Liberia on the road to recovery

In Liberia, the last known Ebola patient who died of the virus was buried on 28 March. The country is hopeful that it is now on the road to recovery but, nevertheless remains on high alert. In Liberia, the outbreak began to subside in late October and had stabilised by mid-November, with daily reports showing only 10 to 20 new cases. Since January Ebola cases in Liberia have dwindled further.

ChildFund Liberia’s Kelekula Interim Care Centre (ICC), the first centre focused on the care and support of children orphaned by Ebola, was established in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in October 2014. 55 children have stayed at the centre. After being cleared of the disease, staff have coordinated with government officials to help place these children with relatives or in stable foster care situations.

18-month-old baby, Saydee (pictured above with his aunt) stayed at the Kelekula ICC after he lost his mother to Ebola.  Saydee now lives with his father and aunt in a makeshift community in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. His aunt, Mabel takes care of him while his father works as a casual teacher with the Liberian Teacher Training Program. Saydee’s father is concerned about one thing – he is unable to take his son to the health clinic as ChildFund used to do. “I do not have means to take my son to the treatment facility whenever he gets sick. It really worries me,” he says.

Social workers now conduct regular visits to the homes of all children who stayed at the Kelekula ICC to find out how they are coping with the loss of their loved ones and how they are getting along with their caregivers. ChildFund also distributes packages of clothes, mattresses, school materials, footwear, toiletries and food, such as rice and oil, to each child when reuniting them with their caregivers.