The mother of a nine-year-old banned from a British school over parents' Ebola fears has hit back at 'ignorant prejudice' and insists the disease 'isn't hiding behind every bush in Sierra Leone.
Kofi Mason-Sesay, who has joint British and Sierra Leonean nationality, was due to spend several weeks at St Simon's Catholic Primary School in Stockport.
However, the placement was cancelled after 'ignorant' parents campaigned against Kofi or his British mother charity worker Miriam going to the school, fearing they could pass on the disease which has killed at least 678 people in Sierra Leone.
Kofi Mason-Sesay with his mother Miriam, pictured at home today after Kofi was banned from school
Public Health England have confirmed there is no risk in Kofi (right) or Mrs Mason-Sesay (left) attending the 168 pupil school, but parent power led to the initiative being cancelled by governors
School: Kofi, who has joint British and Sierra Leonean nationality, was due to spend several weeks at St Simon's Catholic Primary School in Stockport (pictured)
Kofi was due to join St Simon's while Mrs Mason-Sesay carries out fundraising visits to other schools as part of her work with charity EducAid Sierra Leone, which runs schools for vulnerable children in the west African country.
Public Health England have confirmed there is no risk in Kofi or Mrs Mason-Sesay attending the 168 pupil school, but parent power led to the initiative being cancelled by governors.
Mrs Mason-Sesay, 48, who set up the charity 14 years ago, said she and Kofi were given the green light to travel by Public Health England, but misunderstandings over the virus has seen them treated like ‘lepers’.
Hitting out at the 'ignorant prejudice' amongst some of the parents who complained about her son going to the school, Mrs Mason-Sesay said she was 'disappointed' at the way she and Kofi had been treated.
She told Sky News that Ebola 'is not hiding behind every bush' in Sierra Leone, with around 600 deaths out of a population of six million, affecting people who were in close proximity to sufferers, such as nurses and carers.
She added: 'It's also disappointing that people would think - I like to think of myself as a pretty reasonable mother and reasonable citizen - that they would think I would endanger their children in that way and be going around other schools if I were a genuine risk.
'If we get mistreated for a few weeks it is not fun, but the bigger picture is what is the real problem,
Source: Dailymail, UK
Posted by , Published at 10:38 AM and have
