​alfons rodríguez

The consequences of ebola in Sierra Leone (or how can a country go backwards 50 years.)

More than the killed, ebola drags dreadful consequences to an african country. Now that Sierra Leone is about to get over the epidemic and now that in US or Europe hardly anyone remembers the disease, is when the country starts an as difficult or even more difficult struggle than the one carried out against the virus.

The country has changed its manners and mores: the burial rituals have been forbidden (now only the specialized teams we accompanied a day of work can bury corpses), sport can’t be practiced, and even touch other people is forbidden.

The survivors carry a stigma: getting over the desease is only the first step. Testimonies explain how getting home is a nightmare, how nobody wants to take care of the orphans, or how nurses and undertakes are turned down by friends and neighbors.

kids have not been going to school for a year: children in the streets have multiplied in number as well as pregnant girls.

Other deseases are unattended, such as malaria or cholera, which still leave hundreds of dead.

Country has been isolated: airlines don’t fly to the capital and local entrepreneurs have been left alone, nobody wants to make business with the country of the ebola.

And a big list that, through testimonies and field interviews, show how the ebola is beyond the ebola.