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Africa| Dandano Journal
Fear of Ebola Opens Wary Villages to Outsiders in Guinea
By ADAM NOSSITERNOV. 16, 2014
DANDANO, Guinea ? ?Bring out your sick!? the chief shouted angrily at the crowd, shaking his fist and warning of illness and death for the whole village if it did not obey.
?Don?t hide them!? he yelled. ?If you don?t expose them, you will suffer!?
Slowly, haggard and dazed, a procession trudged to the muddy village center ? a student, a minibus driver, a 5-year-old girl and farmers ? with bloodshot eyes betraying the symptoms of Ebola. They walked alone, two village elders flanking them at a wary distance. The crowd edged away fearfully.
Then something just as unusual happened: A Red Cross team went to work freely, tossing water bags to the sick, sheathing them in plastic robes, rubber gloves and face masks. They were taken away down a rough dirt road by a waiting ambulance.
?There are many, and they are still hidden,? said a Red Cross nurse, climbing in.
This remote, mountainous part of Guinea is where the world?s worst Ebola outbreak began nearly a year ago, in villages hidden by dense forest, high reeds ? and a long history of resistance to the distant central government.
...
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/w...ens-wary-villages-to-outsiders-in-guinea.html
Fear of Ebola Opens Wary Villages to Outsiders in Guinea
By ADAM NOSSITERNOV. 16, 2014
DANDANO, Guinea ? ?Bring out your sick!? the chief shouted angrily at the crowd, shaking his fist and warning of illness and death for the whole village if it did not obey.
?Don?t hide them!? he yelled. ?If you don?t expose them, you will suffer!?
Slowly, haggard and dazed, a procession trudged to the muddy village center ? a student, a minibus driver, a 5-year-old girl and farmers ? with bloodshot eyes betraying the symptoms of Ebola. They walked alone, two village elders flanking them at a wary distance. The crowd edged away fearfully.
Then something just as unusual happened: A Red Cross team went to work freely, tossing water bags to the sick, sheathing them in plastic robes, rubber gloves and face masks. They were taken away down a rough dirt road by a waiting ambulance.
?There are many, and they are still hidden,? said a Red Cross nurse, climbing in.
This remote, mountainous part of Guinea is where the world?s worst Ebola outbreak began nearly a year ago, in villages hidden by dense forest, high reeds ? and a long history of resistance to the distant central government.
...
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/w...ens-wary-villages-to-outsiders-in-guinea.html