In Loving Memory

I hesitated to write about this lady. But she was wonderful--and her story, what little I know of it, deserves to be made known. Her name was Mariama, she had a gorgeous smile and loved others. One day, about a month ago now, Carrie and I were walking back to our housing compound from spending some time in the Lunsar market (buying some vegetables, cloth, and cooked eggs), when we heard our names being called. We looked to the left and saw our friend Mariama, one of our national workers, sitting on the porch. She invited us over and introduced us to her small children who were busy playing with their cousins. The one was about six years old and the other about six months old. We talked to Mariama for a little while then continued on our walk.

The same day I began to get sick, Mariama was also sick. Her story and mine are similiar yet have drastically different outcomes. We both started to feel ill and we reported it. We both sought treatment. Right now, in Sierra Leone, we initially test you for malaria and Ebola. Mariama and I tested negative for both. But Mariama continued to worsen...and we began to suspect something else, something almost as sinister as Ebola and far more common to West Africa. Mariama was tested for Lassa Fever, which is a hemorrhagic (bleeding) fever that is often fatal. The difference between it and Ebola, however, is there is a drug we can use to treat it--as long as it is caught in time and you are in a place where the drug is on hand. We sent Mariama to Kenema, one of the few places in the country that currently has the capability to treat Lassa Fever. She responded to treatment and began to improve. But then Sunday, two days after I was released from Kerrytown, we received the news you never want to hear. Although Mariama had initially shown signs of improvement; she was gone. Her six-year-old and six-month-old had lost their mother. Is their father in the picture? I don't know. It isn't atypical for the father to be completely absent. Carrie and I did not meet him the day we met Mariama's sweet children.

Pray for those tiny babes, friends. Pray for the children who are losing their parents to Ebola and Lassa Fever. There are so many more orphans now in West Africa. Please, do not forget them.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Photo Friday (part 2)

 Beachfront of Freetown

A shantytown in Freetown--devastated recently by a cholera outbreak :-(

 Bureh Beach

View from Bureh Beach

Our ETC around Dusk

Photo Friday has Returned! (part 1)

 A view of our recently completed training center in Lunsar

 The "Mock ETC" at the Training Center

 Overlooking Freetown

 A Creole house

 "Minister" birds. Aka owner of the most obnoxious 

windpipes at 0600. I do not miss this bird at all!

There are billboards all over that speak 

about Ebola, many say "Ebola is real."

Sierra Leoneans can carry practically anything on their heads! They have incredible posture!

 Celebrating Valentine's Day in Sierra Leone (Med tent)

 Narrow bridge...that apparently is "beyond" its lifespan. I was happier when I was blissfully unaware that my life may be on the line each time we transversed this bridge...

Ebola Graffiti in Freetown

Hard to read because Dr. Jean and I saw this sign out of the corner of our vision and just barely snapped the photo in time! Reads: "Respect Ebola Survivors & Health Workers/They are our Heroes"

Returned to Work :-D

Sunday, the day I was supposed to be leaving Sierra Leone, I was given permission to leave housing. Did I leave? No! But just the knowledge that I now had the permission, the ability, the freedom to leave, was quite comforting. Makes me think of the elderly in the US that have their driver's licenses taken from them...and for those around the world who do not have the freedoms that I take for granted each and every day.

Monday I was allowed to work! I chose to work nightshift, as a nightshift would have been the last shift I was originally supposed to work before leaving Sierra Leone. I cannot describe how wonderful it felt to walk back toward the ETC, how nice it was to lift one foot then the other to have the sole of the shoe sprayed with the chlorine and to put the "gumboots" back on. I had thought that I wouldn't be allowed back at work before leaving Sierra Leone, and that had made me quite sad. It was wonderful to see the national staff: "Where have you been? Are you better? We thought you left without saying goodbye." It was wonderful to be doing what I came to Sierra Leone to do--fight Ebola alongside my teammates.

There was only one patient in the ward that was the same since I had last worked. All the rest had gone--some discharged, and unfortunately, some had died.

We had 14 patients again. The last day I worked there had only been 6. Seems the roller coaster is going to continue for awhile.

Our current 'outbreak' of patients that are testing Ebola-positive and subsequently dying are from one family. We believe the current influx of positive patients stem from one individual--a cured patient who had sexual relations and gave the other person involved Ebola,  which then spread to the individual's family which includes a 4-yr-old and a 16-yr-old. Ebola virus lingers in some body fluids, semen in particular, for up to three months. We have heard that there is at least one individual in Sierra Leone who tells women that "he has the antibodies for Ebola and if the woman agrees to sleep with him, she will be safe." No. She won't be safe. She will most likely contract Ebola and more than likely die.

Survivors are given several things upon being discharged from an ETC. One of the things they are given is a large bag of rice. Before passing judgment on either the survivor or the person who as yet does not have Ebola--place yourself in his or her shoes. You have 2-5 small children. You can't find work, you haven't been able to work in months. Your youngest child looks to be on the threshold of death if you do not find food. What do you do?

It makes sense that a person who is starving, literally starving to death, would be willing to exchange his or her body for food. There isn't an easy fix for poverty.

But while there isn't an easy fix...we cannot ignore the problem either, that benefits no one.