Page 40 - Phonebox Magazine October 2014

Olney – Newton Link
Below is an extract from a recent article written by Claire Lintern who with her husband Mahmoud is living on the outskirts of
Freetown in Sierra Leone. The story of the Ebola outbreak may have largely vanished from our newspapers and TV, but it definitely hasn’t gone away. Far from it.
Living under a state of emergency
So here we are in the President’s state of emergency, called so because of the Ebola outbreak. It’s had a bizarre effect but not sure whether there is any real effect on the death rate or the infection rate. It’s hard to measure as the statistics from the government may be suspect, and the WHO (World Health Organisation) tend to give the worst case scenario.
Why bizarre? Well, the denial rate has finally decreased but already the fatigue of the measures has kicked in. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a story that the virus has been created by a billionaire from the USA as a biological weapon. This story involves more
– the WHO know about it and the doctor who was going to expose the plot was on the Malaysian plane, which is why it was shot down over the Ukraine. This, of course, very neatly blames others for the crises and shifts focus away from the fear of who may be next to succumb. The fatigue is the scariest part though – people are already testing the boundaries of the emergency measures such as holding exams and public gatherings. With the football season beginning it will be tested further with people wanting to watch the matches in the hot sweaty huts where the TVs are set up. According to the state of emergency, these places should have stopped trading, but this will have a major impact on the livelihood of owners. The 1,000 le entrance fee often pays for their families to survive.
Food prices are increasing too. Staples such as onions have increased 300%, although the prices are being disputed. The Government are asking for consumables to be maintained at current prices but the sellers will try and make whatever profit they can. All we need now is a fuel shortage and the country will be brought to its knees.
Schools are in a mess. Nobody knows when they will restart, rumours circulate about the sitting of postponed public exams yet colleges are announcing closures until further notice.
And then there is the drug debate – should the experimental drug be used here? The WHO has agreed to use the drugs which I find it deeply concerning as it sets a dangerous precedent for this continent and its history of drug company abuses. But then if it was my immediate family suffering in a hospital perhaps I would feel different. It’s a very tough question and I pray that we don’t face that dilemma for real.
One issue is how the information is disseminated. The radio and TV give information but as the illiteracy rate here is incredibly high, the actual understanding of the news can be limited. So, the infamous Z-map drug is viewed here as the ‘golden ticket’ and the virus will be killed within a matter of weeks. The same thing happened when the news of a vaccine was released. It gives false hope and, more dangerously, a false sense of security.
But people ARE doing what they can to be
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40 Phonebox Magazine