Story number 1 for 4 Apr 2003

(China) — Disease in China headlines our news today, as the death toll from the SARS virus continues to climb. A team of UN infectious disease experts is investigating the original outbreak that’s killed more than 80 people worldwide. Educational Services International‘s Brian Leong says this could cause problems for their ministry, but it’s too early to tell. “It’ll be early next week before we find out more information about how the outbreak is working in China and how far it’s spread and how many people are affected. And, if it isn’t controlled by the time we send teachers in August then we’ll probably have to delay.” ESI trains and sends teachers to China with the hope of being a testimony as they teach. Leong says summer recruiting continues and he’s a bit concerned. “It may hurt recruiting. I think people don’t know Asia very well, generally, so when they hear there’s something like this going on in Asia or Southeast Asia they can start to get nervous.” Pray that many will be willing to go.