Every time I see a nation here, speaking in their language, singing in their language, it brings a tear to my eye.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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