A radio presenter from Sierra Leone who had been broadcasting a myth-busting show about Ebola in his home country was refused accommodation when he arrived to study at the University of East Anglia this month because landlords feared he may have brought the killer virus with him.
Amara Bangura, 35, from the capital Freetown, has told the BBC he was refused lodgings by two separate landlords who had been happy to rent him accommodation in Norwich until they saw his passport and found out he was from one of the worst-hit Ebola hotspots.
The broadcaster, who had used his weekly radio show in Sierra Leone to dispel myths about the disease, said he was devastated to be turned down.
“It’s very unreasonable,” he told the BBC. “And if you think everybody coming from Sierra Leone is affected, then that’s just completely unfair.”
One of the landlords reportedly told him in a refusal letter: “Under normal circumstance[s] your profile would be a great profile to be one of our lodgers.
“However, given that the world is about to probably experience an Ebola epidemic, we have decided not to accept anyone that has been anywhere near the outbreak within the last two months, or is likely to visit those areas in the near future.”
Bangura has now found a place to stay and has given a presentation on the Ebola outbreak in Africa to students at the university.
A senior officer at the UEA students’ union said the landlords’ behaviour was “absolutely disgusting”.
Holly Staynor, welfare, community and diversity officer at the union, said: “There is no way we should be discriminating against any students.”
Bangura’s show is networked to 35 stations across the west African country through BBC Media Action, and aims to educate, inform and warn listeners about the disease.
He told the Guardian last week: “You have to deal with the issues of myth, you have to deal with the issues of religion, you have to answer questions about prevention and how to stay safe”.
