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Outlook: Ebola Nun Helps Save Spanish Nurse

Paciencia Melgar

03/11/2014

Ebola Nun Helps Save Spanish Nurse

BBC World Service - Outlook, Ebola Nun Helps Save Spanish Nurse

The nun from Equatorial Guinea who donated blood to the Spanish nurse with Ebola.

Matthew Bannister speaks to Paciencia Melgar, a nun who caught Ebola and survived; she has now given blood to help save an infected Spanish nurse.

Missionary nun and nurse Paciencia Melgar caught Ebola whilst caring for victims of the disease at a Liberian hospital. She survived, so is now immune to the disease, and is trying to help other Ebola sufferers. Last month, Paciencia donated her blood to the Spanish nurse who was the first person outside West Africa to be infected with Ebola. That nurse has now been given the all clear, and Paciencia says being able to help her recover has made it all worth it. 

The novelist Linda Davies and her husband Rupert were unknowingly caught up in a bitter territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. For years, the two countries have been arguing over the ownership of a group of tiny islands in the Persian Gulf, including one called Abu Musa. So when Linda and Rupert's sailing holiday led them to drop anchor off Abu Musa, the Iranian authorities took a dim view of the matter. 

Next Sunday, thousands of athletes will take part in the 11th International Beirut Marathon. The race is seen as a symbol of peace and unity in war-torn Lebanon. Its founder is May Faysal El-Khalil. She used to be a very committed runner herself, but then in 2001, she was hit by a van while training and seriously injured. Lying in hospital coming to terms with the fact that her own running days were over, she came up with the idea of organising a marathon - so that other people could run. 

When the singer songwriter Yusuf Islam - also known as Cat Stevens - was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, it was a significant moment. After his conversion to Islam at the height of his fame in the 1970s, he gave up his music career. For years there seemed to be a real ambivalence about how he viewed his earlier pop star identity, and how he was viewed by audiences in Britain and America. He talks to the BBC's Samira Ahmed about returning to music in the last ten years, and taking his new album on the road.

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