The Story of Ebola

[Music] this is the story of how my Village survived Ebola bats brought the tiny Ebola gems too small to see so small yet so dangerous without realizing grandfather wrapped a little blood in his eye Ebola gems came into his [Music] body days went by then grandfather got a terrible fever and weakness we thought it was malaria but he was soon much worse he had vomiting and diarrhea his fever got even higher I ran to get the nurse [Music] but grandfather had already died I was heart broken The Nest thought it might be Ebola a disease

called from bush meat but which spreads from person to [Music] person others in our region had already died of this new disease unless we understood the disease and followed their rules it could spread further and kill many more people she explained that Ebola was in the body fluids of someone who was sick or had died of Eola their sweat tears mucus saliva vomit diarrhea urine breast milk sexual fluids and blood when we touch a sick person's body fluids the Ebola gemms can get into small small breaks in our skin or into our eyes nose or

mouth the Ebola Gams spread into our body and make us sick when somebody dies of Ebola that body is much more contagious no one should ever touch the dead body the nurse advised us to wash our hands with soap and water right away she contacted the trained burial team to help us bury grandfather's body safely the burial team came they comforted us and explained what they had to do to protect us the team wore protective clothing that kept them safe from the dangerous [Music] gems they sprayed grandfather's room and his body with chlorine to destroy

the Ebola gems they put his body safely away in a bag to prevent this spread of Ebola no one could touch the body of anyone who had died with signs of the disease they also bent his mattress bedding and clothes anything that might have his Gams all these actions made us safer it was too great a risk to follow all our Traditions but we still honored grandfather in the time of Ebola our chief gathered all the villagers together after grandfather's death he explained that it's natural for us to fear Ebola but if we trust in

our health workers and follow their rules we could stop the disease the nurse explains to us when a person has symptoms such as Fe don't touch them get them to the treatment center right away they will have the best chance of surviving and they won't spread Ebola she advised us to wash our hands with soap and water many times a day the whole village agreed to follow these rules since we all had close contact with grandfather we were at risk of getting ebola we had to stay home a health worker visited us every day to

see whether we had fever or signs of sickness we would show signs within 21 days if we had [Music] Ebola many days passed and I thought we would all stay healthy but one morning I found my mother burning with fever I knew I couldn't touch her she was now contagious my father came in he told me he was taking my mother away to our uncle's house in the nearby Village he was afraid to take her to the treatment center afraid he'd never see her again I knew I had to stop them I was young but

I stood up to both of them I told them if this could be Ebola she must go to the treatment center right away we needed to trust in our health workers to save her save ourselves and save our village I saw in their faces that they understood running away would only lead to more death and suffering my mother tested positive for Ebola they found her a bed at first the health workers looked scary but I knew they wore the suits to protect themselves and inside there were noral people like the Nur they took good care

of my mother they gave her fluids medicine and food and helped her body stay strong to fight Ebola I missed my mother very much but I could still talk to her on the phone sadly some people in my Village did didn't survive but my mother got better day by day soon we were able to see her from a safe distance one day the nurse announced that my mother would live now we were safe to hug and kiss her it was a day to celebrate our village followed their rules we trusted our health workers brought our

siek for care right away called for the safe burial team when one of our people died and we always wash our hands with soap and [Applause] [Music] water our village survived Ebola yours can too [Music] [Music] my out [Music] [Music]