JOURNEY to KLEHN’s Town; an Isolated Village of over 1000 Inhabitants amidst Ebola

4 Persons at a time, Team members crossing over to Klehn's Town

By 2:30 PM, after a 6 hours journey, our Team arrived at the riverside, a stone throw to Klehn’s Town; villagers pull to the river crossing to meet us, as the man who controls the traditionally made Wood Fairy pulled his rope towards us. Every member of the team appeared exhausted, from the several bouncing due to pot holes, as the car speeds. The Town has over 200 houses, with over 1000 inhabitants according to authorities there.

 Two confirmed cases of Ebola had been reported in Klehn’s Town, both died at home before authority could arrived in August and September, with up to 12 suspected cases.

Klehn's Town residents gathered with questions

As we entered the Town, women and children scrambled to greet us. Everyone knew we were there to talk to them about Ebola, because they saw the Ebola buckets in our hands. Before we had arrived, a group came and left one bucket at the riverside for the villagers to wash their hands. As if that was not enough, as we walked to the Chief’s office, villagers young and old surrounded us, prepared with serious questions and concerns about the epidemic. Some appeared frustrated while others simply needed more clarity. Key among these questions were: is the government is doing anything to end Ebola in Liberia, apart from just encouraging hand-washing? Which of the bush meats we should not eat, and why are we only treating humans if the animals are the carrier of Ebola? Will we ever eat bush meat again? 

Two months earlier, while on an assessment tour, I was touched by some stories. Others I could not bear. The situation taking place in Klehn’s Town was serious by then, as some Ebola victims had just migrated from Margibi County, walking through the forest and crossing over to this almost isolated village. Klehn’s Town, like other villages in Rural Montserrado, Nyeamah (Gomoshu) in lower Careysburg are almost completely isolated and surrounded by treacherous terrain. The migration of suspected Ebola victims is one of the key causes of Ebola cases these communities, because in most cases, when family members are sick, they prefer to go to native doctors or go to other family members in the interior for traditional medications. The increase wave of stigma, ineffective response and poor contact tracing efforts, have complicated the probability for effective surveillance for Ebola victims.

Team members of Youth Crime Watch of Liberia’s Ebola Emergency Liberia campaign, as part of the Early Warning Working group, led a three days Awareness, Sensitization campaign and distribution of Health Kits across ten communities in Grand Bassa, A similar exercise was held for two days in rural Montserrado for ten communities as well. Materials were acquire with support from Humanity United. On the way to Klehn’s Town, our team covered three other Town and villages, including Jacob Miller Town, Compound 3, and St. John.

A water bottle hangs at Jacob Miller Town Chief's Office

In Jacob Miller Town, residents - men, women and children came running to us as we entered the town. They gathered at the Tribal Chief’s Hut. Mr. James Dolo, Tribal Chief for Leegbhn Section was excited to welcomed us and started to tell us about his communities. Jacob Miller itself is close to the main road, a small Town, but the Chief has more than 20 villages under his Jurisdiction. These villages can only be assessed by motorbike or on foot. The Town Chief said “I only have this mineral bottle, I put pieces of iron soap in it with water for people to wash their hands, we are here in this town, on the road, we don’t have bucket or Clorox to wash our hands, just think about our people in the bush”. 

Both Klehn’s and Jacob Miller Towns don’t have easy access to communication, so you cannot call anybody with mobile phones there. Only residents can make a call, because climb trees to find signal. There is no Drugs Store in Klehn’s Town, however there is a government clinic few hours away, the next nearest access to medication is Compound # 3, is about two hours by car, equivalent to days of walking. 

There has been organization of local Task forces already since my last assessment, but one of the just trained task force members for the communities around Klehn’s town complained that he has not been able to do his job. “We just receive the training, but I don’t know how they expect us to go around in the villages to talk to people” he complained. He said that the training he just received is the second time he has receiving such training about Ebola, “but they just tell us to go and educate our people,….I don’t know how?” he added. It is very rare to see commercial vehicles, except few that travel only during market days in particular, major Towns. Travelers will have to wait for a luck, or walk to the nearest town to catch motorbike or vehicle, only during a market day. 

Compound # 3 Youth Center, G. Bassa County

These rural communities boarder other affected counties, Rivercess, Margibi and Bong Counties, all Ebola hit counties. Authorities in Buchanan sent medical teams to Klehn’s town to train residents on how to bury their dead, but in any reverse case, residents will have to wait for days again in order for a response to come from Buchanan City. The nearest biggest Town along the way, which has access both internet and telephone, but Ebola Treatment Center, except a Quarantine Center which is currently closed for lack of resources, after recently discharging two suspected patients. Therefore, there is currently no capacity for rapid response in district # 3. There is a local Task Force, with whom leaders we met at the Youth Center, together with the district health technician, and other youth leaders who all stressed willingness to get involved,  but noted serious challenges, the lack of logistical support and capacity to carry out planned activities. Even the Youth Center which is still open to young people, and is used for other meeting purposes during this Ebola era didn’t have a bucket or any other sanitizing kits for visitors during our visit. 

In most of the communities, local authorities are making efforts to mobilize local sensitization Task Forces, some by the central government…however, setting up a Task Force is one thing, making it operational is another. this which means having the capacity to do what is require. It occurs to me that these local structures are still looking on the road for donors to help them carry out community driven awareness, some were even formed because they saw it as a way of employment, rather than a social obligation. Thus, until the government and other international agencies are able to fully capacitate these local structures, it will make no difference at all whether there was a Task Force or not. Recently, the main county Task Force in Buchanan city receive another harsh warning as citizens demonstrated for the removal of the County Superintendent, who is playing host to the county Task Force and administration of Ebola Relief Funds. Demonstrators are citing corruption and misappropriation of resources. The previous Task Force coordinator resigned because of similar reasons.

The Center for Disease Control warned earlier that without additional interventions or changes in community behavior, by January 20, 2015, there will be a total of approximately 550,000 Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone, or 1.4 million if corrections for underreporting are made.  

To date, according to CDC’s updated profile of October 5^th 2014, Cases in Liberia are currently doubling every 15-20 days, and those in Sierra Leone and Guinea are doubling every 30-40 days. Liberia along has accounted for over 3,924 Cases, with Total Deaths of 2,210.Almost all victims identified from remote Towns and Villages either died before authority could arrive or died on the way to an Ebola Treatment Unit.

The President of Liberia, on October 14^th call for more assistance from world leaders in a letter to the world. "This fight requires a commitment from every nation that has the capacity to help, whether that is with emergency funds, medical supplies or clinical expertise; the virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced," she said 

As we set up response efforts in the main cities, serious community-level intervention is require to win this fight (especially in hugely populated slum communities, isolated towns and villages). Due to the education level of our country (which has illiteracy rate of over 70%) and the remoteness of most communities, we can’t be sure how many victims have migrated from the cities to other rural communities already or how well people are yielding to messages, because many of them have unanswered questions. Also, we can not rely on radio messages (not every community has coverage), and distribution of flyers only. These efforts need to be accompanied by an aggressive community driven door – to – door awareness, sensitization and dramatization of behavior change messages, particularly in affected and threatened areas. Citizens need to talk and have their questions answered Ebola Treatment Units need to be decentralized and alternative medications accessible to communities through local pharmacists and clinics.

Thomas Barlue with Jacob Miller Town Residence

The Publisher is a Young Peace Ambassador, One Young World Ambassador, Community Solutions Fellow; a committed, grass root, youth and community development advocate, has been working and inspiring change among and for children and youth since 2004. He can be contacted Via Email: onedream.lib@gmail.com / Skype: one-dream.lib / Twitter: @teeman101

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