African Values and Shameful Honour for Ebola War Heroes

N. Mcginger Ibeneme/

Four years later, African Union has remembered to present me and my colleagues with Medal of Honor for stopping Ebola in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

I dedicate this to Dr Stella A. Adedevoh and Justina Ejelonu. You guys are the real heroes, you died for us all.

Adadevoh stopped Sawyer. He made calls, she also made calls, pulling the right strings to stop him from plunging into the population and spreading the deadly virus.

She contracted Ebola in the process and died a most painful death. It was like self sacrifice. She had organ failures, kidney shut down, multiple seizures and strokes, profuse bleeding, heart failure and later on death. She died for Nigeria.

Adadevoh has not been properly honored by her country, whereas every year politicians troop into Abuja to share national honors for doing practically nothing whereas real heroes are ignored.

Nurse Justina Ejelenu worked with Stella and also contracted the disease in the line of duty. She died without doing anything for herself or her family. No one remembers her.

We arrived Abuja after six months of risking our lives in West Africa to stop the menace few days after Jonathan had lost the presidential election in 2015.

No one paid any attention to us any longer. All the initial plans to honor us was thrown out of the window.

The new regime took no interest whatsoever and till today not even a handshake from a local government chairman not to talk of monetary anything.

Politicians share billions each time they are leaving office after mindless self help to the national purse. Yet those who worked for the nation are never rewarded.

This regime has not as much as said a word to us talk less of recognizing our contributions.

The day we arrived Sierra Leone, everyone was happy. They said we were from Nigeria and we had the magic. They sent us to worse hit areas and we went to duty patriotically. We did our best and Ebola stopped. The country took the whole accolade without even saying a word to us.

The African Union has casually tossed medals to us without any ceremony. I went to Port Harcourt to pick up my piece from a junior staff of the state ministry of health who asked me to sign off on a piece of paper and be gone.

There were only two persons in the room. Nobody bothered with me. It was even the staff who told me that some people who picked up the medal earlier had tested it and that it was not even real gold so is probably worthless.

I spent my money and time to pick a piece of garbage after risking my life for Africa. I felt like a fool while leaving dejectedly.

This reminds me of my experience in the field. An American passed out while we were on duty and I helped to resuscitate him. He was later diagnosed of Ebola and I quarantined myself. Few days later I developed fever and noticed blood in my toilet.

I asked my colleagues to send a letter to African Union that I may have contracted the deadly disease. Till today I never got any response. I stayed in self quarantine for 21 days without a word from Africa that I was fighting for.

My contemporary was airlifted to USA in a matter of moments but I survived by the grace of God or sheer luck. Never spoken to. Never tested. Never nothing. Being African is shitty. I don’t know if am a survivor or not. I just know that my life is worth nothing.

I dedicate this medal, though probably worthless, to healthcare workers from Africa who died for their continent but were never appreciated or even recognized.

I live in the hope that one day our land shall experience the kind of leadership that would value those who sacrifice for her and reward those who make genuine efforts.

For now, I am just in severe pains.

God bless Africa. God bless Nigeria.

*Ibeneme, a medical doctor, shared this article on Twitter via @mcginger22.

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