How Pastors Mobilize Communities in Congo’s Fight Against Ebola

Deo Kasereka said he could pinpoint the moment he was infected with Ebola. As a catechist at the Notre Dame of Maternal Charity church in Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of Congo, it was his job to comfort the sick, he said.

When he attended the funeral of a parishioner this summer, he touched the body, in keeping with traditional burial practices in Congo, he said. A few days later he started feeling ill. “I was feverish and so hot I couldn’t sleep. I was just sweating and coughing,” he said.

In the early days of the outbreak, many people say they did not know how to protect themselves against the virus. “If someone reached out their hand, I would take it,” Mr. Kasereka said.

But after Mr. Kasereka got sick, his daughter implored him to seek treatment at the new Ebola clinic. She knew the importance of early treatment, having helped respond to another Ebola outbreak in 2019 here in Mongbwalu, a remote town spread over steep green hills and surrounded by informal gold mines.

Four days after checking into the clinic and testing positive for Ebola, Mr. Kasereka was released when he got a negative test. He credits his daughter for his recovery. “Because my family was well informed, I got treatment early,” he said. “But if you wait, and come after vomiting and diarrhea has started, it’s usually too late.”