Junior’s family raises funds for Ebola relief

Annually for the past four years, junior Luke Salin and his family have gone to a place that most of the world now fears: Liberia, specifically the neighborhood of Paynesville near the capital city of Monrovia.

Last spring Salin was following his Liberian friend, 19-year-old Elkanah Cheabow, through the community to his school. As Salin walked through the average Liberian neighborhood, he saw houses barely held together and adults lying facedown in the dirt.

Salin’s family goes on mission trips to Liberia with an organization called Vision Trust, whose mission is to “develop orphaned and neglected children into mature Christians equipped to live in their own culture.”

Salin has cultivated a strong friendship with Cheabow during his family’s annual mission trips. Their friendship is, however, threatened by the rampant Ebola virus in Liberia. Salin’s connection with Cheabow, made stronger by his most recent visit, has made him passionate about the cause of helping treat Ebola.

“We both have similar humor and maturity so he was kind of like Liberian me in my mind,” he said. “It was pretty hard to say goodbye to him, because even without Ebola, I didn't know what the odds were that I'd see him again.”

According to therichest.com, Liberia is the second poorest nation in the world. The average worker earns just under $2 a day, and it is still recovering from an 11-year civil war that resulted in a virtually nonexistent infrastructure and a weak source of electricity and clean water.

Salin believes that the Ebola epidemic has “stabbed an already open wound” in this developing country. The Ebola virus first broke out in March of 2014 in West Africa and has killed around 3,155 people this year in Liberia.

The organization Vision Trust has a small team of volunteers going from house-to-house to deliver necessities, which include items like fish, rice, soap, bleach and buckets. These supplies cost $60 per family, and the organization depends solely on donations. So far, his family has raised $600 of its $3,000 goal.

“When we first heard in the news how many people were infected with the Ebola virus and how many people were dying, they were not just numbers and statistics to us,” Salin’s mother Denise Salin said. “We think of the children and teachers we have come to know and love, we see their faces and know their names.”

In order to get more donations, Salin has brought his campaign to Facebook, where large audiences are easily accessible, to promote his cause.

“I'm taking to social media to help spread awareness,” he said. “Most people treat Ebola like a joke, especially the American media.”

According to Salin, the media often dehumanize the victims of Ebola in Africa by making it seem like the virus will explode any day now “in that weird place that doesn’t matter.”

As a photographer, Salin is able to increase his impact. He has been taking Facebook profile pictures of students who donated to his cause holding a “Let’s beat this” sign, hoping to reach larger audience of friends and possible donors.

“Photography is the best way to grab people’s attention now, especially if it’s a really beautiful, emotion-capturing, unique photo,” he said. “It [spreads] awareness across multiple groups of friend networks.”

Through the process of using his talents as a photographer to create change, Salin has been exposed to many amazing moments.

“I don't take my wealthy U.S. life for granted anymore, or at least, I appreciate what I have a lot more,” he said. “It's pretty eye opening to have seen something as its about to go down in history.”

Student can contribute to the cause by donating on https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/EBOLARELIEF/DeniseSalin or taking a photo of themselves holding a sign that says “Let’sBeatThis” #ebolaontheground and posting it on a form of social media.