Michelle home from sierra leone

A brave young Lobinstown woman is relaxing at home at the moment taking a well earned break after a gruelling stint working for GOAL in Sierra Leone at the height of the Ebola Crisis.
Michelle Rafferty, a daughter of Betty and Michael Rafferty, returned home recently after three years working in the West African country and is currently taking a break to recharge her batteries.
She admits she is exhausted and is taking a break until after Christmas, but she intends to work in some kind of NGO capacity in the new year.
“I got a great welcome in Lobinstown and I’m glad to be home,” she said.
Michelle worked in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, a city of 1.2 million people and was involved in co-ordinating the battle against Ebola in the country.
Sierra Leone was one of the worst hit in the crisis with 8,697 confirmed cases and almost 5000 deaths. The worst of the crisis now seems to be over, with 10 of 14 health districts in the country Ebola free for more than 100 days.
Michelle worked in GOAL’s headquarters in Dublin for two years before travelling to Sierra Leone in May 2012.
She said up until the Ebola outbreak, GOAL had been involved in a lot of water and sanitation projects and had a health and nutrition project for mothers and young children.
However, a lot of their activities have had to be cut back as they concentrated on dealing with the Ebola outbreak.
“The situation is getting better. Last week, they took away the restriction that had been in place on public gathering,” she said.
 GOAL has a treatment centre there and was involved in training health workers and providing support for orphans and bereaved families,
“We were also involved in integrating survivors back into their communities because people were fearful of them.”
Michelle is hoping to do some other NGO work after Christmas. She would consider Sierra Leone, but is also thinking of maybe somewhere different, or maybe closer to home.
“I’m just relaxing and catching up with family at the moment and enjoying the good food. I will make decisions on the future later,” she says.