WE NEED REAL HELP N-O-W !!! A few years ago my country,Sierra Leone, was rolling deep in its own very blood, callously spilled through senseless self-slaughter. Little children were hacked to death and pregnant women dissected like laboratory rats. Gruesome cant even begin to describe the harrowing nature of the things we suffered. We managed to overstep the carnage and plod on, hoping and believing that such a grave calamity never again would cross our path. How very wrong we were! Now as I write, a greater menace is gobbling up our societies and could pose a threat well beyond our troubled shores, if the world fails to help in stemming the tide. There is a silent killer creeping along with seeming ceaseless break! EBOLA is laying our country to waste! Today, the epicenter seems to be whirling around Kailahun district. Tomorrow, that could shift anywhere, with unfathomable consequences. In my home town of Daru, people are dying by the scores, leaving an increasing number infected, and waiting to die. Controlling or even managing the contagion is proven ever more difficult due to the lack of basic information and other essential disease- fighting tools. This sad situation is compounded by the fact that among our people distancing oneself from sick relatives is an almost unthinkable proposition . In our African culture, it is virtually impossible to convince people to keep away from their children, husbands, mothers etc, especially when they are in most need of help. People converge to lend hands when those around them are ill or die. In a society where people eat together, work together and sleep in close proximity, distancing is not only distasteful but virtually impractical. The level of education needed to create precautionary barriers poses a sensitive cultural challenge. Direct community care for the sick and the dying is not only viewed as a moral responsibility and a religious duty but, in most instances, it is the only real help available. Our people are so emotionally attached to their families that death brings with it real pain and loss. We dont drop tears in drips, we wail our hearts out in fits. Some have to be physically restrained before their loved ones are wrenched from them to be laid in graves. The passion and the pain has to be witnessed to be believed. With this magnitude of sudden unexplained deaths, who can quantify our present pain and its long term psychological implications on our society? In Daru, dozens of people have being swept along by the raging Ebola tide. It is said to have started when an infected nurse lady was taken ill in Kailahun town and brought back home to Daru, to die with dignity among her people. The imam and all who physically participated in the burial died as a result of the contact. As I write this post, one of the nicest human beings anyone could ever dream to meet is lying dead on a mortuary slab in Kenema. Mbor Muso Kabba, (the wife of Khalidu, the towns Mandingo Chief) was one of those who would forever go round, with a smile, to offer help to anyone who needed it. Last week Mbor Muso, the volunteer Lady, became ill and was one of those tested in Daru, The blood samples were taken to Kenema for verification. The results were not available until yesterday when Mbor Muso was taken to Kenema in a near-death condition. Now, that good woman has been reduced to a rising statistics. With the number of deaths in the ill-managed Daru Isolation Center increasing, the people who have been incarcerated at the center are left abandoned by the nurses whose confidence has been crushed by the lack of visible support with so many of their colleagues (including Doctor Kallon- the only Doctor in Daru) having lost their life in this battle. Until corpse-pecking-vultures start dropping their infected human entrails on the roof of State House, we dont expect anything helpful to come from there! If this epidemic is left to grow, panic will increase the spread as people crowd in transport vehicles running to the relative safety of places not yet known to be affected. We all know that our government is not competent enough to handle this widening problem, We are also aware that they would prefer to keep things quiet so as not to expose their own incompetence. But they have to realize that they may be playing politics with the life of people- our people! So, I am urging the politicians to stop pretending that all is well and call out loudly to the international community to come to our aid NOW, for afterwards, this is a development that poses a direct threat to the wider world. May God help us to cross this bridge,soon!!!
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 12:43:14 +0000
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