Q: How did you first learn about Ebola? Can you tell me how you first even knew what it was?

CM: It was May 23 when we heard that Ebola had struck Kailahun. There was a case in Kailahun, and people have started dying. We thought this was far away from us. But my friend, a public health doctor, used to joke “Sister, get ready, because if Ebola struck Freetown, you would be overwhelmed.” I said, “Doctor, it will not reach here. It is far away in Kailahun. This will not come to Freetown.” Little did we know that people were moving. No movement was restricted. So, alas, a case came into Freetown.

Q: Do you remember the first person you actually saw that was—do you remember that? Can you tell me about that?

CM: We had one affected CHO in Waterloo. He died on October 12, 2014. I feel guilty. One Sunday after work, I went home. Just as I was about to go to bed, he called me, and said, “Sister, I am not well.”

So I asked him. I said, “Joshua, what is wrong with you?” He said, “Sister, I think this is part of the big sickness.” And I said, “No, no, no, Joshua. It can’t be that. Maybe you are suffering from malaria.”

“When I am suffering from malaria, you used to treat me.”

“Let me explain what medicine you should take.” That was Sunday night. I told him what to do. On Monday and Tuesday, he was being harassed by some political people in Waterloo. He was taken to a cell. By Wednesday, when Concern was having training for CHOs, all the CHOs went on strike in Waterloo to help Joshua. You know what happened? Thursday morning, I went to work, and I was told that Joshua had Ebola.

We took Joshua. We brought him to Connaught Hospital. They tested him. He was positive. They took him to the treatment center in Jui. That was where he died. He was a community health officer. He was in charge of Luawa.

That’s a senior community health officer who was in charge of Luawa, sensitizing people, raising their awareness, what they should do and what they should not do, as far as Ebola is concerned. He died.

Q: How did your family—what did they go through, watching you?

CM: When I come home every evening, I bathe outside. I put everything in a new plastic bag. Nobody will touch it. I put everything in a new plastic bag. I leave my boots in my office. I will not bring these home. I leave everything outside when I come home from work and I bathe outside. I would not allow my kids to touch me. Thank God they were grown up. They were all at Komas when they saw this, so they know how to prevent themselves. My husband would pray to God for me every morning.

Q: So when the country was declared Ebola-free, what were the consequences for nurses to recover from this trauma, for the effect on the healthcare system?

CM: We lost so many nurses. So we had—it was not just the responsibility of the director of nursing to post other nurses to those places where we lost those health workers. The nurses, they felt a little bit frustrated, because with all the work that we did, we were not really recognized as people that have worked. We were not recognized.

It’s the nurses that—we render nursing care. A doctor will not render nursing care, but a nurse. No other health worker will render nursing care. It is only, solely nursing care. And so many of them died. At times, I want to shout, to say, “Oh, God, we’ve gone through the war, we’ve gone through this Ebola, we’ve gone through this mudslide.” I am losing my temper very quickly.

It was not an easy task for us. It wasn’t easy because there was too much to do. It would take me days, and I would be here for the whole day and night without any sleep. Thank God I worked at the intensive care unit, so I’ve been used to working like that.

I think nurses need to be recognized. We need to be recognized. We played an important role as far as Ebola is concerned. We played our own part as nurses.

We would have loved to hear from all the districts, “Sister, how is it?” For what we went through, it was not an easy task for us. But we consider ourselves, and we have continued to serve the nation, because this is our country. It was not easy. It was not easy.

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Christiana B. Massally was interviewed for Frontline Nurses by Jennifer Dohrn on August 12, 2019 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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