Life wasn’t easy for then-17-year-old Ahmed Paasewe when he lost his parents to the Ebola epidemic in 2014. He suffered abandonment as an orphan, and the feeling of being looked after remained.
“After my parents passed, I was left with nothing,” he recalled.
Liberia was one of the most affected nations by the Ebola virus, with 1500 survivors documented compared to Guinea and Sierra Leone. More than 10,000 deaths were reported, and close to 5,000 deaths were recorded.
Health authorities detected the first cases in Lofa County from a patient who returned from Guinea. Between March 2014 counties reported 2,445 suspected, 1,623 probable, and 2,456 confirmed Ebola patients to the Ministry of Health.
Ahmed and other survivors were left with nothing while enduring the stigma and discrimination. Ahmed was rescued by the Orphan Concern after Cladia Smith, a former Daily Observer reporter, reported a story about his parents and his situation and asked for support for schooling. “This was when my journey to the orphanage began.”
He volunteered as an office and field assistant for Orphan Concern, an NGO that works with orphanage homes in Liberia. He worked with 32 homes. Ahmed’s soon-to-be-launched book, “The Journey through Orphanages,” is an account of his experience working with less privileged kids and seeing how they struggled for meals, shelter, and clothing. “I have a deeper experience with orphanage homes in Liberia. I saw how kids struggled to get food. I saw some sleeping in rooms with an open roof,” Ahmed said.
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The 82-page book, which will be launched in December 2024, contains three chapters: narrative, storytelling, and poems. The narrative section covers his deceased father, a dedicated nurse and immigration officer who contracted the virus while treating a patient at the Tanapilpioo Clinic in Caldwell. His mother and two siblings later succumbed to the disease.
He says the storytelling highlights his relationships and interactions with orphanages and orphans. It also covers Ahmed’s interaction with the caregivers and funders of orphanage homes in Liberia. In the poetry section, Ahmed expressed his emotions and thoughts about living as an orphan in an area with no basic care. The rhyme covered orphans’ daily meals, their care, education, staff care, and facility. “I had an experience where I witnessed children sleeping on beds made of rocks, ceil falling apart, and water running in their rooms. These were terrible moments that provoked my emotions.”
The book is expected to be sold for US$20 and will be launched in December 2024. Ahmed says he intends to use funds generated from book sales to support orphanage homes and further his education.
“It will be used to provide educational assistance and support and help advanced careers,” Ahmed says. “If I get more funds, I will send myself to the master’s program. The book will be published in December 2024, and on publication, it will be available on Amazon for soft copy and hard copy.”
