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Friday, November 21, 2014

Photographer Looks Ebola In The Eye

Her eyes met the camera. She was there. And yet she wasn't there.

That's how NPR photographer David Gilkey remembers the moment last Saturday when he took a picture of Baby Sesay, a 45-year-old traditional healer in the village of Royail in Sierra Leone.

Sesay had tried to cure a sick little boy. The boy died, likely of Ebola. Then Sesay herself fell ill. She had come to a community care center a few hours earlier, walking in under her own power, to be tested for the virus.

The man who runs the center called her out to talk with Gilkey and NPR correspondent Nurith Aizenman. Standing behind two rows of fencing, Sesay moved slowly but otherwise seemed OK. Gilkey was standing about 15 feet away.

Two days later, Gilkey learned that Baby Sesay had died.

What were you feeling when you took that photograph?

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, as an NPR idiot, I'm sure his feelings while taking that photo were well traveled. Helpless eyes are not really needed here as 21 day quarantines would work a hundred tomes over in effectiveness.

But, no, we must invite this new deadly disease into our midst so we can see what is in it!

God help us all.