By Umaru Fofana
I stood inside the British Council some time in 2014. Ebola was wreaking havoc. Ambulances were blaring sirens all over the place. This was the hub of the response at the time. Desks spread around. Military officers and civilians – Sierra Leonean and foreign – were all working closely. Racing against time. Holding hands together to ring fence Ebola. Chasing a virus that was weeks if not months ahead of the response. They were coordinating various sectors of the response to the epidemic – from handling safe and dignified burials to responding to emergency calls to pick up patients.
Then I observed something very interesting. There was a detailed map of Freetown on a soft board pinned on the wall. It had pushpins which were pressed into the map, whenever a call came through, indicating wherefrom. The pins on the map therefore represented a reality that words could not well illustrate. This was to create more than just a mental picture of the extent of the Ebola virus spread. The evidence was stark. Almost all the calls came from poor communities. That’s how I named Ebola at the time as THE POOR MAN’S DISEASE.
Broadly speaking, almost all those who got infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone in 2014/15 were poor people, health workers or people who were close to health workers who had themselves almost certainly got it from patients who were poor people. You go round the circle over and over again like a dog trying to chase its tail, and it will take you back to poor people and health workers – the hardest hit. Unending! This is what happens when we fail to address poverty and build our health and sanitation infrastructure. In the words of the late reggae artist, Joseph Hills, if you do not share your riches with the poor, the poor will share their poverty with you.
Even though the disease affected mostly people in rundown communities, it would take us several months to get these areas directly involved in the fight against Ebola. When we eventually did, it proved to be the magic bullet that shot down the Ebola virus. With the world assisting with supplies, ideas and more personnel, we prevailed.
Corona hits all categories: rich, middle class and poor. But because there are far more poor people in Sierra Leone than middle class or rich ones, the poor are at the receiving end again in this pandemic.
After President Ernest Bai Koroma’s initial missteps, he got into the combat mood and mode. Visited communities to drum up their support and enlist them in the fight. This explains why since the onset of the Coronavirus, I have argued for the involvement of Paramount Chiefs and sub-chiefs in the fight against COVID-19. This is a no-brainer. Until that is done, the denial and reluctance on the part of the public will continue.
We all know the coronavirus is different from the Ebola virus. While the latter is deadlier, the former is far more contagious. But the approach to them should be the same: vigilance and tough measures that are strictly implemented. We are doing very badly in all of those. Even though their authority is a small local territory which keeps them close to the people, Councillors do not wield the support and influence that chiefs do in the provinces and headmen and women do in the Western Area. They have to be mobilised. But the councillors too should be involved. I doubt either the councillors or chiefs have been brought into the fight as they should.
The other day I met an impressive group of young men and women at Portee, in the east of Freetown. Among a long list of the things they do, they respond to fake news stories through their WhatsApp Group. They patrol the shoreline to ensure boats do not come into the community with sick people. They visit homes and educate people about the virus. Those leading the coronavirus response couldn’t care less about them, even when they were told about the selfless work these people do in that community that has been beaten by the pandemic. This is what can beat back the virus.
But back to the measures that should be toughened. If someone came to Sierra Leone today and looked at things based on what they saw on the streets, they would think the country had no cases of COVID-19. Even though things are very serious in view of the daily double digits of new infections and everyday deaths from the virus, most people have a cavalier attitude towards the pandemic. Restaurants are open. Pubs are running their normal business. People cluster and booze on roadsides. Social-distancing is nil. Mask-wearing is ignored. Hand washing is being adhered to largely superficially. People are blasé about the reality so much so that some of them seem to be saying that because we survived Ebola this too shall pass, naturally. How wrong!
While the authorities have failed to adequately mobilise communities, and some law enforcers are compromising the fight, individuals have also failed to wake up to the realisation. Often we say the police take bribes to allow people to go through inter-district barriers or checkpoints. But we hardly call out the unscrupulous people who try to beat the system or compromise officials. If that sick woman and her father had not breached the inter-district lockdown and gone to Makeni, Bombali would definitely be without all the cases it has recorded. You can say the same thing for almost all districts that recorded cases for the first time during the partial lockdown.
People even question the 9PM curfew, saying it should either not exist or should be relaxed to start at midnight. Ludicrous! The less movement that takes place, the slower the spread of the virus – and the fewer cases are recorded. The virus does not move. People move with the virus. Some even say the face mask is too hot and discomforting so they don’t bother to wear it. Well you decide which is preferable: infection or that temporary discomfort?
I also find it hard to believe when I hear people question the closure of mosques and churches. With respect, I don’t think such questioning is based on service to God. Rather the economy of it. We can pray anywhere and the old man up there can and will hear us and listen to us. You have probably not heard of the dozens of cases recorded at a church in Germany just when they attended their first service after the lockdown had been eased.
Some are quick to ask why markets should open when churches and mosques are closed. That is incomparable. I agree that our markets should be regulated but I disagree with the analogy. We cannot do without our markets, but we can do without these houses of worship and pray at home. Here, we do not have supermarkets that sell groceries and other items where we can go to shop. Here we have our Dove Cuts and our Sallad Grons.
With the start of the mandatory wearing of a face mask must come stricter implementation of other measures. We must either live with the inconvenience of today to save our tomorrow, or we cause more suffering and deaths tomorrow by avoiding the protocols of today by way of temporary convenience.
If we do not get communities today and ensure measures are followed, the impact of COVID19 could be far more devastating than that of Ebola which killed thousands. The ball is in OUR collective court!
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