December 31, 2015

Death and Burials in Liberia

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Liberia has opened a new cemetery to allow for the burials of victims of Ebola. An official commented that the site in Monrovia will allow for “dignified” burials of victims, as opposed to cremations and mass burials.

The announcement coincided with the World Health Organisation’s announcement that the number of people infected by Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea has now passed 20,000.

The number is truly astonishing, not least because the virus has shown no signs of slowing down in terms of infection rates, despite the best efforts to contain it by the WHO and UN. This may be due to insufficient funds to halt the spread of the virus, or simply the complexity of the problem.

With the opening of the cemetery however, Liberia has not only provided a place for families of victims to perform burial ceremonies in accordance with their religious beliefs, but has provided a growing visual monument to the ongoing ravages of the virus.

With the focus of people’s attention switching from Ebola cases in Africa to Ebola cases in closer proximity, the cemetery acts as a reminder that the virus is real and damaging to people’s lives in the most real of ways.