Ebola survivor - The African Mirror

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Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Feared and forgotten, Congo’s Ebola orphans work to survive

HUMAN RIGHTS

KAHINDO SIFA BAHATI SINCE Ebola killed her parents in 2019, Congolese teenager Patience has done various jobs to provide for her three younger siblings, from warehouse work to washing clothes for neighbours. Her mother's dream was for all of the children to finish school, but the oldest three had to drop out and find work after their parents died during the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak - the country's deadliest on record. "Since our parents died, we don't miss any opportunities to make money," 16-year-old Patience said in the eastern city of Butembo, the epicentre of the Ebola…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘God chose me’: Congo Ebola survivor finds new purpose

HEALTH

DJAFFAR AL KATANTY FOR Esperance Nyabintu, catching Ebola was a curse and a gift from God. A year ago the virus killed her husband. Most of her neighbours, friends and family abandoned her, such is the social stigma of surviving the disease. Undaunted by the challenge of bringing up 10 children alone, she has become a social worker, supporting other ostracised survivors like herself in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo. The epidemic, the second-largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was identified in 1976, has given her an enduring sense of purpose. "It makes me useful. I tell myself…