In Butembo, Ebola survivors comfort sick children
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on TimesLIVE
In Butembo, DR Congo, Ebola survivor Jerkis Mahamba helps sick children at an isolation centre where relatives cannot touch them. Immune to the circulating strain, he reassures, carries and distracts them during treatment, according to a Reuters report carried by TimesLIVE.
In Butembo, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jerkis Mahamba cares for children hospitalised at an Ebola treatment centre. The 29-year-old survivor was recruited by Médecins sans frontières after recovering in 18 days from an infection contracted in September, according to Reuters.
Thanks to his immunity to the strain circulating in the region, he can come into contact with the young patients, while their parents must remain behind a window. He hugs them, rocks them, plays with them and tells them that he, too, went through the disease, which involved vomiting, loss of appetite and difficulty taking medication.
Mahamba continues to wear protective equipment and disinfects his clothing to prevent carrying the virus outside the ward. Other survivors work in the wards as carers or take part in cleaning and disinfecting the premises and equipment.
Dr Toussaint Selemani, head of the centre run by MSF, believes survivors can reduce fear and stigma in communities. Some travel to villages and remote areas to combat misinformation and encourage people with symptoms to seek treatment. Their work follows the recent discharges of recovered patients, including 13 recovered patients discharged from Beni centres on 27 October 2026.
