Ebola in Sierra Leone: the role of faith leaders 

Faith leaders played a key role in tackling the Ebola crisis, as this new film from Christian Aid shows 

The second anniversary of the Ebola epidemic, which killed and orphaned thousands in west Africa, passed recently.

During this crisis, Christian Aid was among the organisations supporting faith leaders, like the Revd Christiana Sutton-Koroma, to help educate and protect their communities from the deadly virus. 

'You cannot succeed without engaging the religious leaders,' she said. 'They know their communities, they know their people. They are trusted voices. And when the people listen, they will actually adhere to the preventative messages.'

Another Christian leader, Father Peter Conteh, was moved by the plight of a little girl he wasn’t able to help.

He said, 'One particular situation touched my heart. Members of our church were sick. It was at the peak of Ebola, and we had only a few ambulances. We went to the house, but the mum and dad were already dead. There was a six year old child stretching out her arms to us.

'But it was too dangerous – what could we do? We were pestering the medical people to come, but it was not possible. Forty eight hours later we got the ambulance but the kid had died. I went home in tears. This girl was stretching out her hands and I was helpless.'
 
Father Peter was not able to help the little girl, but by educating others in his community he has helped protect many more from the deadly disease.
 
Watch the full film ‘Ebola in Sierra Leone: the role of faith leaders’ to find out how.