Turkey- Liberian couple celebrate baby joy after Ebola tragedy
Date
1/9/2016 12:20:52 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A Liberian couple is starting a new life more than 18 months after both survived the deadly Ebola virus with the pair now awaiting the arrival of a new baby boy.
“I had a [scan] and the doctor told me I will have a boy-child; my husband really wants a boy” Salome Karwah tells Anadolu Agency smiling.
Life after Ebola for Salome and her partner James Harris has been a turning point. Despite Salome losing many members of her family to the disease she now looks forward to a better future.
The pair have a better income from their days working at an Ebola treatment center between 2014 and 2015.
The couple now work for local NGOs.
Their marriage was a dream come true for Salome and a moment for the pair to celebrate as two Ebola survivors.
“I am happy because I am getting to marry to the man who truly loves me” Salome says.
“When Ebola broke out in our home my mother father and other siblings were all sick. Nobody could come and aid my helpless parents because of the fear of contracting the disease but James my husband risked his life to take care of my sick father fully aware that he had Ebola.
“He took care of my late father while I took care of my late mother and that was how we both became infected with Ebola” she adds.
“When James became infected with the virus his friends and family said he was a fool and that he was going to die because of a woman but today I am happy that we both survived and today he is marrying me as the only woman he loves and is going to spend the rest of his life with.”
'God should not be forgotten'
Salome and her husband believe their sincerity and their efforts to safe her family’s lives meant it was God’s will that kept her and her husband from dying despite the fact she lost nine relatives to the virus in 2014.
“I am happy to tell the whole world that God should not be forgotten in their lives especially to my fellow Ebola survivors and let our union today be an inspiration to them” Salome says.
Salome’s marriage is both a happy and sad moment given the absence of her parents. The pair died from Ebola along with other members of the wider family.
Any day now Salome and James expect to have their first child a bouncing baby boy.
“After my wedding I will be a father; I want to thank God for our lives” James Harris said joyfully.
Medical tests conducted on her pregnancy by Prevail (a Liberian/U.S. partnership which is carrying out an Ebola natural history study) have proven that the unborn child is in good health and at no risk of the deadly illness.
The couple is experiencing no major medical conditions after surviving the virus except for joint and muscle pains for which they are regularly receiving medication from Medecins Sans Frontieres and the ELWA Hospital in Monrovia.
James wants Ebola survivors to forget the past and begin a new life as though the disease had never existed.
By Evelyn T. Kpadeh
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