"Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Health and the preventive measures in place, the population does not respect the directives and does not believe what is happening," they add. The missionaries warn: "They do not believe the explanations of health personnel and do not take into account the preventive measures that are proposed to them."
At the Don Bosco Ngangi youth center and at the technical school where the Salesians work, those responsible keep watch so that children and young people who come every day are in good health. "However, we are concerned about what is happening outside our doors. We are all in touch with the people of the city, with children and young people, with their families, with employees ... We cannot control that measures of prevention are applied out there," they explain from Goma. "In some cases, because they don't believe it, in others because they all wash themselves with the same soap and in the same tub, and in others because the families can't afford to buy disinfectants," they add.
Ebola has spread widely in the province of North Kivu and Ituri, where it remains out of control: 2,850 infections and 1,913 Ebola deaths have been recorded here. The country's authorities confirmed that a mother and her seven-month-old child tested positive for Ebola in Mwenga, in the province of South Kivu, which raises concerns about the risk of international expansion, due to its proximity to countries like Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. This is the most lethal Ebola epidemic in this African country and the second most lethal in the world.
Fear in the Salesian centers of Goma is increasing, given that the educational centers will reopen their doors to hundreds of children and young people in September.
