Freetown, Sierra Leone, 2015. Image: Simon Davis/DFID, CC BY 2.0.
During the day, the streets of the Kissi district of eastern Freetown are perpetually crowded with pedestrians, as if a concert or soccer game has just finished. On either side of the road, in every available space, there are makeshift stalls selling mangos, grilled chicken feet, SIM cards, and second-hand clothes. There is a ceaseless soundtrack of trucks, animals, people and radios. The air is heavy with pollution from ancient taxis, and rubbish is heaped in rancid piles.
It is hard to imagine these streets empty and silent. Yet, for three days at a time, during the Ebola crisis of 2014-16, they were deserted. On several occasions, every one of Sierra Leone’s six million citizens was ordered to stay home, while 28,500 trained community workers and volunteers went door-to-door. They warned people to abandon their dangerous burial practices, thought to spread the disease, and they identified new cases. While the nation is no longer in a state of emergency, normality has not been fully restored.
