Genina Iyiko-Wenze and her children are standing on the grave of her husband Maitre Chou, who died during the Ebola outbreak in Ikoko-Impenge. Photo by Nathalie Bertrams.
When Marie Jeanne Kaswera lost her husband to Ebola at the start of the devastating epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she says she was "overwhelmed by negative thoughts and despair." She could not wash him or display his body at home, preventing friends, family and neighbours from paying him their final respect, as is required in her country's custom.
"I was very hurt," says Kaswera, who was unable to attend her husband's funeral or perform any burial rituals according to local convention. "I wondered if he really died because I never got to see and hold his body."
The disease hit the DRC in August 2018 and has claimed the lives of over 2,200 people, according to the World Health Organization. Because a dead body can transmit the virus for up to a week after death, the Ministry of Health prohibited all traditional burials, which include close contact with the corpse.
Public health authorities mandate that families are kept at a safe distance from the body, and most burials are carried out by members of the Ebola response team. But these measures have created a sense of mistrust between the community and health workers.
Read the article - with Theresa Jones - for The National Public Radio here.