bengaluru when the rest of the world kept away from the ebolahit areas of africa two indian priests stepped up to take care of the infected community they lived in sierra leone epicenter of the crisis from december 14 2014 to february 4 2015 helping the affected fr antony 41 director of snehasadan a home for hivpositive children in mangaluru and brother madhu babu 42 director of snehakiran in hyderabad spent almost two months in makeni sierra leone they played a key role in the reopening of the holy spirit hospital that was closed during the scare before reachin g africa they were trained in rome its time for post ebola care there are survivors and many orphans who lost the familys breadwinners to ebola our focus was largely on rebuilding their confidence improving hygiene standards and conducting awareness camps says fr antony who visited villages to spread awareness and rehabilitate the victims one of the main vehicles of the infection is the traditional burial practice the washing and kissing of the corpse many persons who attended burials were infected we saw many such cases its a common practice to cleanse the corpse and sprinkle that water on all those gathered besides they kiss the corpse something which is highly infectious said fr antony lately the government has declared that only the ebola burial team will deal with all burials regardless of the cause of death what do you say when you sit with a family that has lost as many as 12 members in a week i met two children who lost their parents it is hard to imagine them smiling again the impact of ebola extends beyond those infected by the virus in another case an elderly woman was declared free from ebola after a month of suffering but even though she was healthy she had no money and was unable to get back to work he added fr antony the survivors complain of eye and hearing problems weakness joint and back pain and some even get nightmares said brother madhu stressing on the importance of selfprotection a must for the volunteers the priests are willing to visit africa again for postebola management some more volunteers siby kaitharan 36 counsellor with snehakiran fr teji thomas 39 medical nurse with snehasadan and fr lijo will leave for africa in april they are members of the camillion task force a catholic organization involved in healthcare for the past 450 years the order of the ministers of the sick popularly known as camillians was founded by st camillus de lellis