Saturday, September 20, 2014

Day two... more sadness

Day two of the ose-to-ose Ebola tok sensitization campaign began on a very sad note.

I was on my way to the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists and Independent Radio Network studios when I came across a small gathering of people and police. I stopped and could hear wailing from a nearby shop.

After making inquiries from a police officer, he told me they'd found another body. The wails were from a sister to the deceased... who was obviously distraught. Phone calls had been made to the Ebola hotline, 117, and other calls were made to health agencies. "Please come and remove this body," they all pleaded.

I asked permission from the family of the deceased if I could stay around and talk to people and take some photos. They agreed. However, I WON'T display the deceased pictures.

I visited the studio and told the presenter, Francis Sowa, about the body. He announced the location on the radio and called the manager of burial services. I felt totally helpless... as the family waited for a health or burial team. There was nothing else to do.

After working at the studio for some time, I left to go about my "rounds" of the phantom city. I went back to the scene where a health team had just arrived. I asked the local Member of Parliament, who'd shown up at the scene, Amadu Fofanah of Constituency 109, if I could talk to people and take more photos. He agreed. These are the photos of the team... spraying down before retrieving the body, bringing the body (in a body bag) out towards an awaiting truck... and then spraying down afterwards before removing protective gear.





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