Survivors battling the deadly Ebola outbreak: ‘Fear of death doesn’t stop haunting you’

The latest in Lucy Anna Gray's Forgotten Women series on the ordinary lives of extraordinary women looks at the survivors of Ebola who are treating others, one year after the deadly outbreak began

Ebola survivor Kahindo Kamala works at the Ebola Treatment Center at Beni Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (IRC)

Eugenie Kahmbu Kiyora was working as a nurse when she became infected with Ebola. The 23-year-old contracted it from a patient just days after getting married. At first Kiyora and her colleagues at the Mangina health centre didn’t have a full understanding of the disease. “We didn’t quite know what we were dealing with, other than hearing rumours from town that it could be poison”, Kiyora says. “I was scared, full of anxiety ... I had seen many dying from Ebola. Eight to 10 per day dying from it. So when you go to that centre infected, you really don’t believe you will make it.”

One year ago Ebola broke out in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country’s tenth epidemic. Despite being declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation, infection rates continue to rise. Total cases in the region reached 2,671, with 1,790 deaths at the end of July, with communities finding it increasingly difficult to fight back.

Women are the primary caregivers for the sick and elderly, putting them at increased risk of infection. “Pre-existing gender norms expose women and girls to specific and increased risks during disease outbreaks,” says Andre Heller of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). “Infection rates for women and girls fluctuate between 56 – 62 per cent.”

Kiyora had to stay away from her home while receiving intensive care in quarantine, but survived and was eventually able to return, initially keeping a two-metre distance from her family at all times. “When I went back in town ... I could feel that they were sceptical, they didn’t want to come close to me. Especially pregnant women and those who were breastfeeding.”

Despite the trauma of spending weeks in isolation, suffering the relentless symptoms of Ebola, staring death in the face every day, some survivors are going back to help others. As people who have already contracted the disease, survivors are able to directly deal with patients, something Ebola sufferers often lack.

Kamala Kahindo, 42, contracted Ebola from a child she was treating while working as a nurse. After spotting the symptoms fast and receiving swift treatment, she has now gone back to work at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Beni. “When the results come out negative, it sounded like a miracle. Because when you are there, it’s either life or death. Though you would feel strong sometimes, the fear of death doesn’t stop haunting you”, Kahindo says.

“Sometimes a patient is so discouraged that he can’t do anything for himself. We help them take a shower, to eat, to go to the toilet, to clean them afterwards, to clean their room to prevent a bad smell ... We become friends of our patients.”

These unique caregivers are not only providing medical treatment, but also hope to their patients. “Doctors and nurses come with masks on their face whereas we talk to them face-to-face. And when they see others getting healed, they believe they will be healed as well.”

While the disease derailed her own life for a short time, Eugenie Kiyora has returned to nursing and is now eight-months pregnant with her first child. At first she didn’t want to return to the centre after the horrors of suffering the illness, but it took remembering the promise she made to help others to change her mind. “I remembered the oath I took to always take care of the sick, and I went back to work. It’s a job that we do with courage and joy.”

Jeanna Katungu, 38, contracted Ebola while taking her neighbour’s child to the hospital: the child died on the way. She spent two months in the Ebola Treatment Centre, isolated from her loved ones with them “thinking [she] was going to die”. After recovering, Katangu now looks after children with Ebola, but warns attitudes are not changing fast enough. “The level of stubbornness in the neighbourhood makes Ebola last longer. People have not understood how dangerous Ebola is, and how deadly it has been.”

This lack of community awareness is proving a huge hurdle in prevention. Poor knowledge of the disease and how it is transmitted, coupled with weariness of outside intervention is allowing Ebola to thrive in rural communities. “The more time passes, the stronger the community resistance becomes, which combined with the insecurity of the region prevents the [health] teams from fighting back. As a result, the number of cases is soaring,” says Dr Joeux Bwami, an epidemiologist from the Panzi Hospital.

DRC has been pioneering in the fight against Ebola, but this current outbreak points to wider issues in the nation. This large, fragile nation is still experiencing widespread violence, creating potentially catastrophic conditions for such a contagious disease.

“This time, the Ebola calamity is much more directly linked to Congo’s major vulnerabilities ... with political instability, poor governance, local conflict and insecurity with a huge potential for transborder issues,’’ says Kris Berwouts, an Independent Central African conflict analyst. Berwouts echoes the concerns of health workers on the ground, saying a “total paranoia” among the population as a result of decades of conflict has led to an ingrained distrust of medical staff and health authorities, “even more than the disease itself”.

This paranoia means many Ebola deaths are happening away from treatment centres, with people becoming infected and dying at home instead. “Considering this region has been deeply impacted by armed conflict in past decades, it is difficult for outsiders to understand what people have been through and how they might be perceived,” says Heller.

It is clear that raising awareness of the disease will be vital in the ultimate prevention of its spread. Ebola survivor Christelle Muvingulwa, 14, is now part of the Children’s parliament of Beni, where she talks about her experience with others to explain the importance of going to a clinic as soon as you notice symptoms. Although many people are shunned after having Ebola, this teenager’s work has made a huge difference in her community. “My friends at school they welcomed me. They come play with me, and they don’t fear anything ... we need to tell others about Ebola.”

The interviews with DRC Ebola nurses and Christelle Muvingulwa were conducted by the IRC