Dec. 1, 2014, 4 a.m.

BOB Handby will be spending Christmas sweating in the heat of west Africa helping combat the spread of Ebola instead of the cool Port Fairy sea breeze with his family.

BOB Handby will be spending Christmas sweating in the heat of west Africa helping combat the spread of Ebola instead of the cool Port Fairy sea breeze with his family.

Bob Handby: ready to help. 130729RG17 Picture: ROB GUNSTONE

The 64-year-old former Moyne Shire health manager left Australia yesterday for Red Cross headquarters in Geneva for intense briefing sessions before flying into Sierra Leone next week where he will help improve and maintain water quality, sanitation and body transport.

Hes no stranger to working in crisis zones having previously been on more than 50 foreign assignments to war and disease zones in several countries, his first being to Uganda 30 years ago.

Ive been away on my birthday several times, but never away at Christmas, he said.

To help my eight grandchildren cope with me being away, Ive promised to take them all for a holiday in March.

Im excited about going back to Africa, although it will be my first time in the west.

Hes undaunted by the hype around Ebola which has killed almost 5000 people this year, but is bracing himself for the challenges of wearing a full-protection body suit while working in the hot, humid climate.

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Port Fairy aid worker heads to west Africa to join Ebola fight