On behalf of the Salone Ebola Action Group Australia (SEAGA), I would like to express enormous gratitude to His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, our medical doctors, nurses, burial teams, surveillance crews and other health workers, local and international NGOs, civil society groups, community associations, local media, political parties, National Ebola Response Centre, Ministry of Health and Sanitation and all other relevant stakeholders for your towering efforts in defeating the Ebola Virus Disease.
This is a great achievement for our country. We have once again demonstrated to the world that we are a resilient people and this experience has given us renewed energy, hope and determination to continue with our development trajectory that was interrupted by the Ebola disease.
Because of its lethal nature and easier mode of spreading, the disease attracted the active attention of every Sierra Leonean as well as people in the region and the entire world.
Time, resources, local and foreign expertise that were meant for the Agenda for Prosperity were diverted to the outbreak to prevent further spread and eventually contain the virus. Throughout this sad period, His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma provided exceptional leadership and worked tirelessly with all the relevant stakeholders to end the scourge.
His Excellency called for urgent and increasing efforts from international NGOs, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Sierra Leoneans living abroad, and the international community to help in addressing this dreadful virus in the country.
The government also scaled up its efforts by putting more resources into the crisis, declaring a national state of emergency, restricting movements of people, preventing public gatherings, quarantining districts with high prevalence of the virus and providing humanitarian relief to people in the quarantined districts. These were the right actions at the right time.
To response to the call from His Excellency, as Sierra Leoneans in Australia, we set up a working group called SEAGA with chapters in the different states and territories to work collaboratively to attract attention to the urgency of the needs created by Ebola and help collect the resources required for combating this toxic disease in Sierra Leone.
So far, through collaboration with Australian organisations like Overseas Disaster Resources, Stand4Salone and the All Peoples Congress (APC) Australia Branch, SEAGA has shipped four forty-feet containers of medical supplies worth more than Aus$800,000 (Eight hundred thousand Australian Dollars) to Sierra Leone.
SEAGA also lobbied the Australian Government through the Federal Senator for the state of Tasmania, Honourable Lisa Singh, who made a compelling presentation on behalf of SEAGA to the Federal Senate.
SEAGA believed that this action largely influenced the decision of the Australian Government to escalate funding, hire and dispatch the Aspen Medical team to support an Ebola centre of 100 beds in Eastern Freetown.
This support, as well those from other parts of the world and within Sierra Leone would not have been practically possible if there were no good structures put in place by the government of Sierra Leone.
Even though the virus has now been contained and the country has been declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation, providing for the needs of the children being orphaned by the virus remains one of the main challenges in the country.
As we mourn the death of our fellow Sierra Leoneans, we may also want to offer our unflinching support to the Ebola survivors. Indeed there are presently hundreds of orphans in different parts of the country who are in high need of support for their survival. SEAGA will continue to explore opportunities to help in addressing these new challenges.
Once more, thank you so much Mr President and your team for providing gallantry and consistent leadership in our country. You are a true pillar that we can rely on. Kudos also to the people of Sierra Leone for complying with the difficult regulations instituted to help break the chain of transmission.
Ansumana Usman Koroma,
SEAGA National Coordinator, Australia.
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