LIGHT OF HOPE: A 7yr old boy, 3 others survived recent ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone

last week to one of the worst
affected areas of Sierra Leone – Kenema. When you
arrive in the town, there’s a feeling that Ebola has
settled in with no plans to move any time soon.
Chlorine buckets sit outside most restaurants for
people to wash their hands; Ebola information
posters are plastered on buildings; crackly radios
are loudly broadcasting conversations about Ebola;
people are talking about ‘dis Ebola bisnis’
relentlessly on the street; and handshaking has
been replaced by a brush of the elbows.
Spending a few days around people who have been
tragically affected by this disease was an
unforgettably sad experience. I was however
heartened by meeting some of the lucky people who
are surviving Ebola.
Sierra Leone is now recording the highest number of
new cases each week of all the West African
countries affected, including Guinea and Liberia.
What makes this outbreak unique though, is the
increasing number of survivors – growing gradually
to a current total of 143 people across Sierra Leone
from the almost 500 people who have contracted it.
The Ebola ward of Kenema Hospital is now packed
to capacity with 45 Ebola patients and numbers
growing each day; however stories of survivors are
starting to emerge regularly. Each day at around
3pm, survivors are released from the Ebola
treatment centre located on the grounds of the
hospital – it is a moment of unlikely joy and relief, in
a place where so much tragedy exists.
Vandy Jawad 7, is a reminder of hope and survival
in an otherwise deeply tragic situation. He was in
the treatment centre at Kenema for more than one
month after contracting the virus in Daru village
about 40 km out of Kenema town, and one of the
worst affected communities in Sierra Leone.
According to nurses, he displayed some very
serious symptoms when first admitted, “That small
boy was very, very sick. We did not think he would
survive as so many haven’t,” said Sister Nancy
Yoko, the nurse in charge of the Ebola Treatment
Centre in Kenema.
Vandy started showing signs of recovery a couple
of weeks ago slowly gathering his strength. When
he finally achieved a negative test result, which
revealed there was no more Ebola virus in his
system, it was time for him to go home.
“Little Vandy provided laughter at the most unlikely
moments inside that ward, I’m so happy for his
recovery, “ commented a British volunteer nurse
who treated him inside the centre.

As the survivors leave the hospital there are often
several local media waiting to photograph them and
hear their story. Fatmata raises her arms in the air,
“I thank Allah and the nurses who have cared for
me, we are alive”.
Ebola survivors can play a valuable role in dispelling
myths and in gaining community support in the fight
against Ebola. Some people in Sierra Leone still
have not accepted that Ebola is real. While many
survivors fear stigma, some are now coming
forward and telling their brave stories. Community
mobilisation is a vital part of the Ebola response and
these testimonies will help communities to accept
that Ebola is a serious illness that the community
must fight it together.

UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Health and
Sanitation and other health partners to provide
support to the Ebola response through supply of
drugs and equipment and by supporting the vital
social mobilization and communication efforts to
ensure that people are correctly informed.
Messages about prevention, how to identify
symptoms and how to seek medical support are
critical.
Ebola has no known cure or preventative vaccine –
with a 50-90% case fatality rate. It spreads through
contact with body fluids of infected people who have
symptoms of the illness or through animal carriers
like fruit bats, primates, antelopes and porcupine.
Cases that report early to treatment centers have a
greater chance of survival.