HEARTWRENCHING Photos: Ebola Orphans Scream for Their Parents -

The young baby pictured above's heartbreaking screams fill the hot, dusty air. And as she crawls in the dirt looking for her mother, they get louder and louder. But in this haunted village of doom, shrouded by death, despair and fear, no one stirs to help. And baby Fatima will never again find the comfort of her mother Nana’s arms.

Nana, 35, died with her eyes and gums bleeding, her body exhausted from stomach cramps and vomiting. Cruelly snatched from Fatima and her sisters Mobinti and Mamadu (pictured below) by Ebola, one of more than 2,000 people killed by the rampaging disease in Sierra Leone alone.

As the little orphan’s cries become unbearable, finally help emerges.

A broken old woman – Fatama’s only surviving ­relative – comes over to pick her up and calm her
sobbing great-grandchild.

Desperate: Teenager Tenneh Kamara with brother Orbai

Then Amie Bangura, 80, tells Steve Myall through her own tears how her granddaughter died – and how other villagers avoid them because their family has been tainted by the disease.

    “My grand-daughter had come from Guinea with her children to care for me,” she says. “She worked hauling sand and one day complained she had stomach ache. Two days later she was so sick she had to go to hospital. I wasn’t allowed to see her and she died. I loved her so much. She was so good to me and her girls.

    When our landlord heard she had died from Ebola he pushed us out and now we live in a broken down house no one wants. We have no food except what is given to us. I am too old to work and people avoid us because of the disease. I have no ­assurance about the future or what will happen to the girls when I die.”

Painfully thin, Amie says the family have one meal of plain rice a day. She often gives her share to the children.

They have not eaten today. The older of the girls, Mobinti, nine, spends all her time caring for her sisters while her great grandmother looks for food. She says:

    “I would like to go and play but I have to look after the house.”

Her sister Mamadu, three, has an eye infection which needs treatment. An aid worker explains it would cost £7 to fix. But there is no money here. In just three months the family have had their life turned upside down.

In that time Ebola has killed at least 80 people here in the village of John Thorpe, half an hour’s drive down dusty lanes from the capital Freetown. Most families have been affected and there are orphans like Fatmata everywhere.

A few doors down from Amie and the girls lives Tenneh Kamara, 16.

She explains how her mother fell ill two months ago. Her father took her to hospital but three days later she died. Tenneh says:

    “My father came home but then he fell sick. He told us to stay away from him and we went to our neighbours. We would leave food out for him but five days later he was dead. I miss my parents so much and am scared of getting sick.”

Tenneh and her two brothers Orbai, seven, and Saido, 12, live alone. She collects firewood which she sells to make 20p a day to buy food. They no longer go to school as all education has been suspended by the government to try to stem the spread of the disease.

Tenneh and her siblings do not sleep in the family home now. There are no locks on the doors and Tenneh says she is scared of intruders.

Asked where her brother Saido is, she smiles.

    “He says he has gone fishing but he is not very good at catching anything. We eat mainly peanut soup. Yesterday we didn’t eat anything.”

Little brother Orbai stands by looking shocked. He is so traumatised it is hard to coax words from him.

Fortunately the family is beginning to get help through food parcels from Street Child, whose work is being supported by the UK Sunday Mirror’s campaign. But demand among the 10,000 orphans they have registered far exceeds supply. You could spend all day moving between families here and hear the same tragic stories.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and those with the least are suffering the most from Ebola. The disease has mostly been contracted by people attending funerals, where the practice is to wash the body before burial and then wash yourself in the water.

This was how the disease came to this village.

Fatmaca Tulah, 35, was a respected local trader who sold food to workers hauling sand for the building industry. She attended a traditional funeral and when she returned to her home in Wharf Road the disease came with her.

Her brother-in-law Mohamed Mansaray, 61, says:

“When she came back she got sick. Her husband cared for her and they slept in the same bed. Her friends came to visit and each of them sat with her and touched her head and then went away. And the disease went with them into their homes. 

My wife also cared for Fatmaca and then she and Fatmaca’s husband fell sick. It happened so fast. Then I lost my ­appetite and started vomiting so my children called an ambulance. I thought I would die too and were frightened. 

The doctors encouraged me to eat and gradually I felt better. Now I am fine but I have two sets of children to care for. I try to go out and warn people about the disease. It is destroying the country.”

Many here are suspicious of Ebola. There are stories the disease, which has claimed around 6,000 lives in West Africa, was caused by witchcraft, by the government and even by white people out to steal African blood.

Until now much of the focus of the UK government’s aid has been on stopping it through treatment units and command centres co-ordinating safe burial teams. But cases are expected to rise and issues like orphan welfare need urgent attention.

SOURCE - SUNDAYMIRROR UK. - See more at: http://www.lailasblog.com/2014/12/heartbreaking-ebola-orphans-scream-for.html#more

Fortunately the family is beginning to get help through food parcels from Street Child, whose work is being supported by the UK Sunday Mirror’s campaign. But demand among the 10,000 orphans they have registered far exceeds supply. You could spend all day moving between families here and hear the same tragic stories.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and those with the least are suffering the most from Ebola. The disease has mostly been contracted by people attending funerals, where the practice is to wash the body before burial and then wash yourself in the water.

This was how the disease came to this village.

Fatmaca Tulah, 35, was a respected local trader who sold food to workers hauling sand for the building industry. She attended a traditional funeral and when she returned to her home in Wharf Road the disease came with her.

Her brother-in-law Mohamed Mansaray, 61, says:

    “When she came back she got sick. Her husband cared for her and they slept in the same bed. Her friends came to visit and each of them sat with her and touched her head and then went away. And the disease went with them into their homes.

    My wife also cared for Fatmaca and then she and Fatmaca’s husband fell sick. It happened so fast. Then I lost my ­appetite and started vomiting so my children called an ambulance. I thought I would die too and were frightened.

    The doctors encouraged me to eat and gradually I felt better. Now I am fine but I have two sets of children to care for. I try to go out and warn people about the disease. It is destroying the country.”

Many here are suspicious of Ebola. There are stories the disease, which has claimed around 6,000 lives in West Africa, was caused by witchcraft, by the government and even by white people out to steal African blood.

Until now much of the focus of the UK government’s aid has been on stopping it through treatment units and command centres co-ordinating safe burial teams. But cases are expected to rise and issues like orphan welfare need urgent attention.

SOURCE - SUNDAYMIRROR UK.