Ebola Victim/Survivor Support

When Ebola broke out in September/October in USA and Europe, it became clear that this outbreak could potentially become an international catastrophe if not properly handled. This brought much needed international attention to a disease that was already raving the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from December/January and had already claimed atleast 4,000 lives. The death toll as of December 2014 is at over 7,000 with total infection at over 16,000 which unfortunately is still on the increase, more so in Sierra Leone.

This disease has torn the social fabrics of the society, further weakened the poor health system, cripped the economies of the three worst affected countries and thrown its citizens into further poverty.

Victims have been left orphaned as entire families or most of their members have been killed by the disease with many losing their homes, entire possessions and sources of income. In some cases, an entire community have been wiped out by Ebola. We have stories of babies and children - survivors -  who have lost all members of their families and those of men and women who have lost their spouse and/or children, had their entire families quarantined with their homes and possessions burnt to avoid reinfection of other household members. They are left with no source of income, food or shelter. These are some of the gruelling experiences and challenges that survivors and victims are thrown into by no fault of theirs.

Sierra Leone now has to care, shelter, educate, rehabilitate and re-integrate those affected and these herculean task cannot be left alone to just the government and organisations working tirelessly to achieve this. They are not only overwhelmed, but are also financially limited as all neccessary pledged funds have not been fully realised as hoped.

The mantra of many in Sierra Leone is "All Hands On Deck" as many of us are of the belief that we all have a role to play in ending Ebola and supporting the affected.

This project, focused on the worst hit country - Sierra Leone - is aimed at directly supporting victims and survivors with education, food, shelter, clothing and creating sources of livelihood.

This project is divided into two:

The first phase will cater for the provision of shelter, clothing and generating sources of income to victims and survivors.

The second phase will focus on supporting victims and survivors to get back into school or vocational training institutions

At this moment, it is difficult to project an amount that will cover this project due to the fact that new cases are being reported everyday with survivors and victims increasing. The number of cases reported daily are ever fluctuating making any statistical predictions a challenge. This project knows the benefit of every dollar to somone who has no food or clothing.

There is no maximum amount hoped to be raised; we know that no matter how little or much funds are raised, they will make a difference in the lives of those affected.