Private Story
Black River
Sierra Leone comes from a long and hard civil war (1991-2002), hospitals, schools and public buildings were destroyed. It is currently recognized as one of the countries with the lowest accessibility to improved health. As a result, at the end of the Ebola outbreak in 2016, Sierra Leone ranked first with the highest number of cases registered according to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, ending with more than 9,000 infected and 3,900 dead.
The World Health Organization (WHO) found that many patients suffered similar sequelae, baptizing them as post Ebola syndrome, which include joint pain, vision problems, uveitis, eye inflammation and hearing problems.
According to the NGO Save the Children, women represent more than half of all cases as they are usually designated caregivers of the sick, nurses, healers, housekeepers or laundry in health facilities; as well as being responsible for washing the bodies.
In addition, according to Salesian Missions, the Ebola outbreak has left more than 12,000 orphaned children, leaving them at the mercy of violence and exploitation.
The Ebola outbreak in 2013 in West Africa has been the news with more coverage and more media in recent years. In 2016, when officially declared extinct, the cameras and eyes of the world turn to new worries, leaving aside all those victims and the new reality they face.
BLACK RIVER aims to document, from intimate and everyday life, the challenge of being a survivor who has overcome Ebola disease in Sierra Leone; his constant struggle against social stigma, his overcoming against the loss of his own communities and families, and his daily combat in search of a better future.
These people live day by day with the challenge of facing an imperceptible reality, bearing the inheritance of the disease, in front of blind eyes of the world.
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