Disaster Response Sierra Leone Project #31875

WeSurvive: Stories of the Ebola Outbreak

by Mirabel Pictures / WeOwnTV

WeSurvive: Stories of the Ebola Outbreak

Project Report | Jun 24, 2021
COVID struggles and Ebola strides

By Banker White | Director

Arthur distributing ebola public health messaging

Happy Summer GlobalGiving Community!

We are excited to let you know that we are coordinating an official announcement and launch event with Emory University for this Fall when the WeSuvive archive goes public - so stay tuned! We continue to be immensely proud of the contribution the WeOwnTV Freetown Media Center made during the Ebola outbreak and the continued effort they are making as they continue to sensitize their community during the COVID era. Even though Sierra Leone continues to struggle to have enough vaccine and oxygen for its residents, recent strides have been made in Ebola vaccinations in reaction to the 20921 outbreak in bordering Guinea.

"In Sierra Leone, the health authorities rolled out preventive Ebola vaccination as a priority action of its Ebola Outbreak Preparedness and Contingency Plan. The vaccination targeted 16,000 people at high risk such as frontline health workers and communities in border areas."

Here are a couple of articles highlighting COVID struggles and Ebola strides.

We will keep you updated about our upcoming announcement and event this Fall! Thank you for your continued support of this important project.

With gratitude,

Banker

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Feb 25, 2021
NEW BEGININGS

By Banker White | Project Lead

Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,

Thank you for the continued support you have given this project. Many of you also supported SURVIVORS when we began production back in 2014. There is no doubt the lockdown has been making me feel nostalgic - and I've decided to just embrace it - so this report is going to be filled with links and sharing.

This first link showcases the original ebola survivors interviews we used in SURVIVORS. Most of them were filmed in Fall 2014, at the very start of the outbreak: https://vimeo.com/250981735

The rawness and honesty of the material felt so different from how we were learning about Ebola here in the US. And, now, as we are nearing final delivery of the WeSurvive oral histories archive to Emory University, I am so proud of the depth and nuance that these interviews will be adding to the historical record. To date, we have filmed and translated nearly a hundred hours of material, containing more than 80 interviews with Ebola survivors, family members, and West African frontline workers.

Watching these testimonials again, now, still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been a very powerful experience. On the one hand, I am saddened that the Ebola outbreak did not act to inspire more preparedness for the pandemic we are experiencing now. Interesting also to revisit Bill Gate’s TedTalk from 2015 speaking on this very thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Af6b_wyiwI( I know excerpted clips were used from this in last year’s new cycle, but interesting if you want to indulge some pandemic-themed nostalgia.) But on the other hand, I am also struck with how much of the material celebrates stories of survival: https://vimeo.com/400429392

I also want to express my gratitude to the incredible Sierra Leonean filmmakers who have been our collaborators more than a decade as a part of the WeOwnTV program. It has been a privilege to watch their careers grow and have them evolve into the true industry leaders that they are. I also have been struck with the compassion and outpouring of love and support I have received from them as we deal with our own experience of this COVID-19 outbreak, political turmoil, and the tragedy of personal loss. :

Here is a link that details some of the COVID-19 related educational efforts the team has been involved with. Includes a message of hope from Arthur that he recorded as our lockdown began last year in 2020: https://www.weowntv.org/covid19

Congrats SURVIVORS cameraman and WeOwnTV fellow Tyson, who directed a powerful documentary just released by BBC AfricaEye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYmXKVX4-Ws

Links:

Excerpts from the WeSurvive Archive

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Oct 27, 2020
Building and Sustaining Trust

By Banker White | Executive Director

We are thrilled to announce that we have formalized our partnership with Emory University and are now in the process of delivering the WeSurvive oral histories archive to the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, of the Emory Libraries. To date, we have filmed and translated nearly a hundred hours of material, containing more than 80 interviews with Ebola survivors, family members, and West African frontline workers. These testimonials flesh out a tremendously underrepresented part of that event’s historical record and will enrich both how the crisis and the region are understood. We hope our team's efforts and the generous contributions of all the interviewees will help improve public health strategies implemented by foreign systems in the future.

Still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all now know first hand how difficult it is to build trust and understanding in the pressurized environment of a health disaster. One of our central goals in creating and sharing this archive is to add depth and authenticity to how the Ebola crisis is understood by sharing these personal testimonials. Our partnership with Emory will ensure this material is made available for Global Public Health researchers and professionals and can help craft more effective and nuanced policy and communication strategies for future public health events. The effectiveness of any public health campaign is dependent on behavioral change. Playing our part in rebuilding, developing, and sustaining public trust in health institutions and science will be essential work for all of us in our post COVID world.

If you would like to continue and supporting this project as we develop engagement strategies and new educational materials - please donate using the GIVE NOW button below.

“LEST WE FORGET! Our children and our grandchildren need to remember what happened during the Ebola crisis. We can never forget our history. We need to learn from it and to always be in prayer and to take actions that will ensure the safety and health of our people.”

WeSurvive Advisor Rev. Canon Dr. J.E. Modupe Taylor Pearce

Pro-Chancellor of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.

Links:

WeSurvive project page on Mirabel Pictures

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