Do I really care about Ebola? Do you? Does Oxfam?

It’s strange how quickly we all forgot about Ebola. Speak for yourself, you might say — and I will. Until a friend sent me a report this week on the progress of the epidemic, Ebola had, I’m sorry to say, almost faded from my mind. The report contains good news: where the outbreak was worst, in Liberia, there are now just five cases left. Ebola treatment centres are shutting down, unneeded — and I was delighted but also ashamed. I have been to Liberia and written about it and I had thought last year that I cared tremendously about its fate, more than others, perhaps. My heart bled even as my mind ran rat-like to my kitchen to make an inventory of canned goods.

I thought I cared — but did I? The uncomfortable truth, looking back, is that my concern swelled and faded with the media coverage. Out of print meant out of mind, though I know that no news does not necessarily mean good news.