BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) --Ebola’s victims aren’t just those who die from the deadly disease. It’s leaving behind another tragedy. A rising number of children have been orphaned in West Africa by the outbreak.
On Saturday, a nongovernmental organisation launched a campaign in Conakry, the capital of Guinea to raise money to help these children. These children are often left abandoned, first by their deceased parents then shunned by their relatives and friends for fear of infection.
"My parents have died. I hope you older people could help me. As the school year is coming, I need to buy books and pay my school fees. I have no parents, that is why I came here to seek help," said Aissatu Koukouma, child orphaned by Ebola.
"Since my parents died, whenever I go to my friends to play they tell me: ’Go away. Your parents died from Ebola so you have Ebola too. I don’t want to see you any more.’ I had to leave and beg for food and I go to my school and sleep there every night. I am homeless," said Fatamata Keita, child orphaned by Ebola.
According to preliminary estimates by the UN Children’s Fund in October, at least 3700 children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have lost one or both parents to Ebola. Many of these children are left to fend for themselves and continue to live inside potentially infected houses.
The UN child agency is looking at more ways to help these children physically and emotionally. The organisation said about 2500 Ebola survivors, who are considered immune to the disease, will recieve lessons on providing care to children quarantined in treatment centers in the next few months.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
|
