The Weekend Documentary: Ebola Voices

Penny Boreham and Sierra Leonean storyteller Usifu Jalloh travel from the UK to Kailahun district - a remote eastern area of Sierra Leone bordering Guinea and Liberia - to meet the children they have been working with on a radio project but previously never met.

This is the area where Ebola first took hold in the country. The project, initiated by the international child-rights agency, Child to Child, has been a lifeline allowing children to communicate health messages and support each other throughout the crisis and its aftermath. Usifu is greeted as a popular hero: his stories have encouraged a renaissance of storytelling in the region, and children speaking out about the issues that matter to them has made a huge impact in the community.

Amid the joy of the meeting, Penny and Usifu also grow more aware of the difficulties the children face. There are the problems directly resulting from the epidemic: orphans have been abandoned and stigmatised, families have been torn apart. There are also the pre-existing problems exacerbated by the crisis, including a huge increase in teenage pregnancies and escalating sexual violence.

Children complain that the porous nature of the border - which allowed both Ebola and before that the long and bloody civil war to enter the country - now allows sexual predators to escape justice. Penny and Usifu discover the radio project provides a window into these profound issues affecting children, whilst allowing children’s views to be taken seriously.

Publicity contact: MH2