By Mustapha Sesay
A group of Ebola survivors in the Waterloo Lumpa community over the week end refused to partake in an Ebola sensitization programme in protest against the organizers` failure to pay them for it.
The programme was organized by the children organization, Kids Advocacy Network (KAN), and it was part of their ongoing campaign against stigmatization of survivors and orphans of the deadly viral disease.
This group of survivors claimed the organization wanted to use them as a way of making money and so they felt they should be given money for their participation.
Edmond Fonah, Coordinator of KAN, denied that his organization was trying to use the survivors to make money. Fonah said it was wrong and embarrassing for the survivors to ask for money when all what they were doing was in their (survivors’) interest.
The Kid`s Advocacy Network says it has planned to target 20 communities in the western unban and western rural area as part of their anti-stigmatization campaign. They are targeting communities where the epidemic has had serious impact on the people and the program at Lumpa was the lunching ceremony. It was witnessed by politicians and community leaders, notably deputy minister of Political and Public Affairs, Karamo Kabbah and the Chief Whip in parliament, Claude Kamanda, MP.
Yusuf B. Kamara, a community organizer in the Lumpa community, who arranged for the survivors to take part in the programme, said he never promised them money and so he was surprised that they behaved that way.
This was not the first time Kamara has organized a programme involving Ebola survivors and he told Politico that this experience would not deter him from continuing with his effort to help survivors cope with the aftermath of their experience with the deadly viral disease.
Sierra Leone has had 3441 people who survived the virus, as of NERC statistics for Tuesday April 7. Most of these lost their livelihoods after getting infected. This has left them vulnerable and totally reliant on humanitarian help on leaving treatment centers. But help is not quite forthcoming for many.
Social workers say because of this desperation, when psycho-social programmes are convened and the survivors are invited, they always tend expect some gifts.
“I will try to sensitize them that it is not all the time that they should consider money first,” Karama, the Waterloo community organizer, said.
But Yusuf Kabbah, national President of the Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors, denied that the survivors group in Waterloo demanded money to attend that programme.
Kabbah told Politico that he was aware of the situation and that he`d had urged his colleagues to take part because he knew whatever these organizations were doing were in favour of their membership.
But, he said, he found out that they simply refused to attend because the local Ebola survivors` association was not involved during the arrangement.
“We are above that even though some of our colleagues are vulnerable,” he said.
© Politico 10/04/15
