Here are two practical things any American can do to help victims of the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa:

First, and most importantly, you can PRAY. Here are some ideas (not an exhaustive list to be sure, but perhaps a starting point) to help you know how to pray for the situation. Even if you just pick one or two to pray for in the days to come, your prayers will be heard:

• You may have read about the nation-wide lock-down in the country of Sierra Leone. The goal of the lock-down is to a) slow the spread of the virus, and b) identify hidden cases that need to be dealt with, to keep other family members from getting infected. The lock-down started at midnight on Friday (today), and will last until the end of Sunday. Many are doubtful about the potential effectiveness of this effort, but it is underway nonetheless. You can pray for the comfort and compliance of nationals, for the safety of volunteers who will be going door-to-door, and that this effort would be effective in slowing the spread of the virus in Sierra Leone, not cause it to spread faster.
• The start of the school year was postponed in Nigeria. The start date in Nigerian schools has been pushed back to October 13 "to ensure that adequate preventative measures are put in place before students resume." (Nigerian Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau) Pray that this and other efforts to prevent the spread of the virus would be effective. Pray for students who are now behind on their education, and that the start date would not be delayed further.
• Pray for the economy of affected countries--travel bans are taking their toll.
• Pray for much-needed supplies to make their way to areas that need them. This is becoming increasingly difficult with travel bans.
• Pray for additional medical personnel to aid in affected areas. Many affected areas are suffering because of a huge shortage of trained doctors to help treat patients.
• Pray for the efforts of West African government workers and foreign aid workers to spread helpful information about the recognition and prevention of the spread of Ebola, and for the target audiences to be receptive and responsive to these efforts. These efforts are going on all over West Africa, not just in effected countries.
• Pray for the safety, strength, and stamina for health care workers assisting in the diagnosis and care of the sick.
• Pray for God's comfort for families who have suffered the loss of loved ones.

Secondly, you can easily DONATE towards aid organizations working in the affected areas.
A very helpful link that my brother David found outlines information on a number of fantastic organizations that are giving their aid in areas affected by Ebola. The numbers on that page related to the outbreak are a little out of date, but the information it gives on the aid organizations is pure gold, and I hope you use it to make an informed decision about if and how you would like to give a financial donation towards Ebola aid.

If you had the time to read this blog post, then you certainly have time to do either (but I hope both) of these things. I'm just saying.

P.S. Because the majority of this blog's readers are my personal friends and acquaintances, I should add that there have been zero Ebola cases in Benin or Togo up to this point, but that's no reason to not take this seriously.