Ebola survivors comfort sick children in Congo's isolation wards
BUTEMBO, Congo, Nov 3 -
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survivors → comfort → wards
Whenever Jerkis Mahamba hears a child cry out in the Ebola ward in Butembo, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, he puts on protective gear and rushes to their side.
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he → hear → side
He has a very good idea of what they are going through.
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they → have → what
Mahamba caught the highly infectious disease himself in September and recovered after 18 days of treatment at the same centre.
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Mahamba → catch → centre
His ordeal gave him immunity from the strain of the virus coursing through Congo, meaning he can work with young patients when their own parents aren't allowed to touch them.
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parents → give → them
Sometimes the children need a hug.
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children → need → hug
Sometimes they want to be rocked back to sleep.
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they → want → sleep
Sometimes they want to talk.
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they → want → ?
'I WENT THROUGH THIS TOO'
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I → go → THIS
“I introduce myself and tell them, I went through this too.
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I → introduce → this
I ask them not to lose hope," the 29-year-old told Reuters at the hospital in the city's Kitatumba neighbourhood.
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old → ask → neighbourhood
He remembers what it was like, vomiting, refusing to eat, struggling to take medication.
He still has to wear protective gear and disinfect his clothes so he does not carry the virus out of the ward.
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he → remember → ward
But he can get in close, armed with his immunity and his empathy.
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he → get → immunity
"I pick them up, and then gradually try to settle them back into bed," Mahamba said.
"Once they are lying down, I find games or activities to keep them occupied and help them get used to staying in bed.
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them → pick → bed
When they eventually fall asleep, I can then leave the room.
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I → fall → room
Often, relatives are looking on through a glass window behind him.
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relatives → look → him
"Our love for our children is very strong," one child's uncle, Kambale Syavula Volonté, said, frustrated that he couldn't get any closer.
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he → say → children
Before he caught the virus from a relative, Mahamba scraped a living selling school supplies on the streets of Butembo, one of the epicentres of the epidemic — the second-largest on record — close to the border with Uganda.
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Mahamba → catch → Uganda
After his recovery, the charity Médecins Sans Frontières hired him to work in the hospital and join a growing band of survivors on the frontline of the outbreak.
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charity → hire → outbreak
Many work in the wards as patients' friends, playmates and supporters.
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Many → work → friends
Others take on important jobs cleaning and disinfecting rooms and equipment.
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Others → take → rooms
Some also work outside, visiting villages and far-flung communities, trying to dispel the misinformation and stigmas building up around the outbreak, said Dr Toussaint Selemani, head of the MSF-run centre.
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Selemani → work → centre
Unfounded rumours that the epidemic is part of a foreign plot, or that health workers are spreading the disease, have led to real violence.
Late last month, youths armed with machetes attacked two community health workers who were raising awareness about the outbreak, killing one and wounding the other.
"At the community level, a survivor can become a powerful ambassador in the fight against the disease," Selemani said.
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Selemani → spread → disease
"Their testimony helps combat fear and stigma and can encourage people with symptoms to seek care promptly at a treatment centre.
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testimony → help → centre
Mahamba also works outside the centre.
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Mahamba → work → centre
He remembers how scared and distrustful he felt as the disease spread and friends fell ill around him.
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friends → remember → him
He now shows people photos of himself when he was ill and encourages them to protect themselves.
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he → show → themselves
But the bulk of his time is spent in the hospital, working with families and listening out for the children's cries in the isolation wards.
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bulk → spend → wards
"Patients in isolation may be stressed and afraid of dying," Selemani said.
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Selemani → die → isolation
"When they meet someone who has gone through the same ordeal and survived, it can restore hope."
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it → meet → hope
The Aporia
