Ebola outbreak – B-roll of Ebola cemetery in Freetown, and of Daniel James, National safe and dignified burial team leader, Sierra Leone Red Cross Society
Two years following the declaration of an Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa, communities and governments in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are moving into the recovery phase, determined to make their countries stronger before Ebola decimated families, economies and health care systems.
Through its five pillared response, the IFRC, in support of the three affected National Societies, played a key role in helping to bring the outbreak to an end. Thousands of volunteers were involved in contact tracing, case management, beneficiary communications and social mobilization, psychosocial support, and safe and dignified burials (SDB).
Daniel James was working in the disaster management unit of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society when the outbreak started. When no one else volunteered to conduct safe and dignified burials (SDB), Daniel put up his hand. He was among the first to be trained on SDB in Kailahun district, the epicentre of the outbreak in the country, and after demonstrating leadership qualities, was promoted to head up the national SDB team for the National Society.
Daniel trained others across the country on how to provide SDBs, and took part in more than 500 burials in the first three months of the outbreak alone. He is quite proud of the fact that no member of his teams became infected with Ebola, despite having conducted approximately 50 per cent of all burials in the country.
TIMECODE:
00:00 – 00:07 MS of men cleaning up cemetery in Freetown where Ebola victims are buried
00:07 – 00:17 MS of graves, with shot of 2 year old’s grave in the foreground
00:17 – 00:22 MS of row of graves
00:22 – 00:28 CU of grave from ground level
00:28 – 00:39 WS from up high of cemetery
00:39 – 00:52 MS of men digging at cemetery
00:52 – 01:06 CU of shovel digging
01:01 – 01:08 MS of family working out front of house
01:06 – 01:19 MS of graves from tombstone level
01:19 – 01:27 MS of row of graves and tombstones
01:27 – 01:36 MS of Daniel James talking with cemetery workers
01:36 – 01:46 MS of Daniel James talking
01:46 – 01:51 MS of Daniel James talking with cemetery worker then walks off
01:51 – 01:58 MS of Daniel James walking in cemetery through camera frame
01:58 – 02:03 MS of Daniel James walking through row of graves
02:03 – 02:14 MS of graves with grave marker in the foreground
02:14 – 02:39 WS of cemetery workers digging, then pan to cemetery grounds
02:39 - ENDS