Celestine Kahindo did have six children but now only half of them remain alive – with two having died from Malaria and one passing away from Ebola.

The 42-year-old farmer has survived Ebola herself and is living in the focal point of the Ebola crisis which has wreaked havoc in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a “public health emergency of international concern” in the central African country.

Ms Kahindo lives in Beni – a city in the northeastern part of the DRC which experts on the ground describe as the “current epicentre” of the outbreak and where the majority of confirmed cases are coming from. Ebola has been in Beni for almost a year now.

“Blood started coming out of his body,” she told The Independent. “They brought him to the hospital but there was no cure. I caught the illness because I was looking after him. I started vomiting and had a headache and flu. I felt so sorry for myself. But I went to the hospital in time to be cured.

“I was really sad because he was the only son I had. Sometimes when I remember everything that has happened, I start burning. Ebola attacks more women than men because women are more compassionate. Most of the time, if a baby gets sick, it is the woman who brings her to the hospital. Women spend time with children here.”

Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Show all 27 1 /27 Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘During Ebola, they quarantined areas. My husband was at Kailahun and couldn’t cross the boundary, so we were separated. They taught us how to wash our hands and we were all washing our hands every day; even my children were washing their hands.’ Haja is the mother of three surviving children, two of her children died from diarrhoea WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 ‘This is the finished toilet that we have built in our compound, I am very happy to have my own toilet and I will be proud to use it’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 ‘All the parents came together and built a school in the village, we have just opened the school. The children are at assembly with no uniforms. I am the teacher at the school so I took this photo to show how we have been working hard for our children to be educated’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘Here is my son, Sessay (left), with his friends. I was happy to snap them. I have given birth to six children, but only three are still alive. The first one I lost was three years ago, and the second was two years ago. Four months ago I lost Senior Lahai. He was six months old and was affected by a runny stomach and a rising body temperature’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘Four months ago I lost Senior Lahai. He was six months old and was affected by a runny stomach and a rising body temperature. He was really, really sick, he wasn't even taking breast milk, and he died. My heart was broken. My baby used to be strong. He was able to sit by himself and was just starting to practise to crawl and reach for things. He laughed a lot when I played with him, I’d clap and dance. I have a happy moment when he started sitting by himself and learning to crawl. Those are the happy moments that makes a mother most happy. The moment I remember most about Lahai was when he was breastfeeding and was playing with my neck and chin with his hand. I look to the future and hope that such things won't happen again, and that God will give me children that stay with me’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 ‘My step brother Ibrahim is building our toilet with loamy soil because we don’t have cement. WaterAid taught us about good sanitation and I want to show that we are now building our own toilets so that we will not go to the bush or use the stream as a toilet that is why I took this photo’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna, 33 Washing in the stream: ‘When we came here the water system was very bad. I know that when I drink dirty water I get sick. We are getting diarrhoea because we are drinking that type of water. If I am sick I am not able to earn money because I am not able to go to work, and I have to stay at home, which is very difficult for me’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah ‘These are the contractors that came to build the water well, and they are mixing the stones and the cement to build the cover of the well’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah ‘I started tree climbing when I was living with my grandmother and she was trying to get some palm kernels and process them to make the oil that we use. I didn’t like doing the processing part so I decided to climb the trees to do the harvest instead. Tree climbing is very difficult. At times you can be confronted by a snake, as you are going up you just see one and it will hiss at you. If you are not strong you are going to fall out of the tree, and could die! I am just doing it for necessity sake. I don’t want to do this job really, but at the moment I have no other means of making money, so I have no choice but to do this to manage my family’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘They killed my uncle during the war. I was not in this village during the war; I was in Guinea. Just after the war, my mother asked me to come back home. There were no houses when I returned; it had all been destroyed’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah ‘This is my son Bockarie. He reminds me of his mother, who is not presently here with me, and he resembles me. Recently my son was very sick and we had to take him to the clinic to get treatment. Even getting to the clinic costs money. I didn't have any money, so I had to borrow money from the community people so I could take him to the hospital. Having very good drinking water would ease the issues with having to take people to the hospital because of illness, and the problem of finding the money to manage that’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yujah ‘Sidique is 21 years old, he is my daughter’s husband and is drinking from the stream we use to fetch water. Our forefathers created this village, and the water was good. They covered it with a concrete box to keep it safe, but all of that fell down during the war, and afterwards no one could repair it. The water is not good here now and I have worms as a result. It will be very good to have clean water; it would give us a long life. If you have good drinking water, then your life is safe, but if you don’t then your life is not secure. Having good drinking water would ease the issues with having to take people to the hospital because of illness, and the problem of finding the money to manage that’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 ‘We the women of this village are experiencing the problems with lack of water and we pray that things will change. The rain washes everything, including faeces into the water. The children get diarrhoea from the water. With clean water, I would be clean and would not suffer from sickness’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 ‘This is my brother’s wife, she is holding both her daughter and my granddaughter’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 Matu is the life and soul of the village of Tombohuaun. She is a traditional birth attendant and plays an important role within the women’s society. Matu suffers from poor health; she has stomach problems caused by the dirty water WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘My name is Amadou Kokoyeh, but I am more familiar with Kokoyeh [Bush Chicken]. The name Kokoyeh was given to me by father’s older brother. It’s meant to be a bird that is in the bush and mostly eats other people’s groundnuts when they plant them.” WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘This is my father helping to dig the water well, so that we will have clean water to drink. I am happy because we are going to have a well in my village. I don’t think the water we currently collect from the muddy spring is good for drinking because it is exposed, and leaves and other things fall in it. I also get water down there with my mum, and sometimes I go with the other kids. Sometimes when I drink it, I have a stomach pain, and it also brings me headache. I have got sick from that, and I was taken to the health centre’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘This is my family – my mother, father and younger brother. When I’m not with them this picture will make me feel closer to them’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘Moserie Yajah was lying down in the grass, and asked me to get a shot of him. At the moment, every day people ask me to get a photo of them. I feel very happy when people ask for a picture. What I love most to get a shot of is people that are well dressed, sitting in a chair or in a very comfortable area that I can snap’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘We were going down to Matu’s place, and my friends and brother decided to cover themselves with that fishing net, and asked me to take a shot of them. The fishing net was taken from Ginnah’s mother (Massah) and I think the picture is really good. I like the photo mainly because they are standing close to the wash yard, where people go to heat their water and wash. I love it because they are all my brothers, and we look out for each other’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘I love this picture. I took this photo of Bockarie when he was drinking water. The water was collected from the muddy spring where everyone collects water. I don’t think it is good for drinking because it is exposed, and leaves and other things fall in it. I also get water down there with my mum, and sometimes I go with the other kids. Sometimes when I drink it, I have a stomach pain, and it also brings me headache. I have got sick from that, and I was taken to the health centre. If it rains, we harvest rainwater’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 ‘This is my cousin Papay; we are very close – he lives nearby and we spend lots of time together. In this picture he is messing around. On his head is what our fathers make to catch fish in small streams. We then eat some fish and they sell the rest. It is important for our survival’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Kempah Ginnah, 42 ‘The community people helping to build the water well, I was glad about this, that is why I took this photo.’ Kempah is a youth leader and mechanic from Tombohuaun WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Kempah Ginnah, 42 ‘These children are our next of kin, my children and their friends. They are wonderful children’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Jeneba, 13 ‘Here, my father, brothers and aunt are separating cocoa fruit from pods. By selling cocoa, my family earns enough to pay my school fees’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘We have now built a small school in our village. This is inside the class for my children’s first day in school. I took this picture to show them in the future so they will know that I want them to be educated and also free from diseases’ WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 ‘This is my Aunt Mamie Ansumana. She is 40 and is a farmer. She loves going to the farm and likes to smile. She looked after me when my children died. The dirty water caused the death of two of my children; I don’t want anything to happen to the others. She took me from the room where Senior Lahai died to her own room. I slept in her room for some time. I want to thank to her because she is still taking care of us’ WaterAid

Ms Kahindo said Ebola has damaged trading and profits in the region – explaining people are not buying as much due to the disease. She also explained Ebola survivors, such as herself, face a great deal of stigma within the community.

“People are somehow afraid when they look at Ebola victims even though they are survivors,” she added. “They believe I can contaminate other people but I can’t. People talk a lot. It is a close-knit community. Especially when they take someone from their home to be [in] an Ebola treatment centre for three weeks. People know where you have gone.”

The WHO declared the Ebola epidemic a public health emergency last Wednesday – with the director general appealing for the international community to help with funds.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO was working on a new plan to control the epidemic which would cost “hundred of millions” of dollars. On Monday, the DRC’s health minister Oly Ilugna resigned in protest at an announcement from the presidency that it would take control of the Ebola outbreak response.

Kellie Ryan, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Ebola response, estimated the latest death toll for Ebola in the DRC to be 1,698. She said around 12 new cases are reported every day and there have been 2,522 confirmed and probable cases.

She argued women in the country were bearing the brunt of the crisis – with women more likely to get the illness than men due to women being the “primary caretakers” of children, the sick and the elderly, which exposes them more to the virus.

Ms Ryan added: “Gender inequality does have something to do with this. More than 60 per cent of confirmed and probable cases are women. Additionally, because women take care of the home, they have to go out to fetch water more often to keep up with more frequent hand washing practices and rigorous cleaning. This makes them vulnerable to gender-based violence as they are travelling by themselves more frequently.

“Survivors of Ebola face stigmatisation by members of their community and sometimes even their families. Neighbours might think they are still contagious and will not want to engage with them or let their children play with their children. A woman’s husband might think she can still pass on the disease. The IRC provides survivors with psychosocial support to help them handle these feelings of isolation.”

She said the fragile security situation makes it harder for herself, her colleagues and others responding to Ebola to do their jobs.

“Due to attacks by armed groups, we are sometimes forced to suspend programming to ensure the safety and security of our staff,” she added. “Ebola is a very complicated disease, and the outbreak is happening in an area and to communities that have faced decades of violence by armed groups. It is easy to understand why the local community distrusts the response. Ebola is a new disease to them, and they can’t understand why a year on, cases continue to rise. There are rumours that health workers are profiting off the outbreak or even brought Ebola to the area themselves.”

Since January, there have been 198 attacks against the health response that have led to seven deaths and left 58 healthcare workers and patients injured. Clinics and treatment centres have been torched.

The current outbreak in the eastern part of the DRC started last year and is the tenth to hit the country since 1976 when the virus was first discovered. It is the second biggest Ebola outbreak, after the west Africa epidemic which saw 28,616 cases of disease and 11,310 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.

The crisis has come to a critical point since the first case of Ebola in the eastern city of Goma was confirmed earlier in the week. The city of 2 million people is a major transport hub on the border with Rwanda – with transport links to the broader region.

Kaswera Flourine, 45, had six children but two died. While one died from malaria, another died from Ebola. Ms Flourine was among one of the first people to get Ebola from Mangina – a city in North Kivu province.

“I went to hospital because I had malaria but then the nurses contaminated me with Ebola while looking after me,” she said. “I was afraid because I noticed lots of people were dying from Ebola. I knew it was rare to recover. I was in a coma for three weeks. When I woke up from the coma, I was still sick. Other people thought I had died, I had come out to talk to people to show I was alive.”

Kaswera Flourine: ‘I was in a coma for three weeks. When I woke up from the coma, I was still sick’ (International Rescue Committee)

Kavira Desange, who is 57, had eight children but now has only six due to one dying of poison at the age of seven and the other dying of a stomach ache and different diseases.

Ms Desange contracted Ebola while looking after her daughter-in-law who died after getting Ebola.

“After three days, she passed away,” she said. “My daughter-in-law had a baby but she was not contaminated because she refused to take care of the baby. After finishing the burial ceremony, I returned to Beni to go home but the symptoms started. I began to have a cold, a cough, and get influenza. After some days I started having diarrhoea.”

Kavira Desange: ‘I was a farmer before getting sick’ (International Rescue Committee)

She went to the hospital where they tried to place her in an Ebola treatment centre but she ended up going home because she was scared. However, once home, her symptoms got worse. The hospital staff came to get her to take her to the centre where they gave her medicine.