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Unexpectedly, the nurse not only survived the hemorrhagic virus, whose epidemic claimed the lives of nearly 700 people, but also returned to the fight.
After receiving a vaccine, Evelyne now cares for children affected by the Ebola virus – as part of a campaign that places social skills at the heart of efforts to roll back the dreaded disease.
In an Ebola treatment center, Evelyne (her name was changed for the purpose of this story) cradles a seven-month-old girl named Sarah.
It provides the baby with human contact that he desperately needs – visitors are kept behind protective screens to prevent them from coming into contact with body fluids of patients who may be carrying the virus.
"The first test was negative," says Evelyne. "We are waiting for the results of the second."
Collateral victims
According to the United Nations Children's Agency, UNICEF, 30% of the 683 deaths registered so far are children under the age of 18 years.
Many children are collateral victims, like Luc, a five-year-old boy playing football with Consolee Katsiwa, a psychologist in a manger run by UNICEF.
His mother died of the Ebola virus a day earlier, Katsiwa said.
"We keep him under observation since he was in direct contact with his mother," she said, adding that he would be monitored for 21 days – the time required for the incubation of the virus.
"If he shows signs of illness … he could contaminate others in his community."
At a school in Butembo, five students take notes carefully during an Ebola awareness program.
Huguette, a 24-year-old woman, was cured after being infected as a result of a death caused by the Ebola virus in January.
"I would like to sensitize my Butembo brothers, tell them that the disease exists, that it is a reality and that it is not something that has been invented.
"If you do not go to the Ebola treatment center, you will die, but if you go there very early, you will survive like me," she said.
& # 39; Appease the spirits & # 39;
The denial was expensive and bloody. Two Ebola treatment centers in Butembo and the nearby town of Katwa were attacked in February and March. A policeman died in the violence.
The Katwa center reopened last Saturday and the authorities are now trying to get more people involved in the Ebola campaign, which many see as being led by foreign aid workers.
The Ministry of Health has also said that sociologists and anthropologists have called on traditional leaders to "observe rituals to appease the spirits" before the reopening of the Katwa Center.
"Contacts were established between the communities and the actors of the response program in the areas where the most violence had been recorded," added the official.
Residents called on the government and non-governmental organizations to improve the dilapidated infrastructure to provide clean water and better roads.
"The Ebola virus is scary, but people understand that it is a danger and that you have to protect yourself," said Salome, a woman living near the Katwa center.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the fight against the epidemic could take another six months.
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