Episode 4 – Searching for the well
Learn about the importance of water with Giulia, our Water and Sanitation Specialist! Her main concern is to find a safe water source able to supply the new hospital in Kenema that Doctors without Borders is building. The hospital will be equipped to face eventual future Ebola cases, to avoid their spread and the dramatic impact the past Ebola epidemic had on people’s life, like Luca and his colleague recall.


SCRIPT:

0:00 – Giuilia
Hi, I’m Giulia, I’m still here in Sierra Leone and today I would like to tell you about the importance of water to avoid the transmission of epidemics.
My main concern right now is to find a source of water, able to supply the hospital with the quantity of water we need every day. The local community, the population living in the village of Hangha, has offered to share the same well that it has been using for already twenty years. The inhabitants of Hangha assure that the water supply is abundant and that there is enough water for everybody. I hope they are right, but first of all I will go check it out…let’s see.
0:42 - Giulia
We are getting closer to the hills behind the hospital. I want to take some water samples to analyze in the laboratory and verify their quality. Mohammad comes with us. He is our guide and he will help us to open a path.
0:55 - Giulia
We are getting closer to the hills, and therefore to the forest. We have found the pipe that arrives from the Hangha village downstream. Now we start following it. I would never go alone. You may encounter animals. I am not very used to it. I would not know what to do, if we find monkeys or a snake on our way. Therefore, I will always go together with Mohammed.
1:24 - Giulia
We now hear the sound of water. Therefore, what I have been told is true: there is a stream. We are getting close to it and my guide is bringing me to the right place. Here we are. The stream is below us. Let’s find a way to get down. I want to take a sample. In this phase, I am particularly interested in knowing whether there are metals, whether there are metallic compounds.
1:53 - Giulia
The forest is beautiful, but it is also full of animals, which can be the vehicles of disease transmission. It houses snakes and monkeys, but also rodents and rats which spread the Lassa hemorrhagic fever. Or bats, which are the vehicle through which Ebola can be transmitted from animals to humans. Luca is in Magburaka, close to one of the centers built by Doctors Without Borders during the Ebola epidemic of 2014.
2:20 – Luca
This hospital was built in eighteen days. This is a cement plaque, which is still here.
All right, here was the pharmacy. As you can see, today it is completely covered with vegetation. Two years have passed now.
2:45 – Driver
When somebody got infected during the time of the epidemic, there was the center. It was not very easy for us because we lost a lot of friends and families during the time of the epidemic. For me here is like my hometown. So I told my mom “ok, now, I have to join these people to fight against the epidemic. I miss loved ones, family friends. And the day they declared that, today, Ebola is gone, no more Ebola. Would you believe, I was very, very excited. This washing of hands, spraying of feet, if you want to get into the car you need to spray your feet and now we are coming and just jumping into the cars. Everybody is free, we have free movement. We are very happy, we hug ourselves.
3:35 – Luca e Driver
What do we say always?
Peace and love, yeah. Before we can’t do like this, yeah. Before I cannot do this one.
3:47 – Scritta
Unfortunately, a few days later, a new hotbed of Ebola was announced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3:56 – Giulia
Unfortunately, the percentage of patients, which managed to overcome the illness, was very low. The epidemic has led to the collapse of the whole hospital system. Many doctors, many nurses, and many hygienist have been victims of the epidemic, too. The structures have been very weakened.
4:16 – Giulia
The mortality rate of pregnant women and of children below the age of five is among the highest in the world. Therefore, the hospital addresses mainly this part of the population. Thus, we will have the maternity ward, neonatology and pediatrics. In addition, there is a part for the isolation of infectious diseases and another part prepared to face potential epidemics. Even in that eventuality, it will be possible to keep the hospital perfectly running, also in case of an epidemic.
4:50 – Giulia
I have received the test results of the water sample we took last week. The good news is that, probably, we will be able to use this water. But there is also a bad news, because the value for aluminum is very high. As a precaution, we will need to carry out a water purification, a treatment that is quite complicated and quite expensive. Fortunately, we can always count on our donors. Therefore, we know that somehow, we will be able to use this water for the hospital. We can go on with the construction.
5:27 – Giulia
Only thanks to your help, we can complete the construction of the aqueduct for the Hangha hospital. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.