Sierra Leone: Ebola Orphans Find a Home
For Charles, now aged one-and-a-half, the ordeal began in August 2014. That was when his parents tested positive for Ebola and died shortly after at the Paramedical Ebola Holding Centre in Makeni, Sierra Leone.
Unfortunately, the tragedy didn’t end there. Charles’ three brothers and one of his sisters, as well as his uncle and aunt, died of Ebola several weeks later.
“We had to observe Charles for 21 days at the Paramedical Centre, where he tested negative,” said the Centre’s Sister Patricia Serry-Kamal. “Three more consecutive test results were negative. We held on to him at the Centre for three months because we wanted to be sure that he was free of the virus.”
Two of Charles’ sister’s – who also contracted the disease – managed to survive.
“My sister and I went through pain but survived,” said 23-year-old Mabinty, one of Charles’ surviving sisters. “We were thinking of our youngest brother [Charles]. We lost eight of our family members. My sister Memunatu also lost her husband to Ebola. We have lost our entire family.”
After the observation period at the Paramedical Ebola Holding Centre, Charles was transferred to an Interim Childcare Centre run by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs with support from SOS Children’s Villages in Sierra Leone.
At the Paramedical Ebola Holding Centre, one of the nurses, Fatmata, became very attached to Charles and decided to follow up on him after his transfer to the Interim Childcare Centre. “We stayed at the Interim Childcare Centre for one month,” she said. “All of Charles’ basic needs were met. Everybody was fond of him. I did everything to make him cheerful. And indeed Charles started smiling again.”
After a month at the Centre, Charles was discharged to make way for other children who had lost their parents to Ebola. The Ministry of Social Welfare requested that Charles be offered a place at SOS Children’s Village Makeni. At the time, SOS Children’s Villages was not fully prepared to admit children orphaned by Ebola.
“[Under those circumstances] it was too dangerous to do so,” said Olatungie Woode, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Sierra Leone. He explained that there were cases of children who died a few months after the initial Ebola test proved negative. “Based on this uncertainty, SOS couldn’t have taken this risk which would have created a bigger problem for an entire SOS Children’s Village.”
Nevertheless, Charles had to leave the Centre. Fatmata decided to look after Charles until SOS was able to take him in.
On January 23, 2015, Charles was admitted into SOS Children’s Villages Makeni. By then, SOS Children’s Villages Sierra Leone had set up a framework for admitting children who had lost one or both parents to Ebola.
Charles, along with three other children with similarly stories, was given the opportunity by SOS Children’s Villages to grow up in a family with love, respect and security.
“This is not the last admission of Ebola-orphaned children in SOS Children’s Village Makeni,” stated Mr. Woode. “Admission will also be carried out in Freetown and Bo.”
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