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Ashoko Mukpo Talks Ebola; Mukpo Stands Up for Nurse Kaci Hickox; Lava Creeping Closer to Homes in Hawaii; Females Fighting ISIS in Syria; Will Ferguson Police Chief Step Down?

Aired October 29, 2014 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You're about to hear what it is like to battle Ebola straight from a man who beat the deadly virus. You remember Ashoko Mukpo who worked with Dr. Nancy Snyderman in Liberia. He found out he had Ebola and was evacuated to the United States for treatment in Nebraska and was cured at one of the nation's very unique hospitals, one of the very few certified to treat these Ebola patients.

CNN's Don Lemon just talking to Mr. Mukpo at his home in Rhode Island.

Don Lemon, this was the first time that we've heard, in compelling detail, about what he went through.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We've spoken to a number of people who have survived Ebola but I don't know if they went into this kind of detail. I asked him, can you explain to us what it's like? Is it flu-like? He said, I tried to put it into words to tell people what it's like but it's tough. But he did say, you know, seven, eight days in, he wasn't sure if he was going to make it until he started feeling better pretty soon after. But for a while there, it was rough going.

Here's what he said about what it is like. And it's very, very lonely, so to speak, and it's painful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHOKO MUKPO, NBC FREELANCE CAMERAMAN & EBOLA PATIENT: It's like nothing that I have ever experienced. It was a bit like a flu in the sense that there's body aches and chills and fever but they were so pronounced and so much more intense than anything you're likely to get with the flu, unless it's a terrible flu that lands you in the ICU. that it would be hard for me to say, this is what Ebola is like. It's definitely different.

LEMON: Pain?

MUKPO: Yeah, there was pain, certainly, muscle pain, muscle aches, fever. And my fever at one point was at 104. But the thing most pronounced for me out of everything was the physical weakness and I used to see people who would be laying in front of treatment centers trying to get admitted and they are just laying out on the ground in the gravel in the sun and I used to look at them and say, my god, you can't sit up at least? And then once I was sick, I completely understood. You just have absolutely no energy. To walk three feet, it felt like you just ran a marathon.

LEMON: You were in isolation. Can you even see the faces of the people that are treating you?

MUKPO: You can see their eyes.

LEMON: You can see their eyes?

MUKPO: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm sure eventually he'll want to meet them and to thank them for the incredible work that medical work they were able to help with.

But what about -- is he out in public, Don? There's been so much talk about the nurses and doctors, Kaci Hickox and should they quarantine for 21 days? What did he say about that?

LEMON: There's a story about him going out in public. Yes and no. I'll save that for after this because I want you to hear, Brooke, what he said about the other people who have gone over to West Africa and who have come back. One of them has Ebola, Dr. Craig Spencer in New York. And this other is a nurse now who lives in Maine who flew into Newark and was put into quarantine. He feels that they are being demonized. He stood up for both of them, even the nurse who is defying the mandatory quarantine. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Kaci Hickox who is a nurse, says -- she's back in Maine now and says, you know what, I don't feel like I should be in quarantine, I'm not asymptomatic, and it's in violation of my rights and she's going to do what is good for her.

MUKPO: Good for her. She's earned the right to have the sense of her own safety and risk factor to others. My feeling is -- and again, I'm not an expert. It's just my own view, Governor Christie is playing politics right now. It seems to be an effort to work with public opinion and I think it's counterproductive. These are people that have gone to endanger their lives and people are dying in large numbers. So to make it more difficult and to treat them as if they are a potential problem as opposed to a public asset, I just think it's a shame, and I don't think it's the right way to act, personally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So here's the thing about Ashoko Mukpo. Even though he stood up for the nurse in Maine, Kaci Hickox, he's such a nice guy, he's very well aware of how people are feeling. Even thought he thinks people should worry about it. I you don't test positive for Ebola, that you shouldn't worry about it. You asked me if he's out and about. He'll go to some places but there was a pumpkin festival the other day -- it may have been yesterday -- he wanted to go with his family and friends and he saw there were so many people, 9,000 people, he said, I've been in the paper, the covers of the papers, I've been on television, in the news, maybe this is something I shouldn't do and he didn't go because he was concerned about what other people would think about him and he was taking other people's feelings into consideration. Good guy.

BALDWIN: Sounds like it. We look forward to watching the entire interview tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern on CNN.

Thank you, sir. Live in Providence, Rhode Island, today.

Coming up, incredible pictures out of Hawaii. Frightening for people who live very close to this picture of molten lava. This is a small, Hawaiian community. The most dangerous part is what you can't see, the lava underground. I'll speak with a woman who has lived there for three decades. Can she see this? Is she leaving? We'll ask her.

You're watching CNN.

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BALDWIN: Right now you have lava that is creeping ever closer to several Hawaiian homes. Let me show you some photos that we have here at CNN. Lava is spewing across this property border fence on Hawaii's big island. The lava is 2,000 degrees. And it could swallow a dozen Hawaiian homes in the next day or two. That's the estimate. It advanced 90 yards overnight. Authorities went door-to-door warning people of the ooze. No mandatory evacuations are in place but according to a Hawaii defense official, later today, this glowing lava may be visible to those inside some of those homes.

Joining me now is Imelda Raras, whose home sits directly the lava's path.

Imelda, I understand it's raining and you can't quite see the lava from where you are but this home is so important to you, you have been there for 30 years?

IMELDA RARAS, HAWAII RESIDENT (voice-over): 33 years.

BALDWIN: This is the first home you bought since leaving the Philippines. Tell me --

RARAS: Yes. Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: -- are you frightened? Are you angry?

RARAS: Oh, I'm frightened. Not angry. I can understand. I accept the fact already that it's coming. But even though the lava is not headed towards my home right now, it's still scary because I know that the lava is closing in around the homes behind my home right now. Hopefully it doesn't change direction. So -- BALDWIN: That's the thing with this lava, I think, with a lot of

other disasters, it happens so quickly but it's creeping closely. Have you accepted the fact -- it sounds like you have -- that you will lose this home that you have been in for 33 years.

RARAS: Yes. Because we are told before to get ready. So just now the neighborhood that I live, we are just waiting for the mandatory evacuation notice. For us to leave the house, our homes.

BALDWIN: Tell me, how have you began packing your car and how do you choose what to keep?

RARAS: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. We put all our valuable belongings in storage last September and all the things that I need to bring when I need to flee, they are all packed in my car already. It's all ready to go.

BALDWIN: What is the most important thing for you?

RARAS: Important papers, of course, and valuable memories, like the photo albums, they are already in storage already. But the most important, of course, are the paper -- important papers that we need.

BALDWIN: Final question. I'm sure you're talking with your neighbors. How is everyone in your community -- how are they feeling and how are you coming together?

RARAS: Yes. We are -- oh, we are all sad. We are emotionally affected because we know that if we lose our homes, it will be hard for us, especially for those still paying mortgage. It's good for me, I paid off my house. But still, it's my home. And it will be hard for me to find another -- to buy another home. The same thing with my neighbors. Some are still paying mortgage. So they will be paying two mortgages and that will be a bargain to our life.

BALDWIN: Oh, I am so sorry for you, a home you've lived in for 33 years, raised your kids in this home. I just hope you have your safety and your health, you and your loved ones and your community members.

Imelda Raras, we're thinking about you in Hawaii. Thank you so much for picking up the phone and sharing a few minutes with me. I really appreciate it.

RARAS: OK. Thank you, too.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Ahead here on CNN, we've talked a lot about women on the front lines overseas. You will meet a number of them here fighting ISIS, this female faction of this Kurdish group considered by some to be the deadliest enemy of ISIS in Syria. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Reinforcements are on the way to fight ISIS in the ravaged city of Kobani on the border with Turkey. Then bussed down to the border. They were there to meet with trucks full of heavy weapons also sent from Iran, and then across the Syrian border across Kobani, a scene that we've been covering for the past five weeks or so. That convoy of weapons sparked these street celebrations as it rumbled across NATO member, Turkey. And when the Kurds from Iraq arrived at the scene of battle, ISIS will be there. They will be fighting against three major militias. You have the Syrian Kurds, the YPG, and then the Kurdish People's Party, the PKK and then the Free Syrian Army, FSA.

We've been talking a lot about female fighters on this show. Did you know up to one in three fighters from the YPG are women? And some of those women are commanders.

Here is CNN's senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't be fooled by the pretty song. These women are part of a militia that is ISIS' most deadly enemy. This is YPG. They have fought ISIS on the ground in Syria for more than a year. Only recently they started getting help from the U.S. in the form of weapons drops. A surprising turn of events for this secular Marxist-rooted movement which includes many fighters who have long battled America's NATO ally, Turkey.

(on camera): An important of this Kurdish movement's ideology is founded on gender equality. That means female fighters fight and bleed on the front lines, and that stands in sharp contrast to ISIS, which has been covering women up and hiding them from public life.

(voice-over): Addressing the crowd, a top Kurdish official who urges the fighters to protect their people from becoming slaves of ISIS. She is the co-president of one of three Kurdish statements in northern Syria that have largely governed themselves for the last three years.

HADIYA YUSUF, CO-PRESIDENT, JAZIR CANTON (through translation): Our dream is to build a Democratic society living together in unity.

WATSON: The Kurds call their region Rojiva.

(CHANTING)

WATSON: Some of them clearly proud of their experiment in self rule. Life in the town looks relatively peaceful and secular, unlike other parts of Syria taken over by Islamic militias. But the streets feel empty. Many of the town's Christian residents have fled and more keep leaving.

(on camera): This is a sad day for your family. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, because they left our country.

WATSON (voice-over): Peter says his tearful mother and sister waved good-bye inside of a 1954 Desoto. Their final destination is Germany.

The town's shrinking Christian flock can still walk peacefully through the streets to Sunday School, enjoying the protection of the Kurds. But the Kurds are paying dearly.

At this memorial ceremony, mothers and wives of dead fighters, and this widow. She says ISIS killed her husband last year and mutilated his body.

"If I didn't have these children, I myself would go and fight," she swears.

Her young son already wears the uniform of a future Kurdish fighter.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Rojiva, in northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ivan, thank you so much for that.

Coming up, is the Ferguson police chief stepping down? The city's mayor is firing back at reports that the chief will resign. What is the truth? That's next.

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BALDWIN: The Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department and the city's mayor are firing back at reports that claim police chief, Tom Jackson, is, in fact, stepping down. According to government officials familiar with these ongoing discussions, a plan is in place for Chief Jackson to resign. Why, you ask? We all know what happened back in August in Ferguson. The community is still on edge as they wait to see if Officer Darren Wilson might be charged in the shooting death of unarmed Michael Brown. So what is the story? Is Jackson leaving or staying?

Our Sara Sidner went to the mayor, James Knolls, and she asked him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is there a plan in place to have Chief Jackson resign?

JAMES KNOLLS, MAYOR OF FERGUSON, MISSOURI: No.

(CROSSTALK)

KNOLLS: People have been saying that for months for him to step down but we've stood by him this entire time, so -- there's no change on that.

SIDNER: And there's nothing -- (CROSSTALK)

KNOLLS: And there's no change on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: No change. He says no change.

Joining me from Washington, our justice correspondent, Evan Perez.

Evan, how did we even get here? How did this report about a plan to resign even surface?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, the subject of Tom Jackson's future at the department there has been the focus of a lot of meetings between the state, the federal officials, local officials. Obviously, from that video that you just saw, some people are not on board perhaps yet with this plan. But I'm told that what is emerging is this idea that to reform the police department, Tom Jackson, the police chief, has to go, and the St. Louis County Police Department will have to take it over to help bring in some of the reforms that the Justice Department is pushing for the police department in Ferguson.

Obviously, we know that they have a terrible relationship with the local community there. They have already taken over a lot of the police work. This is just another step.

BALDWIN: What about a minute ago we talked about that officer. The public is waiting for a decision from the grand jury as to whether there will be charges against the police officer, Darren Wilson. Do we have a time line on that?

PEREZ: We don't. The best guess we've gotten from officials is probably after the election, mid-November, is what we're expecting. A lot of leaks have occurred recently about what is going on with the grand jury and a lot of speculation and a lot of people expecting that this is going to be a tough case for the government to bring. Therefore, this is a way for people to be -- for the public to be brought down a little easily before they get this appointed.

BALDWIN: You mentioned those leaks. I've spoke with a lot of lawyers who says that the leaks should never have happened.

Evan Perez, so many people waiting for that decision. Thank you so much, in Washington.

PEREZ: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And now this.