Responding to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

As we were leaving her village, we assured Mariama that her name would not appear in any publication, but in a determined voice she replied, “I want my name to be written down. I want people to know my story is real.”

Mariama is a 40-year-old Ebola survivor and mother of four who lost her husband to Ebola after the disease first reached N'Zérékoré, Guinea in March 2014. Her husband was a community health worker who was exposed to Ebola while administering vaccines to a sick family. “In only three days he was gone. He left our place on a Friday and he passed away that very Sunday,” Mariama remembered. “I could not accompany him. The people who took him away told me that there was not enough room for me in their ambulance.”

Shortly after Mariama’s husband contracted Ebola, she too fell ill with the virus. Despite the superstitions surrounding the treatment and neighbors telling her, “go there, and you will never come back,” Mariama chose to fight by seeking medical support and was admitted into the hospital in Kindia – the same day her husband passed.

Over the next three weeks, Mariama recovered but bore witness to many who did not. “I thought about a lot of things. People were dying around me – mothers and children, brothers and sisters, the young and the elderly. Every day people were dying around me. The disease was ruthlessly killing everyone. I was grateful to have survived.”  

The Ebola outbreak aroused a great deal of fear throughout West Africa for close to two years, and while since June 2016 Guinea has been declared Ebola-free, its reverberations continue to complicate the road to recovery. Survivors face medical issues like eye problems, chronic pain and extreme fatigue, in addition to the psychological burden of being unable to continue their livelihoods and care for their families. Many just feel alone — often ostracized by their communities when they need them most. Mariama recalls, “In the beginning I was frail. I was unable to carry out any of the activities that had been part of my daily life prior to Ebola, such as walking outside, cooking, taking care of my children, or even sitting in the sun. This made me feel small…like my life had shrunk to a small universe.”

Mariama is one of the more than 17,000 Ebola survivors with a story to tell. With your support and the support of the entire GlobalGiving community, International Medical Corps is reaching many of these survivors in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Our teams established the Lumley Survivor Clinic in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which provided 625 consultations in five months and supported bodily fluid testing for 249 survivors within the past year. Our efforts also reached nearly 10,000 people in communities across Sierra Leone and Guinea with Ebola prevention messaging and psychosocial support.

In Guinea specifically, International Medical Corps initiated “platforms” that provided survivors, including Mariama, with an opportunity for open dialogue where people voice their concerns, discuss and disabuse rumors, and recognize the importance of reintegrating survivors into the daily life of the community. Djoumande, a member of International Medical Corps’ Mental Health and Psychosocial Support team notes, “We come often and ask them how they are. They know their suffering is ours. We’re with them every day, accompanying them in their journey to recovery.”

Today, Mariama is back in the markets and providing for her family. “International Medical Corps changed my life…I am extremely grateful for this initiative. Without International Medical Corps, I would have continued to suffer. No one else could have helped me. International Medical Corps helped us survive.”

We thank you and the GlobalGiving community for your continued support of our comprehensive health care response in the fight against Ebola as we address the needs of Ebola survivors across Guinea and Sierra Leone.