Christine Masika lives with her mother, sisters and a friend in Butembo, the town at the centre of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak.

She knew of many people who contracted the virus. Most, she says, are dead.

“My concern is, this infection is spreading from day to day. It doesn’t stop,” said Masika, 28. “Everyone at home has been vaccinated against Ebola, everyone is trying to remember the rules of hygiene to protect ourselves.”

Masika, an editor and poet, said she thought health workers in this restive region were more interested in making money than helping people. “Some of the health workers, instead of eradicating the disease, are just filling their pockets,” she said.

Masika also echoed concerns expressed by aid agencies and experts that local communities aren’t being engaged in the fight against the virus, which has killed more than 1,000 people since it began 10 months ago.

“The truth is that the more the population resists, the more cases and deaths from Ebola increase here,” Masika said. “The hardest question is how to eradicate the virus. In my opinion, I think it is necessary to enter into a dialogue with local people, raising awareness about the virus … we need local agents and people from overseas, to remove the doubts within the population about some [of the motives] of people.”

Timothée Kyatsi, 22, an agricultural science graduate from Kitulu, near Katwa, also spoke of his frustration with the relief effort and a perceived failure to engage communities in decision-making.

“I do blame the response teams for one thing: they did not prepare us [for the crisis] in a good way. They held a seminar to explain how to respond to the disease, but they tried to force us to understand,” he said.

For Kyatsi, the failure of health agents to get the outbreak under control since it began last August has not inspired trust. “My confidence in them is disappearing,” he said.

Kyatsi said a number of his friends were now making a living driving vehicles for response teams. In some ways, he said, they don’t want the emergency to end, because they have work.

“I and my family are healthy – however, we are doing everything to protect ourselves from Ebola, because we understand that Ebola can kill,” he said. “[But] My neighbour died. She attended a health centre and, after being examined, she was taken to the treatment centre – but unfortunately she died at the centre.”

Kambale James, 26, a student in Katwa, also highlighted the fact that Ebola treatment centres were providing employment. “I’ve friends who have had the chance to work at the centre,” he said. “They don’t want to go back to [previous] work. I wonder if they will want this virus to finish.”

James said he knew two people in his neighbourhood who had Ebola. Both were cured but moved away after they got better.

He also said that he would like to see better communication with local people. “I propose those involved in the response organise training sessions where they will speak in our mother tongue, because the majority of the population don’t understand French,” James said. “Using the premises and speaking to us in our language is a solution.”