PHOTO | Courtesy of Billy Fischer
Doctors examine an Ebola patient at a treatment centre in Gueckedou, Guinea last week.
Like many Kenyans living in Liberia,
this is probably the most trying time away from home following the worst
Ebola outbreak in history. Every day we think about our families, the
risks we are exposed to, and the uncertainty about the future.
We
live under the shadow of the devastating news about the recent death of
a Ugandan doctor due to Ebola, and the unthinkable that happened: being
buried in Liberia and the disbelief back in his village in Uganda. It
is totally un-African to be disposed of that way. My village deep in
western Kenya would not accept it, yet that is what we are staring at.
Kenyans
currently constitute the largest bloc of civilian professional
expatriates working in various sectors, with the largest number in the
United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
Though
Kenya doesn’t have a peace- keeping contingent, the UNMIL force
commander is a Kenyan, Major-General Leonard Muriuki Ngondi. There are
also Kenyan police and correction officers coming in shifts primarily
for training of their Liberian counterparts.
FAMILY PRESSURE
Another
sizeable group is in various UN agencies, Bretton Woods institutions
and various international NGOs. Others work for the Liberian government
as consultants and in the private sector.
While the
largest number are concentrated in the capital Monrovia, Kenyans are
present in virtually all of the country’s 15 counties undertaking a
variety of humanitarian and reconstruction activities.
There seems to be pressure building up from family members in Kenya for people to leave, fuelled mostly by what is being reported by the international news organisations. Friends are also posting provocative stories on Facebook and tweets like, “Don’t come to Kenya with Ebola.”
There seems to be pressure building up from family members in Kenya for people to leave, fuelled mostly by what is being reported by the international news organisations. Friends are also posting provocative stories on Facebook and tweets like, “Don’t come to Kenya with Ebola.”
The other day I talked on the phone to my nine-year-old daughter in Kenya, for whom Ebola is a household name.
“Daddy, when I think about Ebola, I get nightmares, I can’t even Google it,” she said. “We are praying for you.”
Perhaps
one of the most difficult things we are facing is what to do upon
return to Kenya and to face loved ones: wives, husbands, children, and
friends.
Even without any symptoms, do you go for
tests to “clear” doubt? What message would you be sending? What about
the health facility or hospital where you show up to reveal your
dilemma? How do you message this without sending an unnecessary panic
and getting into the risk of being quarantined?
There is a raging debate on these things among international staff across the board with no clear rule of thumb.
What
is now clear is that countries of destination, including Kenya, are
imposing new measures where travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Guinea are subjected to new precautionary procedures ensuring ease of
“contact tracing”, one of the most crucial steps in containing the
spread of the Ebola virus.
In the meantime, fear,
anxiety and panic has engulfed the entire country — fear that surpasses
the Liberian civil war. The difference is that Ebola is an invisible
enemy which attacks and kills in a more brutal manner than the guns.
We
are dealing with an evolving and complex emergency affecting the
sub-region, an unprecedented epidemic whose global response capacity is
limited and might already be over-stretched, especially in urban areas
of Liberia. The worst hit is Montserrado County, home to the capital
city Monrovia where I live with many other Kenyans.
I
was listening recently to an expert from the US-based Centres for
Disease Control confirm that the existing professional case management
centres (so far only three) might have only touched 10 per cent of the
caseload.
The toll on the few workers at the forefront
of the fight in Liberia and Sierra Leone is unprecedented, with the
death and infection of medical professionals creating further panic.
The
approach remains: isolate the sick, trace and monitor contacts, and
quarantine suspects till pending confirmation of their status. But where
is this epidemic going? Experts say it is here for the long haul — at
least until the end of the year.
NEW STRAIN
Detailed
analysis has revealed the Ebola strain is a new one, an unprecedented
outbreak in terms of numbers and locations with a mortality of between
60-70 per cent, and haemorrhage seen later in the disease as compared to
the Zaire strain. Because of this, it is believed that patients remain
relatively better for longer, allowing more extensive spread of disease.
Many
Liberians have all along questioned the existence of Ebola since its
first wave in March/April. It is this state of denial that has fuelled
its spread. I have listened to Liberians on FM stations manipulating
information and misinforming the public — with even prominent pastors
and opinion leaders casting aspersions on the existence of the disease.
Some
accuse the government of using Ebola to raise donor mone, and the
popular saying in the airwaves has been that Ebola is not real. The
turning point in the Liberian psyche and in the fight against the
disease might have happened last week.
The death of
the Liberian top civil servant in Lagos, followed by the death of a
well-known physician, Dr Samuel Brisbane, together with the violent
attacks against Samaritans Purse staff changed the scenario.
Meanwhile,
Kenyans in Liberia remain a deeply worried lot. Some agencies are
taking measures including considering essential and non-essential staff
and recommending voluntary administrative leave given a general scaling
down of programme activities.
God protect us as we support the fight against this deadly disease and return us safely back to our motherland.
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