Together We Stand

[ 131 ] The needs of the quarantined households did not stop with the 21-day quarantined period or even the livelihoods support offered. In an effort to respond to the needs of the communities that were most heavily impacted by Ebola, Trócaire continues to support the families with discharge packages, awareness on EVD and services available, but also to incorporate these communities in its medium/longer- term development programming, made possible through the generous donations of the Irish public, Irish Aid, Dutch Joint Ebola Response, the Disaster Emergency Committee and other foundations. This has involved continued livelihoods support to community women initiating small businesses and groups of organized women farmers who are now collec- tively producing crops such as rice, corn, groundnut, okra, cucumbers, peppers and cassava, among others. Continuing its support, Trócaire and its partners constructed five locally-run information kiosks at stra- tegic locations in the Northern province. Community members used these kiosks to acquire information on the varying services available to them, including health services. Further, the kiosks formed part of a strategy to raise awareness of high-risk cultural practices that contrib- uted to the spread of Ebola, such as the washing of bodies and unsafe burials. This was complemented with door-to- door campaigns, radio soap stories and IEC materials. Local structures were also trained to take an active role in the surveillance and referral of EVD patients, as well as longer- term emergency preparedness planning. Another key element of the interventions has been the incorporation of psychosocial support at community level to facilitate individual healing processes and to help ease tensions in communities that have been divided as a result of blaming and stigmatization. To do this, Trócaire facilitated the training of 304 local partner organizations, women’s groups and community actors in the provision of basic counselling services to be rolled out at local level. This has proved to be incredibly strategic, filling a gap for those living in remote areas who find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to access such services on their own. One of the communities benefiting from the integrated livelihoods and psychosocial intervention has been the previously quarantined community of Kargboto, and Mabinti Kargbo counts as one of the 30 organized women farmers in her community. During a recent monitoring visit, Mabinti shared with Trócaire her latest harvest of garden green cucumbers and golden maize. Only months before the collective land had been an empty and muddy plot, but the women had transformed it into a colourful display of agricultural production and future promise. “Ebola was like a plague sent from God and I hope it never comes back,” Mabinti said as she placed her cucum- bers onto a piece of tarpaulin. The women surrounding her nodded in agreement, each one with the same expression a person gets after having experienced a kind of anguish that is impossible to communicate with words. Yet Mabinti was still able to manage a smile, despite the death in her own family and the fear that haunted her throughout the outbreak. “Now I am taking care of the people who are left behind,” she said. “I’m doing things that I never thought I could do.” Image: Michael Solis, 2015 Mr Samura received quarantined household support while in quarantine, including livelihoods support and food and non-food items T ogether W e S tand