ملف:By chance, FEST engineer ‘comes across’ cousin in Liberia (15766600347).jpg

Milton Ricks, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District civil engineer and Forward Engineer Support Team-Advanced member serving in Liberia, meets his cousin, Stephen, during a site assessment Nov. 7 for construction of an Ebola treatment unit in Gbarpolu County, north of Monrovia. Stephen, a local hire of the U.N. mission responsible for humanitarian affairs, noticed the engineer’s nametag: “Do you know Mr. W.G. Ricks, my uncle?” he asked. Ricks, who was born and raised in the nation’s capital before his family emigrated to the United States, told him the man was his father. “I have amazingly come across a cousin working in Gbarpolu hundreds of mile from where our families live – in a very remote portion of the country,” he said later. “What are the odds?” Ricks is part of the 13-member FEST-A supporting Operation United Assistance and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to stop the spread of Ebola. To read more about the team’s mission in West Africa, click here: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1DqLjGZ" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/1DqLjGZ</a>. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers courtesy photo)