Ebola Survivors In Gulu Still Sick
Mar 15, 2004
IT's over three years since Uganda was declared Ebola-free on February 27, 2001, but the survivors still live in fear. Some of the people who suffered from Ebola, still feel a lot of pain, stress and uneasiness. They fear that they might become ill again.
By Justin Moro
IT's over three years since Uganda was declared Ebola-free on February 27, 2001, but the survivors still live in fear. Some of the people who suffered from Ebola, still feel a lot of pain, stress and uneasiness. They fear that they might become ill again.
“Generally, the views and attitude of the community in Gulu are not negative towards us. We are not being isolated as it used to be,†said Walter Odong, chairman of the Gulu Ebola Victims’ Association.
Several Ebola survivors interviewed in Gulu complain of frequently falling sick, backache, headache, waist pain, pain along the spinal cord, poor sight, chest pain and general body weaknesses that limits their ability to work.
“Most of us, the Ebola survivors, are sexually weak,†Odong said. “When it is hot you get severe headache and when it is cold you have chest pain and general body pain. It rings in our minds that Ebola can still come back here in Gulu,†he said.
So far the association has registered six deaths amongst Ebola survivors since 2002, which they associate with the effects of the disease.
On compensation of Ebola survivors and the victims, he said government is to speed it up and make it regular so that payment of school fees and meeting other basic necessities of life for the survivors in made easy.
“My humble appeal to the government is to give us income generating projects to enable us survive,†Odong said.
Ebola was first confirmed in Gulu on October 8, 2000 and it killed about 171 people, including medical workers such as Dr Mathew Lukwiya, the then Medical superintendent of Lacor Hospital (in Gulu). Over 250 of the people who suffered from the disease survived.
Sister Hellen Ogwal, nurse at Lacor Hospital, is one of the Medical workers who survived the Ebola attack. She said, “It was 2003 in February that we received a cheque of 2m/- and we were told that we would be paid yearly but up to now I have not received any more money.â€
One reminder of Ebola in Gulu is the communal burial ground of Ebola victims, which is in Bar Dege Division in Gulu Municipality, West of Gulu airfield. It is now bushy except during the dry seasons when wild fires clear it.
“The burial ground has been fenced by Gulu district authorities,†Odong said. The Ebola association was formed in 2001 with an aim of bringing all survivors together. The membership included amongst others survivors, widows and widowers of Ebola victims and orphans of Ebola.
“We at first received sh17m from the UPDF here in Gulu in 2001. We used part of the money to buy a motorcycle and the rest we divided amongst ourselves. After that we have been benefiting from good Samaritans, especially receiving relief food items and money to pay school fees for the orphans, “ he said.
Some of the organisations that have helped the association include AMREF, World Vision, Caritas Uganda, the Uganda, Red Cross and Lacor Hospital.
IT's over three years since Uganda was declared Ebola-free on February 27, 2001, but the survivors still live in fear. Some of the people who suffered from Ebola, still feel a lot of pain, stress and uneasiness. They fear that they might become ill again.
“Generally, the views and attitude of the community in Gulu are not negative towards us. We are not being isolated as it used to be,†said Walter Odong, chairman of the Gulu Ebola Victims’ Association.
Several Ebola survivors interviewed in Gulu complain of frequently falling sick, backache, headache, waist pain, pain along the spinal cord, poor sight, chest pain and general body weaknesses that limits their ability to work.
“Most of us, the Ebola survivors, are sexually weak,†Odong said. “When it is hot you get severe headache and when it is cold you have chest pain and general body pain. It rings in our minds that Ebola can still come back here in Gulu,†he said.
So far the association has registered six deaths amongst Ebola survivors since 2002, which they associate with the effects of the disease.
On compensation of Ebola survivors and the victims, he said government is to speed it up and make it regular so that payment of school fees and meeting other basic necessities of life for the survivors in made easy.
“My humble appeal to the government is to give us income generating projects to enable us survive,†Odong said.
Ebola was first confirmed in Gulu on October 8, 2000 and it killed about 171 people, including medical workers such as Dr Mathew Lukwiya, the then Medical superintendent of Lacor Hospital (in Gulu). Over 250 of the people who suffered from the disease survived.
Sister Hellen Ogwal, nurse at Lacor Hospital, is one of the Medical workers who survived the Ebola attack. She said, “It was 2003 in February that we received a cheque of 2m/- and we were told that we would be paid yearly but up to now I have not received any more money.â€
One reminder of Ebola in Gulu is the communal burial ground of Ebola victims, which is in Bar Dege Division in Gulu Municipality, West of Gulu airfield. It is now bushy except during the dry seasons when wild fires clear it.
“The burial ground has been fenced by Gulu district authorities,†Odong said. The Ebola association was formed in 2001 with an aim of bringing all survivors together. The membership included amongst others survivors, widows and widowers of Ebola victims and orphans of Ebola.
“We at first received sh17m from the UPDF here in Gulu in 2001. We used part of the money to buy a motorcycle and the rest we divided amongst ourselves. After that we have been benefiting from good Samaritans, especially receiving relief food items and money to pay school fees for the orphans, “ he said.
Some of the organisations that have helped the association include AMREF, World Vision, Caritas Uganda, the Uganda, Red Cross and Lacor Hospital.