Living with the threat of Ebola
West Africa is currently suffering from the largest outbreak of Ebola in two decades. While as of yet no sponsored child has got sick from the disease, prevention measures and pervasive fear have still affected their lives in other ways.
Zainab is a 12-year old secondary school student in eastern Sierra Leone. Although she and her family have so far remained healthy and safe from Ebola, the disease currently ravaging the country has infected her life in other ways.
Zainab is a sponsored child through World Vision Sierra Leone and is the president of her local children's club. Before the threat of Ebola reared its deadly head this summer, Zainab was active in her community and passionate about pursuing her education. She was set to take her Basic Education Certificate Examination [a secondary school entrance exam] in June 2014 when Ebola crept in, slowing everything to a standstill.
Since the onset of the current epidemic, school buildings have become ghostly shells. At present there are no bells ringing; no gleeful shouts of pupils echoing from the playground, no crowds of children competing to knock mangoes from the trees around the school grounds, and of course, no classes.
Under normal circumstances schools should have been in session since 1 September, which marks the beginning of the first term of every school year. “Ebola has affected us badly,” Zainab sighs.
"I really want this Ebola virus to come to an end. It has affected our education, restricted movements, and is keeping us away from our friends. My parents don’t allow me to go too close to my friends, neither do their parents allow them to come close to me for fear of being infected with the virus. It is even affecting the children's club because there are many things we want to do right now, but we have been stopped."
Zainab’s mother Finda worries that the time spent idling in the village will lead to early marriages for the teens now whiling away their days out of school. "Many children Zainab’s age might be given in early marriage by their parents after this period at home," Finda says softly.
Zainab’s dream is to become a lawyer one day, but she is worried that the current interruption to her schooling will be difficult to overcome. The eleven-year civil unrest in Sierra Leone disrupted education for a generation. Now Ebola is threatening to do the same. "If the situation continues like this, we fear for our classmates. Some do not like going to school anymore. Their parents might give them away to early marriage, or some will get pregnant and become dropouts," Zainab predicted anxiously.
"We are praying to God every day that this Ebola will come to an end. So we will start going to school and all the social activities will begin again," Zainab added.
World Vision is working with the government in Sierra Leone to support Ebola prevention and treatment efforts, and has donated thousands of medical and protective supplies. We have also been running school lessons on radio stations to make sure that when schools do reopen, Zainab and her peers across the country will not have fallen too far behind.