This title was inspired from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book- HALF OF A YELLOW SUN
After the end of the senseless ten year rebel war in 2002 that
left many Sierra Leoneans homeless, children orphaned,families’ lost property,
wrecked our economy, destabilized our educational systems and even threatened
our social well-being, Sierra Leone had been out of the spotlight for a while;
we have been on the process of recovery though a slow or to be better described
stagnated process, life was still going on for most Sierra Leoneans. We held on
to the adage that ‘as long as there is life there is hope’.
There was life so we lived every day in expectancy of a
better tomorrow.
We lived our lives not in fear of the next rebel attack until
the Ebola outbreak hit us early this year. Now life is not assured hence NO
HOPE.
It is like the rebel war all over again however this time we are threatened by a different enemy.
Not drugged rebels with machetes and AK47’s but by
a deadly virus; the Ebola virus: a virus that is supposedly transmitted to
humans from wild animals and spreads through humans via human to human
transmission. There is no cure for infection with this virus or vaccine to prevent it.
Our people are dying on a daily basis even more are also
been infected. This disease outbreak is slowly turning our nation into a
hopeless nation.
Our already wrecked economy has been threatened to deteriorate
at an even faster rate with all these travel advisories issued against our
country within the past months.
Just when we thought we could not sink any lower as a nation, this happened and now we are hitting rock bottom.
Ebola is killing us every day. But the question I keep
asking myself is what is been done??
Since the Ebola outbreak early this year, I am one person
who has been very concerned about the progress report of the disease.
For the single and most important reason that I still have
some of my extended family back home in Sierra Leone. My grandparents, my dad
works in Sierra Leone and close friends who are medics, are in the forefront of
this fight against Ebola.
Just this month, a total of one thousand one hundred and seventy
(1170) new cases have been reported and we are only half way through the month.
The capital city-Freetown has the greatest percentage of that number.
Freetown is the heart of governance in Sierra Leone, even the
East, Kailuhun and Kenema where the outbreak started seem to be having things
under control. It’s needless to put into words what this says about governance
in mama Salone.
But because we are the Sierra Leoneans that we are, when
something happens we quickly look for every reason to explain why that has
happened and people to blame except looking back at ourselves. This manifests
all the way up to the presidency when in one of his speeches after the
escalation of the outbreak mentioned that the international community did not
respond in time thus the escalation.
Yes this is how
hopeless our president can be and I have documents to support my accusation.
There have been so many conspiracy theories about the
outbreak of this disease one which I would want to highlight is linking the
outbreak to some experiment that went wrong early this year in the eastern part
of Sierra Leone. I personally find that theory very outrageous. From the little
that I know about public health and regulatory affairs in public health systems,
I know that any sober government with the well-being of the citizens at heart
would have in place proper internal regulatory bodies to scrutinize such
experiments. Because after all, was this not the reason why we voted them all
into office? With hope that they are competent enough to look after our well-being? Please let us be a little bit more critical as Sierra Leoneans.
Today after receiving news of the death of the renowned Dr.
Salia last evening at the Nebraska Medical Center, authorities reported the
death of the seventh Doctor, Dr. Karbgo since the outbreak.
And as if that was not enough to prompt EBK and his APC
government to act, today I watched with a heavy heart on CNN an interview with
a family who reported that they took their relative who was showing signs and
symptoms of Ebola infection to a treatment center and he was not admitted
because there were not enough beds to accommodate him.
Now my question is
how is the millions of dollars the government is collecting on a daily basis
from well wishers been used. Are these people plain stupid, ignorant or just
heartless??
IS EBOLA ERADICATION A PRIORITY AT ALL TO THESE STAKEHOLDERS??
ARE THEY AWARE OF THE DAMAGE THIS DISEASE IS CAUSING TO THE COUNTRY, ARE THEY CONCERNED
AT ALL?
WOULD EBK AND THE REST OF US SIERRA LEONEANS SAY THE WORLD
WAS SILENT WHILE WE DIED? I mean even the bible says that heaven helps those
who help themselves but it is evident that we are not doing much to help
ourselves at all.
MAKE GOD EP WE!!
DEDICATED TO OUR FALLEN HEROES, BECAUSE YOU, YOU WHO DIED IN
THE FIGHT AGAINST THIS DEADLY DISEASE ARE OUR TRUE HEROES.
MAY GOD GRANT YOU ALL ETERNAL REST AND LIGHT PERPETUAL
SHINE UPON YOU.
THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
AMEN.
