Ebola ghost town
PAULINE ON RETURNING TO LUNSAR
we hear regularly from survivors, many of whom did not know how to cope with the disease’s hideous effects.
The teenager must now care for three siblings aged eight, 10 and 16, as well as her own two-year-old child.
Another repercussion of Ebola was that vulnerable young girls whose parents had been killed by the virus were preyed upon by men who knew their desperation for money.
Many youngsters had sex in return for much-needed cash. Street Child calculate that 18,000 fell pregnant during the crisis.
As Mabinty chats to Pauline outside her home, she admits: “I don’t like being a mother, I want to follow my education.”
Eyes cloudy, she adds: “Before Ebola, things were better for me. I miss my life before.”
Pauline’s eyes cloud to mirror hers. The nurse says later: “She was so honest. That was hard to hear. At 15, she became the family breadwinner, caring for her siblings. In the UK, that would not happen. People here just have to get on with it.”
Thankfully, Street Child intervened to help Mabinty, getting an aunt involved in the care of her child and siblings so she could return to school.
The teenager wants to be a nurse.
An hour away in the city of Makeni, another young girl struggles with loss.
Mariama, 12, and her seven siblings have been orphaned by Ebola. All eight are now cared for by their grandmother Isetu, 65, who struggles to cope. Mariama is clearly traumatised. She has agreed to meet Pauline but has never before spoken about losing her father and mother to the disease. Again, her father contracted the virus at a funeral – his brother’s. The quiet youngster says: “When he returned, he became ill. They came and picked him up and we never saw him again. “All we heard was that he was dead. One week later, my mother became sick and died.” The children had to quit school because there was no money. Thanks again to Street Child, their grandmother has now been helped to set up a small market business with a £50 grant and the children are back in school. But Mariama is still withdrawn. “I miss my parents so much,” she says.
Pauline suspects the girl’s mental health is suffering as she wrestles with trauma.
“Mental health is still taboo here,” she says. “Yet every Ebola orphan will need mental health care. Many do not even know where their parent is buried.”
For Pauline, this return to Sierra Leone has been a positive trip – despite the hardships she has seen.
But she says: “I feel frustrated the western world has moved on and aid agencies have pulled out.
“It’s like Ebola is almost forgotten – but these people are still living through this and need our help.” ● Visit street-child.co.uk. To sponsor Pauline’s 10k effort in the charity’s run to aid Ebola orphans, go to sierraleonemarathon2017.everydayhero.com/uk/pauline.