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After Ebola: W5
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Subject(s): Black History, Current Events, Global Issues, Health and Medicine, History, Medicine, Politics, Social Issues
Grade Level: 9 - 12, Post Secondary
Grade Level: 9 - 12, Post Secondary
Before the U.S. Civil War brutally settled the issue of slavery, more than 1,500 freed and free-born Black Americans created a settlement in West Africa, where they had liberty. They called it Liberia, and even adapted the U.S. flag to represent it. Today, Liberia has just come through a catastrophe.
The Ebola virus ravaged families and left a broken economy of survivors. CTV'ss Kayla Hounsell travelled to Liberia, a country which now stands as an example to the world of what's possible, when politics is swept aside and people unite to help.
Includes W5 Extended Interview:
Abdul Sirleaf lost 7 family members to Ebola is just 2 days. He discusses the devastating impact the virus has had on his family.
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Running Time: 20:00 Country of Origin: Canada Captions:  |
Producer: CTV Copyright Date: 2016 Language: English |
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After Ebola: W5 20:00
Before the U.S. Civil War brutally settled the issue of slavery...
TRANSCRIPT
Close- Before the US Civil War brutally settled the debate here over slavery, 15,000 free black Americans founded a colony in West Africa where they could enjoy liberty. They called it Liberia, and even adopted the American flag to represent it. Well, today Liberia has been through a catastrophe. The Ebola virus has devastated families and left an economy of survivors. But as Kayla Hounsell discovered, Liberia also now stands as an example to the world of what's possible when politics is swept aside and people unite.
- [MUSIC PLAYING]
- Good morning to all. Good morning to all. Let them welcome all of you to this brief ceremony.
- [APPLAUSE]
- We hereby wish to present two survivors from our unit.
- The last survivors-- the last treated for the deadly Ebola virus after an outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people.
- Today is another historic day for every one of us.
- Two-year-old Moses and five-year-old Morris got Ebola from their mother, who like so many others, could not survive its fatal grip.
- We know that things have been challenging. And we are sorry for your loss. But we'll continue to provide the support to you guys.
- These children now a symbol of hope.
- And so, Father, we want to be grateful to you. Thank you for this opportunity given to us.
- Because after being taken to this Ebola treatment unit and given an experimental drug developed at Canada's National Microbiology Lab, they're alive.
- As you can see, they're all healed, and hearty, and doing very well.
- And now part of a nation of survivors.
- We accept them. You're welcome to [INAUDIBLE] of our community. And we take good care of them. Thank you.
- [APPLAUSE]
- People around the world watched as Ebola erupted in March 2014, shattering the lives of West Africans.
- Ebola is tonight being described as an unprecedented epidemic.
- The outbreak is the largest the world has ever seen.
- This health crisis we face is unparalleled in modern times.
- We are talking about nothing less than the potential meltdown of this continent.
- It's spiraling out of control. It is getting worse. It's spreading faster and exponentially.
- A lethal epidemic taking greatest aim at the continent's oldest republic, Liberia.
- [MUSIC PLAYING]
- [CAR HORNS HONKING]
- The country is home to 4.6 million people. More than a million of them live in the capital city of Monrovia. Ebola began silently spreading in Guinea, and rapidly jumped borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
- It actually started around July. We all got sick in the same week.
- The disastrous disease reeked havoc in Abdul Sirleaf's family. His grandmother was the first to die.
- So the hospital didn't confirm that she Ebola until we did the burial. So after the burial, people started going to their own places.
- [ROOSTER CROWING]
- We started our normal life. Then people started getting sick.
- And what happened then?
- Then my dad got sick. Then I got sick.
- [ROOSTER CROWING]
- Then we all started getting sick.
- How many family members did you lose to Ebola in total?
- Seven.
- Seven?
- Yeah.
- How many days?
- Two days.
- Seven family members in just two days.
- Yeah.
- What do you remember about that time? You came back from burying your grandmother, and everybody was getting sick so rapidly. What was going through your mind?
- So it wasn't like, we're getting sick with bruise, or getting sick with sore, no. We just fever. So you can't even touch someone. And you don't feel anything. You don't feel that this man is sick. Because the fever was just within.
- How do you cope with that?
- It's kind of difficult, but once we survive, I believe that we can come through these difficulties.
- With seven dead, the family couldn't continue to operate this store. They also have a rubber farm, but it's struggling too. Ebola forced the enclosure of an estimated 80% of the country's businesses. Abdul is trying his best, but he has no money to pay his employees. Some work here just for a bowl of rice out of loyalty to his family.
- You've got one hand, which is the dad. He died. You got an uncle who was to take over from your dad. He died. You got a senior brother who's take over from your uncle. He died. You got a sister, who take over from your senior brother, die. So it's just like broken.
- [MUSIC PLAYING]
- There is no question this is still very much a broken country, its people haunted by images they'll never forget, struggling to find their way, two and a half years after Ebola's terrifying peek. Entire families have been wiped out, an already weak health care system destroyed, the economy decimated.
- [KIDS PLAYING]
- But the fear and panic have subsided. One no longer needs to dress in protective gear. It is still a requirement to get your temperature checked, and wash your hands at the entrance to every public building and county line. But in the community of West Point, there is no running water.
- Located on a peninsula which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, West Point is home to more than 75,000 people. The way of life here in stark contrast to West Africa's otherwise striking coastline. How is this community regarded by the people of Monrovia?
- [KIDS YELLING]
- This community is actually regarded as the largest slum community. And it is also a community where there's so much crime that goes on--
- Edwina Vacun-Lincoln is the Executive Director of Business Link, an organization running a post-Ebola economic recovery program for women and children. I read that it's one of the worst slums in the world.
- In the world, yes. I can say yes. The slum is such that somebody is just there. Somebody is taking bath. Somebody is eating. Somebody is defecating.
- Not a place anyone would want to see a child grow up. But children are growing up here.
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- [SINGING]
- Little children with spirits so big it's difficult to recognize they are Ebola orphans. All of them have lost one or both parents to the virus. Edwina Vacun-Lincoln offers them some fun.
- You can read?
- I can read.
- You can write?
- And in many cases, a future.
- Clap for yourself!
- [CLAPPING]
- Schools are now open after being closed for a year. Fees for one child the equivalent of roughly $200 to $330 Canadian dollars. Vacun-Lincoln has paid them for 500 girls orphaned by Ebola so far. Because in most cases, there is no one else to pay them.
- [KIDS CHATTERING]
- It's a difficult thing when you go into a community like West Point. Same people not even having a one-time meal. There are some kids who would be taking a lollipop for the first time.
- The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund estimates roughly 5,000 children lost one or both parents to Ebola.
- [KIDS SINGING]
- UNICEF now has a team of 150 people on the ground. It's a project worth $130 million.
- Where the men in the group?
- On this day, the team is traveling with a social worker to visit a family it is trying to help.
- Maybe you need to tell us a little of your story. What happened?
- Prince John Harris watched as Ebola raged through his extended family.
- Well, after everybody die--
- Yeah, but how many persons?
- I lost 11 person.
- 11 persons.
- Eventually, there was no one left alive to care for his nieces. This little girl spent three days alone with the bodies of her mother and father. Those around her deemed the risk too great to help her.
- She was there with them. Because when she come outside, they say, go back. So there was nobody feeding her. So I was brave. I enter in the room, and I took her.
- A hero for risking his own life, a miracle he didn't get Ebola himself.
- Well, bless, God. I'm managing by the grace of God. But through UNICEF, I got something from UNICEF.
- An emergency grant of roughly $200 Canadian for each child he's adopted. But they need more than money. Before the onset of Ebola, there were only 12 social workers in the entire country. Now there are 120, still not enough to help a nation of survivors still reeling from trauma.
- For me, I don't love coming here. Because when I come here, I remember a lot of things. The memory gets tough for me.
- Abdul Sirleaf lives in Monrovia now. He returns to his home community of Bomi, about 65 kilometers northwest of the capital, despite the painful memories here.
- You look around, you see memories everywhere?
- I see memories. Even when I sit and I see memories. And I have the feeling like someone used to be here.
- When we ask Abdul how he managed to survive, his answer is simple.
- God. Every night, He would call me up. He'd say, I want you to do one thing. Then I say, what? He say, I want you pray.
- [SINGING]
- Prayer is also important here.
- [SINGING]
- This church lost 36 members of its congregation to Ebola. They used to be 100 strong, but though the risk is now very low, they say people are afraid to come back, still worried about getting Ebola, little faith the disease is really gone, but so many in this country cling to their faith in God.
- [SINGING]
- The slum community of West Point was among the hardest hit during West Africa's Ebola crisis. With people living almost on top of one another, it was the worst case scenario, the terrifying virus coursing through. Entire families wiped out. Those left behind have joined forces.
- We do things together.
- [? Siddiqui ?] [? Sano ?] is a leader of the Ebola Survivors Network.
- Your problem is my problem. My problem is your problem.
- They meet because it brings them comfort when little else does.
- I feel that survivors is the best people right now for us to be with. Because most of us, we don't want to go far, because people always stigmatize us.
- Stigmatized because people still fear the survivors, even after they've been declared Ebola-free. The Survivors Network hoped mobilizing would help them get the money they feel they need and deserve. But a year and a half after the crisis itself subsided, anger is rippling through the room.
- We want it now! We don't want for our future attempts! We're the one having the problem! Then why we can't receive it? Don't keep it for yourself! It for us! Give it to us!
- International aid has been flowing into this country since it was walloped by one of the worst public health crises the world has ever seen. But many of the people who live here still have questions about where specifically that money is going, and how it's being distributed. Anger focused on this woman, the President. At the height of the crisis, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf visited hard-hit communities, encouraging calm.
- So you can go from house to house. If you see somebody sick, you can send then for treatment.
- She insists her government is not responsible for distributing international aid money.
- We've spoken with a number of survivors. And some of them are very critical, as you might imagine. One of their complaints is the distribution of international aid. So can you help us understand, how is it being distributed?
- Funds that have been pledged or allocated by [INAUDIBLE] by natural programs or through international agencies are largely transferred to international NGOs, to international agencies. And they really control the funds.
- So the government is not really in charge of directing those funds?
- No. No. No.
- Is the international aid still coming? Or has the world forgotten about Ebola?
- No, no, international aid is still coming in. And we're still appreciative of that.
- How much have you now received in total?
- I don't have a number to tell you. But I can say that Liberia has been very dependent on foreign assistance.
- The Canadian government says this country committed more than $130 million to Ebola relief across West Africa. That includes more than $5 million for non-governmental organizations working in Liberia.
- To be part of that larger group is actually an honor and a privilege. And it's what motivates me on a daily basis to wake up and look forward to making a change in people's lives.
- Mark Okingo is a Canadian resident working with UNICEF in Liberia.
- It's important that Canadians realize that the calling for them to be engaged, and to be involved, and to understand that distance is not a question of not caring. Distance is not a question of saying, that is very far from us, so why should we be involved? Because if Ebola spreads, it only takes one person for the virus to explode.
- [? Siddiqui ?] [? Sano ?] of the Ebola Survivors Network says, regardless of where it comes from, they need more help.
- We need major help. Some of us lost our job, because of we survived from Ebola. And when we came back, we went home. And we went to our working place, they throw us out, because we were survivors. And they felt to themselves it would go, it would interact with them, they will come down with the virus.
- From joint pain to problems with eyesight and impotency, almost all of them continue to experience health issues.
- Maybe the impotency will last forever. I don't know. And I am very young for that. I think you know, as a man, you are walking with impotency, it's very bad. Sometime I said I want to take suicide on myself.
- It's been more than two years since the outbreak began. How is your country doing now?
- We're making progress. We still have a long way to go, because the doctor to patient ratio is still very low. Access to health services in the rural areas still have not met the goals that we have established.
- There are currently 40,000 patients per doctor. By comparison, a Canadian doctor has roughly 500 patients.
- We are suffering. We are suffering. We are growing out of patience!
- Not enough doctors, but one man, whose name we hear again and again.
- If any problem happening to us, if we call him, Dr. Fallah will have this problem. He will bring treatment to come.
- Dr. Moussaka Fallah is an infectious disease epidemiologist. He began his studies in Liberia and went on to complete a PhD at Harvard. Then he came home.
- As a society, we should care for our own. Ebola is like a black hole. We are going layer by layer of the unknowns that we don't know.
- Fallah is now the principal investigator of a research study of survivors.
- We've had a couple sub-studies. We've look at the semen. We look at a vagina swab. We look in breast milk. We also looking at babies, asking whether there is a possibility of in utero transmission.
- Ebola has been detected in breast milk. But researchers still don't know whether the virus can be transmitted from a mother to an infant through breastfeeding. They have determined Ebola can be transmitted sexually.
- What we've done in two cases was create a ring around wherever there is outbreak, and vaccinate contacts and contacts of contacts. We just did that.
- It is work that began here at Winnipeg's Canadian Science Center for Human and Animal Health. The vaccine used in Liberia's latest outbreak was developed here. But so far, it has only been approved for use during an outbreak.
- We've been HIV testing for you. We'll give you a hematologist.
- They are now trying to determine the virus's long-term health consequences.
- And make a fist.
- And whether survivors develop an immunity.
- You will feel little pain. The pain will not be that much.
- Once a survivor has agreed to be part of the program, they undergo a physical exam, provide blood samples, and medical history. Then they agree to get checkups every six months for five years. Right now, 1,200 of the roughly 1,500 known survivors in the country are participating. But the principal investigator says he would like to see all of them take part.
- But what about the undocumented survivors in rural areas, in villages, and across boundaries that we don't know? Could it be that virus persist? How long does it persist? None of us know the answer.
- Do you believe that there are currently people in rural areas in villages, who aren't reporting the status of their health, who may now have Ebola that you don't know of?
- No, they would not have Ebola. But there could be survivors. Ebola cannot hide. You know what we should say? You can lie, but the virus doesn't hide. There's no way you can have Ebola it can be hidden. There will be death. There will be cluster of death. That's clear cut.
- Perhaps one requires no more proof than the row upon row of crosses marking the dead, so many the government opened a national cemetery. Most are marked with a simple name, some not marked at all.
- Abdul Sirleaf's family is buried here on the family farm. He tries to take good care of their tombs, often thinking about how close he was to being among them.
- It's always in my thought.
- Were you afraid to die?
- No. By the time, I wasn't afraid to die.
- He takes some comfort in the fact that things have changed.
- We're better off now.
- [KIDS PLAYING]
- Better off now, at least on that point, everyone seems to agree, vowing an outbreak of epidemic proportions will not happen again.
- In most of our health facilities now, particularly the major hospitals, we have triage units. That means that we have special areas where anybody who comes in for treatment has to go through that unit where there are trained people to do tests, to make sure that they don't have infection controlled, they don't have symptoms of Ebola and any other kinds of disease.
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- Remember Moses and Morris, the little boys now providing big hope that Ebola can be beaten, the final patients released from the Ebola Treatment Unit.
- A clear demonstration to the world that that response capability has been developed and we can contain this disease.
- Guarantee.
- Moses, want to hold?
- Ultimately, this is what we want, that even when Ebola comes, we're able to work together, and that people survive.
- [DRUMMING]
- And then the countdown begins again.
- [SINGING]
- 42 days later, in June of 2016, Liberia was declared Ebola-free for the third time. It remains a country on alert, bracing for the next outbreak, which will take no one by surprise, still very much mourning the dead, but also proud of what it has achieved in the face of so much despair.
- That moving investigation by CTV Atlantic Correspondent Kayla Hounsell and photojournalist George Reeves was partially funded by the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Aga Khan Foundation. Kayla was awarded the Fellowship in International Development Reporting, and chose Liberia and the Ebola outbreak as her subject. W5 continues in a moment.
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