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L’Instant Paris Match : Ebola in Sierra Leone by Tommy Trenchard
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L’Instant Paris Match : Ebola in Sierra Leone by Tommy Trenchard

  • Les obsèques de Rebecca Crowther furent un moment fort. Un pasteur de l’armée disait quelques prières, alors que le jour tombait sur Freetown et que la famille observait la mise en terre de la dépouille . Son frère fut le premier à jeter une poignée de terre. La famille, avec des sacs plastique au pied pour des raisons sanitaires, restait stoïque et digne, remerciant les services funéraires pour tout leur travail. / The burial of Rebecca Crowther was a powerful moment. An army pastor said some prayers as the sun set over Freetown and Rebecca's family watched as her body was lowered into the grave. Her brother threw in the first shovel full of earth. The family, with plastic bags wrapped around their feet for protection was so dignified and stoical, thanking the burial team for all their work. ©Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starface

    Les obsèques de Rebecca Crowther furent un moment fort. Un pasteur de l’armée disait quelques prières, alors que le jour tombait sur Freetown et que la famille observait la mise en terre de la dépouille . Son frère fut le premier à jeter une poignée de terre. La famille, avec des sacs plastique au pied pour des raisons sanitaires, restait stoïque et digne, remerciant les services funéraires pour tout leur travail. / The burial of Rebecca Crowther was a powerful moment. An army pastor said some prayers as the sun set over Freetown and Rebecca's family watched as her body was lowered into the grave. Her brother threw in the first shovel full of earth. The family, with plastic bags wrapped around their feet for protection was so dignified and stoical, thanking the burial team for all their work. ©Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starface

  • L'Instant / Paris Match
  • Cette maison fut la deuxième de la journée pour l'équipe des services funéraires. La victime était un bébé de quelques mois. / This was at the second house the burial team visited that day. The victim was a baby, just a few months old. As they left with his tiny body, the relatives cried inconsolably. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • La famille Crowther n'avait pas eu le temps de s'organiser pour trouver un cercueil mais un pasteur local put faire quelques prières. / The Crowther family had no time to arrange a coffin. But a local man said prayers over the dead woman's body as members of the burial team prepared to take her to the cemetery. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Fatama Barrie fut la première à rejoindre l'équipe des services funéraires. Elle habille les dépouilles féminines avant leur obsèques. Elle était timide et parlait peu, faisait son travail cruel sans jamais se plaindre, cela six jours par semaine. / Fatmata Barrie was the first woman to join a burial team. She dresses the female dead before they are buried. She was shy and talked little, getting on with her gruelling job without complaint. This is how she spends six days week.rn© Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Alors que le corps d'une femme était sorti d'une maison sur les collines au dessus de Freetown, cette femme devint hystérique, accusant un homme de l'avoir tuée. Beaucoup nient la réalité d'Ebola et pense que la mort vient de diverses malédictions ou de la magie noire. / As a body was removed from a house in the hills above Freetown, this woman became hysterical, accusing a man of having killed the dead woman. Many bereaved families deny Ebola as the cause of death, often suggesting witchcraft and curses instead.. Bitter screaming filled the air as she was dragged away.rn© Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Le frère d'une défunte demanda aux équipes de désinfecter ce siège de voiture sur lequel sa su0153ur s'asseyait tout le temps. J'ai trouvé que cela évoquait le vide causé par la perte d'un proche, plus que l'habituel sac plastique impersonnel dans lequel son corps fut emporté. / The dead woman's brother approached the burial team's sprayer and requested that he disinfect this old car seat. It was where his dead sister had used to sit, and was worn by constant use. I felt it evoked the sense of loss and emptiness more powerfully than the generic and impersonal body bag in which she was taken away to be buried.© Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Après s'être occupé du dernier corps de la journée, un membre de l'équipe s'est assis à l'arrière d'une voiture et est parti dans ses pensées. Aujourd'hui, il a retiré cinq défunts dans cinq familles différentes. A chaque fois, il lui faut gérer à nouveau le deuil des proches. Il recommencera la même tu00e2che le lendemain. / After collecting the last body of the day, this burial worker sat in the back of the vehicle, lost in his thoughts. He had helped remove bodies from 5 different families, each one accompanied by the grieving of a new set of bereaved relatives. It is emotionally draining work, but he will have to do it all over again tomorrow.© Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Les chambres vides des victimes d'Ebola portent en elle un puissant sentiment de deuil. Les familles, par peur d'être infectées, n'entrent plus dans ces lieux et les laissent se figer dans le temps. / The empty rooms of the Ebola dead carry a powerful sense of loss. Families are often afraid of getting infected, so the rooms remain untouched, frozen at the time of death.rn© Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • J'ai réalisé cette photo depuis l'arrière d'une moto dans un village à côté de Makeni. Cette scène était si paisible, en contraste avec la tension et la peur qui règnent dans les zones touchées par Ebola. / I shot this from the back of a motorbike in a village near Makeni. The scene seemed so peaceful amid the general tension and fear that comes with living in an area affected by Ebola. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Je n'ai jamais pu trouvé le nom de la femme enterrée ici. J'ai suivi les équipes funéraires depuis la zone de quarantaine où elle est morte. Ils ont aspergé son corps de chlore, l'ont mise dans le sac mortuaire et l'ont enterrée. La procédure fut particulièrement impersonnelle. Personne n'est venu aux obsèques. / I never found out the name of the young woman being buried here. I had followed the burial team from inside the holding center where she died. They sprayed her body with chlorine and rolled her into the body bag. The procedure was brutally impersonal. Nobody came to see the burial. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Dans un village près de Makeni, ces personnes ont été gardées plus de deux semaines en quarantaine. A ce stade, il y a peu de chances qu'elles soient contaminées. Elles mettent tous leurs espoirs dans leur foi. / In a village near Makeni these people had been quarantined for more than two weeks, and were by this stage very unlikely to contract Ebola. You could sense the optimism, and the strngth they derived from their faith. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • A la tombée de la nuit, le personnel de ce centre de traitement commence à se détendre. Il y a un sentiment de calme après cette longue journée de travail. / As the sun set, the staff at this treatment center began to relax. There was a sense of calm, at the end of a long shift. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Un médecin éthiopien récemment arrivé se fait traiter. Il ne souhaite prendre aucun risque et se vêt d'une combinaison intégrale. Porté par sa foi religieuse, il est venu en Afrique de l'Ouest pour traiter les patients atteint du virus Ebola. / The Ethiopian doctor getting sprayed down was newly arrived. He took enormous care when taking off his protective suit, taking no chances. He said it had been a religious imperative that he came to West Africa to treat Ebola patients. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • C'est la fin de journée, dans ce centre de traitement, ici, des bottes sont mises à sécher. Beaucoup d'employés inscrivent leur nom sur leur paires pour les réutiliser le lendemain. / At the end of the day at this treatment center, boots were left all over the compound to dry. Many staff mark their favourite pair to ensure they can use them again the next day. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Ces jeunes participent à la patrouille de nuit dans un village près de Makeni. L'atmosphère y était très étrange, car la ville était entièrement vide de toute présence humaine depuis la mise en place d'un couvre-feu. Le village a, jusqu'ici, évité tous les cas d'Ebola. / These youths were part of the night time Ebola patrol in a village near Makeni. The setting was eerie, with the town locked down under a strict curfew, leaving the security team to watch over the empty streets. The village has so far avoided any Ebola cases. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • L'atmosphère dans les régions rurales de la Sierra Leone est tendue. Les points de contrôle comme celui-ci ont vu le jour dans presque tous les villages, la peur s'accroit et les populations deviennent méfiants envers les étrangers. / The atmosphere in rural Sierra Leone is tense. Checkpoints like this one have sprung up in almost all villages, with populations becoming fearful of outsiders. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacernrn
  • Cette photo a été prise sur les u00eeles de la Tortue, un archipel isolé dans le sud du pays. Les gens ont été impressionnés par les hélicoptères et les soldats britanniques supervisant le réapprovisionnement en nourriture. La rencontre de deux mondes particulièrement différents. / This photo was taken on the Turtle Islands, a remote archipelago in the south of the country. People were awed by the helicopters and the British soldiers overseeing the food drop. It was an encounter of two very different worlds. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacern
  • Les gens craignaient les hélicoptères, ils attendaient leur départ pour se diriger en courant vers la nourriture. L'atmosphère était joviale. Les gens ne veulent pas récupérer la nourriture égoïstement, ils souhaitait apporter leur aide et la porter jusqu'au village, où la nourriture serait répartie équitablement. / People wary of the helicopters waited in the wings until they had departed, then there was a mad rush for the food. The atmosphere was jovial. People didn't want to get the food for themselves, they wanted to help carry it to the village, where it would be shared out equally. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacernrn
  • Lors de mes précédents voyages aux u00eeles de la Tortue, malgré la pauvreté de la région, j'avais vu les pêcheurs vivre confortablement. Aujourd'hui, ces derniers dépendent de l'aide alimentaire,. Ebola a totalement détruit le commerce du poisson. D'une manière ou d'une autre, tout le monde subit les conséquences du virus Ebola. / On previous trips to the Turtle Islands I had seen happy fishing communities living comfortably - despite the poverty of the region. Now they were dependent on food aid, despite having been untouched by the virus. Ebola had totally crushed the trade in fish. In some way or other, everybody feels the effects of Ebola. © Tommy Trenchard/Polaris/Starfacernrn
February 6, 2015
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Every friday we will share with you the portfolios selected by Jérôme Huffer Head of the photo department of Paris Match and editor of  “L’instant” blog dedicated to photojournalism. Monday is dedicated to the best pictures published during the week end, Tuesday is about a photobook, Wednesday which is the day before the magazine comes out he presents a best of  to tease the readers then Friday is for a news portfolio.

EBOLA
by Tommy Trenchard

Tommmy Trenchard is a freelance journalist and photographer based in Sierra Leone. He is currently documenting the ongoing Ebola Crisis in West Africa. We’ve asked him about his feelings on such a work.

Working through the Ebola outbreak has been a tough and often bizarre experience. At first, the fear of the virus made working around treatment centers mentally exhausting. The disease has a huge psychological impact. Any subsequent illness contracted after spending time around Ebola patients conjures up worst-case scenarious in the mind – at one stage I tried to get myself tested for Ebola after coming down with a fever. It later turned out to be malaria instead.

Seven months on, I have become entirely accustomed to working around the virus. Despite the wild hysteria overseas, it has become clear that few catch Ebola from casual contact. In truth, it is very rare for people to contract it outside hospitals, the intimacy of family life, or at burials. If you stick to a strict no-touching rule, the risk is extremely low. Only on two occasions has it been necessary to wear protective equipment, apart from the now ubiquitous rubber boots.

Instead, what now makes the work tough is the grim and relentless routine of deaths, body-bags, chlorine and burials, which has become so familiar. Ebola has completely taken over everyday life in Freetown. Everybody is involved or affected in some way or other, and people talk of little else.

Tommy Trenchard

 

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POST ID: 27189

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