Struggling to cope in an Ebola world

I hate embarrassment so I always endeavor to obey the law to the best of my ability.

Presently though, I am having tough time doing so.

Sierra Leone is one of the three countries affected by the West African Ebola outbreak. For many of us in the capital, Freetown, it is not yet a major concern as it is in the east of the country, where over a hundred people have died to the illness.

But from all what health experts are saying, and given reports of a few cases wherein patients have been intercepted in parts of the city, there is every reason to be worried.

The viral hemorrhagic disease was first confirmed in Guinea in February and later found it way to Liberia, and then Sierra Leone. The three countries share extensive border; far too extensive for their poorly funded securities to handle, and so that every efforts expended by the governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia could not shield their citizens from the spill-over effect.

It is six months since the outbreak and authorities are still struggling to contain it. Even though they`d want to restrict movements across their borders, political and economic considerations make that direction a nonstarter. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also come out strongly against that

The disease, meanwhile, continues to expand its conquest,

both in cases and death toll, by the hour. The regional death toll is now above 500, according to WHO updates. It`s hard to give definitive numbers as the cases change every now and then.

Scientists say the virus is transmitted through bodily fluids and person to person contact is the surest route.

This is where my problem is.

Every aspect of life in our part of the world is carved out to make us highly susceptible to a disease of this nature - crammed homes or overloaded commercial vehicles.

But there are other not so obvious but likely means of contact which seem to have been overlooked, which I think needs looking into. For example, the wearing of motor bike helmet, touching of an object an Ebola patient has touched, or even using a water body that an Ebola patient may have come in contact with.

While you may be able to tell by the look of someone that they could be of danger to you, you can not tell in the case of the above mentioned scenarios.

I have heard of the story of the elderly man who attempted to enter a Poda Poda (commercial transport van) and stopped halfway on seeing that the passenger he was about to sit near was sweating profusely.

“You want me to get Ebola, look at how you are sweating,” he said, to the laughter of the other passengers but to the embarrassment of the sweating woman.

If you have ever boarded an Okada (a commercial motor bike), which constitute the most predominant form of commercial transport here, you will get a feel of what I am about to narrate.

It is compulsory, as enforced by the police, that anyone riding a bike wears the crash helmet, for obvious reasons. The police aren`t necessarily interested in the security aspect. But that`s an issue for another day.

The inside of these helmets, often fitted with sponge, is always filthy, thanks to repeated usage by passengers. But the fact they they are dirty is not the issue, the sweat is. When you wear one, you often feel the sweat if the last passenger had just disembarked.

Imagine if an Ebola infected patient has just worn one immediately before you!

When the virus was first confirmed in Sierra Leone, Okadas were said to be the vehicle of escape for infected people in denial. Because cars and other larger vehicles could be stopped at checkpoints, as the authorities were now doing in line with a state of emergency declared in the affected eastern region, bikes were the perfect vehicle to ply the narrow, bushy routes of Kailahun and Kenema into hiding.

Most of the chaps who operate these bikes in Freetown are from upcountry.

At some point, therefore, I stopped using Okadas.

Recently, I read on a local tabloid about a mass appeal by residents of Kenema urging the police to relax the rule on crash helmet.

Unlike their Kailahun counterparts, Kenema residents were quick to accept the reality of the situation.

The police eventually did, according to a subsequent report on by that paper.

Since Freetown is not Kenema, I have resolved to stay away from bikes so that I do not have to be seen disobeying the law.

Again, as you would know if you are reading this article from within Sierra Leone or have lived here anytime since after 2002, you would know that you can`t stay away from Okadas. Everyone uses them, regardless of your status, barring the President and Vice President who have traffic stopped for their passage.

Freetown`s narrow, often traffic jammed highways, means bikes are the only option for us the rest when pressed with time. They stop not for the traffic police`s sign, they race against all other vehicles, even if it means against traffic rules.

The other day, I overslept after a long night working, as I always do when there is power supply in our vicinity.

Electricity supply is so scarce in this country that we get it once every while. When we do, accumulating work means more pressure. If have to, because you do not know when next light is going to come. And if you are like me, whose work (as a correspondent for a foreign media)involves extensive research, writing and sending reports via email, it means you aren’t going to do anything; except of course if you have a generator and can afford the cost of fueling.   

So, on that day, I woke up late and realized that I had a scheduled interview appointment and was already running late.

Guess what my only option was - Okada.

But on this day, I was lucky to meet up with a gentle rider.

As we approached our destination, at the junction where the police were sure to waiting for a careless biker who they could prey on, he handed me the helmet.

“You better stop shortly before you arrive at the park, because I am not wearing this helmet,” I said.

“Why,” he inquired.

“Ebola,” I said.

And then he laughed as though to suggest: “You must be mad.”

I sensed that he was one of the many I had met who still do not believe Ebola exists.