From Ebola patient to Ebola survivor: Binta’s story

Ebola arrived in Komende Luyama, a community 20 kilometres outside of Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone, at the end of September 2014 when the relative of a local family was brought to the community for treatment after beginning to suffer from stomach pains. It is thought that transmission to other community members occurred primarily when people came to visit her while she was ill, and when her family washed her body after she died. A total of 42 people from the village became infected with Ebola; 13 survived. The entire community was placed under quarantine for three months and was only released 21 days after the last known case of Ebola. During the quarantine, no one could leave their home and no one could enter or leave the community.

This is the story of Ebola survivors Binta Bah, 35, and her daughter Doris Vandi, 4, as told to Anna MacSwan from the British Red Cross.

Binta, Ebola patient to Ebola survivorWhen Ebola first came to this village, I felt bad. Because of Ebola, there was a lot of suffering, many people died, and we had setbacks in our farming activities. It was scary, especially because we were isolated and I couldn’t visit anyone.

I came in contact with another Ebola patient who I went to visit before the quarantine period had begun. It is custom to visit people when they fall sick here. I helped the patient get dressed when I visited and the day after I got a fever and became nauseous. Soon afterwards I was taken to a government hospital before being referred to the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema. I spent three weeks there but can’t recall what happened because of the severity of my fever.

Two days after I came back, two of my daughters began to show signs of Ebola. My baby passed away soon afterwards and Doris spent 12 days at the treatment centre. I also returned to find that my husband had passed away, although I don’t know if this was because of Ebola.

My own health is better now but I still suffer from joint pain. I have six dependents and there are problems with my living conditions because my possessions were all burned. The greatest needs in this community now are food, clothing, medication and agricultural tools.

Read other inspiring Ebola survivor stories. You can also find out more about Red Cross efforts to combat Ebola including moving testimonials from Canadian Ebola fighters.

The Red Cross recently launched a global campaign called Words Against Ebola to spread positive messages and build support to get to zero cases.
 

 

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