Sierra Leone Videos - The Documentary Network

Burial Boys of Ebola

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:04:29 +0000

Ebola Outbreak 2014: In Sierra Leone, a group of young men take on the dirtiest work of the Ebola outbreak: finding and burying the dead. In the campaign against the Ebola virus, which is sweeping across parts of West Africa in an epidemic worse than all previous outbreaks of the disease combined, the front line is stitched together by people like Ms. Sellu: doctors and nurses who give their lives to treat patients who will probably die; janitors who clean up lethal pools of vomit and waste so that beleaguered health centers can stay open; drivers who venture into villages overcome by illness to retrieve patients; body handlers charged with the dangerous task of keeping highly infectious corpses from sickening others. Their sacrifices are evident from the statistics alone. At least 129 health workers have died fighting the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But while many workers have fled, leaving already shaky health systems in shambles, many new recruits have signed up willingly — often for little or no pay, and sometimes giving up their homes, communities and even families in the process. “If I don’t volunteer, who can do this work?” asked Kandeh Kamara, one of about 20 young men doing one of the dirtiest jobs in the campaign: finding and burying corpses across eastern Sierra Leone. When the outbreak started months ago, Mr. Kamara, 21, went to the health center in Kailahun and offered to help. When officials there said they could not pay him, he accepted anyway. “There are no other people to do it, so we decided to do it just to help save our country,” he said of himself and the other young men. They call themselves “the burial boys.” Doctors Without Borders trained them to wear protective equipment and to safely clear out dead bodies potentially infected with Ebola. They travel across backbreaking dirt roads for up to nine hours a day. Ms. Sellu, who is one of the only Ebola workers at the Kenema hospital who have neither contracted the virus nor fled. Credit Samuel Aranda for The New York Times In doing their jobs, the burial boys have become pariahs. Many have been cast out of their communities because of fear that they will bring the virus home with them. Some families refuse to let them return.

30% – Women and Politics in Sierra Leone

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 16:41:14 +0000

A compelling mix of oil painted animation and live action reveals the stories of three extraordinary women as they fight to achieve fair representation for women in the governance of Sierra Leone.

Self-taught African Teen became youngest Person to be invited to M.I.T.

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:28:49 +0000

15-Year-Old Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters. Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, DJ Focus. Kelvin became the youngest person in history to be invited to the "Visiting Practitioner's Program" at MIT. THNKR had exclusive access to Kelvin and his life-changing journey - experiencing the US for the first time, exploring incredible opportunities, contending with homesickness, and mapping out his future.

Pirate Fishing (Part 1)

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:21:59 +0000

The precious marine resources of some of the world's poorest people are being targeted by industrial-scale pirate fishing operations, to feed the seafood hungry markets of Europe and Asia. The problem is particularly acute in West African waters where fish is a vital - and often the only - protein source for millions of people. In a special two-part investigation, reporter Juliana Ruhfus and producer Orlando von Einsiedel set out to identify and expose some of those involved in the multi-million dollar trade and to look in particular at its consequences for the impoverished West African nation of Sierra Leone.