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Diary Day 5 – Saturday
Early this morning the choir started practising in the church just on the other side of the fence. Lovely harmonies. They were accompanied by cock crows and the sounds of sweeping as every inch of our compound is brushed.
We went down to the isolation unit very early in an effort to keep ahead of everything for the day’s funeral. The first problem was that we had no car available until the afternoon. The second problem was that when the nurses went into the ward to see how the other two patients were, they found that one had died.
Then started really the most horrible tragi-comedy involving coffins, bodies and burial sites. We decided to bury in order of death. So last night’s death first.
The first mistake I made was talking to the wrong family and arranging the wrong coffin open in front of the isolation unit. It was made of wicket mat and was lined and covered with a kind of pink gingham and floral sheet. There was a lot of shouting between the family member that I was talking to and the family members from the second family, because of confusion over the coffins.
Then came the most unbelievable rain. I didn’t really know what to do as it was not going to be safe to try and carry the coffin and lower it into the grave as it would be too slippery. Amazingly, ten minutes later when we got to the cemetery the sky was blue and there was just a slight crackly noise as the last raindrops hit the dead grass stalks.
By the time I got back to the isolation unit, the third patient had died. He had been really very bad all day and his family had been outside crying and talking to him. His father had been in for a visit to say goodbye and they had cut two small pieces of string, one around his ankle and one around his wrist. Later in the morning they had asked Barbara to cut the last string which was round his tummy. It was awful to see: they were just waiting for him to die.
I went back to the cemetery and got two coffins into their graves before another torrential storm started with lightening that I could see streaking across the sky.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Zoe, and team, take good care of yourself and the people.
We are following you from Damascus, Syria.
We understand the challenges are enough!
All the best from Rakel
September 26th, 2007 at 1:59 am
Zoe and the Emergency pool team Keep the good work flowing……………………………..we are with you today tomorrow and forever……………
September 26th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Zoe,
You are very brave and good-hearted to be doing such hard work under such primitive circumstances. A very scary situation to have to confront. We thank you for your heroic intervention. Be well.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:23 am
I am fascinated by the work you are doing and extremely interested in emerging diseases. I have been following ebola outbreaks via the news, books, articles and the internet since i first heard of it in 1997. I wish there was something i could do to help. You and the people of the DRC are in my prayers may the good Lord bless and keep you.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Courage to you and the team Zoe,
Alexis and Sophie
Goma
September 29th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Dear Zoe, I hope you will post again soon. Your diary is very informative. My prayers go out to you, your team, and the people of Africa. Stay healthy.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Zoe, thank you for all of your work to keep everyone safe. I’m sure you understand just how volatile the situation is, so thank you for protecting us. Please pass on my thanks to the whole team.
Know that thoughts and prayers are going out to you from up here in Canada – my class is following your postings. If you need anything at all, no matter how far fetched, please email me. It’s the least we can do.
Eric
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 am
Zoe,
I find your blog to be amazing and eye opening. I have followed Ebola also from the WHO website for years. The work you do is amazing. You are the bravest person I know.
My following Ebola led me to discover H5N1 in 2005 and I have been tracking it ever since. The thing that frightened me the most about H5N1 like ebola, was its high CFR. but I know that Ebola is not Flu. Flu is much easier to spread.
I then read about the 1918 Spanish flu H1N1 and began to prepare for what may be the next pandemic understanding that then was 1918 and today is 2007.
The work you are doing is front line defense of the rest of the human species. In 1918, many early cases of the flu were misdiagnosed. In your first blog entry you mention that at first, before the test came in, your team talkied about what it could be… was one of those things H5N1?