By Jenneh Braima
Diaspora Focus, an international humanitarian organization in Sierra Leone, has awarded individuals whom they said had so far done a meritorious humanitarian work in the fight against Ebola.
The organization’s Director, Emmanuel Stafford, whiles speaking to Politico, said their mandate was to help under privileged both at home and abroad, and added that they also aim at uniting families.
Since the outbreak of Ebola in the country, Stafford said, they have been training youth groups around the country to sensitize their communities.
At present, he said, they were engaged in series of activities relating to the Ebola outbreak in the country, adding that they were engaged in a nationwide hosting of Ebola survivors.
That, he said, was being done at district level, adding that they had already identified places that they would be hosting the survivors. He explained that they would start in kailahun and Kenema this week and continue to other parts of the country, since the epidemic started in the Eastern part of the country. He said a place had been allocated in Kailahun by the resident minister east, Maya Kaikai.
He went on to explain that they would be hosting the survivors for 90 days “until they are completely free from Ebola before releasing them to their various homes”.
As to how the survivors would be treated Stafford assured that: “they will eat three times a day and they will be provided with all social amenities that they will need”. He said they would also be treated with hospitality to make them happy and relaxed. He said they would do all they could to make the survivors to not think about sex until they left their care.
In Kenema last month, he stated that his organization had cause to pay people to have corpses buried as the Ebola burial team had gone on strike and were eventually sacked. That payment, he said, had been done through Red Cross.
Rashid Vandi Turay, Chief Executive Officer of Rash Construction and General Services, who was awarded, expressed delight and thanked Diaspora Focus for its step, which he said was in the right way. He prayed that the Ebola disease left the country soon, promising to keep working with the youths.
The Resident Minister East confirmed to Politico that they had indeed identified a place for the construction of a facility to host Ebola survivors in Kailahun.
However, KaiKai described the site as “inhabitable” and called on donor partners for help “so that survivors will not go around infecting other people through sexual intercourse.
© Politico 27/01/15
