In the area for
Ebola-confirmed patients in the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Case Management Center in Foya, Liberia, roughly two-thirds of patients don’t survive the Ebola virus. The patients receiving treatment gather on wooden benches and plastic chairs if they have the strength. Other patients can only lie in bed while their immune systems try to fight the deadly virus in their bodies.
Mamadee, 11 years old, is different. As the other patients watch, he performs a dance to Azonto, a type of music that originated in Ghana, on the radio. He jumps, he ducks, he steps to the side, first left, then right, then left, then right, jumps again, turns, swings his hips and shakes his arms. He doesn’t stop, and he doesn’t get tired. It is difficult to believe, but Mamadee is an Ebola-confirmed patient.