For Yuma Adolphe, every grave dug in Congo’s Ituri province carries the same grim urgency: Ebola victims must be buried quickly and safely, even as the teams handling the bodies face exhaustion, fear and growing hostility from the communities they are trying to protect.
Adolphe and his colleagues have one of the most difficult assignments in the fight against the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak. Almost every day, they dig graves, prepare bodies and manage coffins, ensuring that people who die from the disease receive burials that are both safe and dignified.
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But with the outbreak expanding, the teams say they are nearing their limits. Nearly 3,200 people have died among more than 6,600 confirmed cases, and burial workers face an increasing workload alongside resistance from families and local residents who are struggling to understand the restrictions placed on traditional funeral rites.
“It is difficult, but we try to push ourselves beyond our limits,” Adolphe told The Associated Press (AP).
Since the outbreak began in mid-May, authorities have sent small burial teams like Adolphe’s to Ebola hotspots. The workers operate on the front line of the response, carrying out some of its most dangerous and emotionally demanding duties for $20 a day.
Despite the fatigue and constant risk of infection, team members say they remain determined to protect their communities. Safe burials are considered essential to stopping the virus from spreading further.
For Adolphe, the work is punishing, but the sacrifice is necessary.
“We have to look at our own mental well-being, and physically the fatigue mounts, but we keep going to ensure the community is protected.”
The teams, however, have become targets of anger and frustration. The outbreak has taken family members while also preventing relatives from carrying out customary burial rituals, creating deep resentment at a time of grief.
Health workers must handle the bodies because Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of infected people. Experts say the remains of victims can still contain significant levels of active virus and continue to pose a risk of infection.
Since May, health workers and burial crews like Adolphe’s have been attacked by bereaved families in communities across the outbreak’s front line.
“Usually, the body is handed over to the family, who can handle it however they wish, in accordance with our African customs,” Adolphe said. “But in this situation, it’s difficult to let the family handle the body as they please. They are deprived of certain rituals, and that’s what leads to misunderstandings.”
Jeanne Alasha, an adviser to Ituri’s military governor on health and humanitarian affairs, warned that people who attack the teams could face legal consequences.
“As for those who continue to assault the teams, they are committing offenses punishable by law,” she said.
Ituri, the province at the center of the outbreak, is also a focal point of the rebel conflict in eastern Congo. National civilian authorities in Kinshasa have placed the province under a military government, adding insecurity to the challenges confronting health responders.
Shortly before noon last Friday, a team buried Justine Abineno, a chorister who had died of Ebola. Her mother said Abineno had initially complained only of slight headaches before going to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with the disease.
A catechist led the burial ceremony, attended by dozens of people, while specialists wearing scrubs and boots stood nearby.
Abineno’s mother, Sofia Wanito, said doctors had allowed her to view her daughter’s body only through a hospital ward window. She was not permitted to touch the coffin.
“In the past, we didn’t die like this. I could not even cover her with the sheets myself and pay a final tribute,” Wanito said.
The outbreak has spread across six provinces in eastern Congo, where responders are working amid rebel violence, mass displacement and heavy population movements. A weak health care and surveillance system has further complicated the response, while contact tracing and laboratory testing remain insufficient.
Authorities are also contending with the absence of an approved vaccine or treatment for the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak. Frontline health workers have begun receiving the Ervebo vaccine, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says could provide some protection against Ebola. However, there is no conclusive evidence that it will work against the virus circulating in Congo.
Health authorities say the official figures may represent only about one-third of the crisis, as the disease continues to move faster than containment efforts. The WHO has warned that the outbreak is projected to overtake West Africa’s 2014-16 epidemic, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which killed more than 11,000 people.
Frontline health workers in eastern Congo have also staged multiple strikes over demands for payment, adding another complication to efforts to bring the outbreak under control.
Benjamin Muhindo, a member of another burial team, said his family fears he could carry the virus back home. Still, he said, his priority is ensuring that victims receive proper burials.
“Burials during this Ebola epidemic are very complicated, as we are working under pressure and constantly racing against the clock,” Muhindo said.
The outbreak’s consequences extend beyond the official tally of infections and deaths, trauma experts say. Families have been separated from loved ones during their final hours, while health workers face repeated exposure to death, danger and public hostility.
“The trauma of this outbreak doesn’t stop with the case count,” said Rose Tchwenko, Mercy Corps country director in Congo. Breaking the chain of transmission will require “an integrated holistic response,” she said, including social support for bereaved families and frontline workers.
After Friday’s burial, Adolphe said he was exhausted. Yet his concern for the community outweighed his personal strain.
“We have no choice,” he said. “We are here to safeguard our community.”
