'I buried my parents one day after the other' - Ebola mourners learn how to grieve safely

'I buried my parents one day after the other' - Ebola mourners learn how to grieve safely 5 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Anne Soy Bunia, DR Congo BBC None of the usual crowds attend burials in this Bunia cemetery at the moment Nyamurongo cemetery in Bunia, a city in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that is the epicentre of the current Ebola outbreak, is much busier than usual. "Today is the sixth time I have come to the cemetery," says Joel Lonza Makumbu as he explains how the virus has devastated his family and community. "Yesterday I buried my father. Today I have come to say goodbye to my mother." As he fills the grave with soil, he says he has also lost three sisters and a brother-in-law to Ebola. "I want to say for all people [to hear] that Ebola is true." It is a message he is desperate to communicate as the authorities try to tackle misinformation around the disease which has so far killed almost 200 people in the last few months, mainly in the province of Ituri of which Bunia is the capital. The current outbreak has been caused by a rare species of Ebola known as Bundibugyo, which kills about a quarter of those infected. Ebola is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, including blood, urine, vomit, semen and breast milk. Stringent protocols have to be followed to stop it spreading - and safe burials are vital. One of several gravediggers hard at work at the cemetery tells me that 15 families were currently attending burials - but there is none of the usual crowds, ceremony, singing and other rituals. One traditional practice that is now strongly discouraged is the washing of dead bodies by family members before burial. Many fresh graves can be seen at Nyamurongo cemetery It is a tricky and sensitive job to get grieving families to understand why these changes need to be made. Julienne Anoko, an anthropologist with the UN's World Health Organization (WHO), says mourners would usually dress a dead body in smart clothes while funeral rites could last several days. She explains that most communities in Ituri believe a dead person needs to look their best as they are "travelling from one world to the other world - to the world of the ancestors". "Women are dressed in a wedding dress with make-up… They sing, they celebrate that person, because it's a journey, it's not the end of the life," she tells the BBC. But in the case of someone who has died of Ebola, they must immediately be put in a leak-proof body bag for burial. Maria Munoz-Bertrand, public health emergency co-ordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), says efforts are being made to accommodate the needs of families. In Ituri this means that coffins are used - with the body bag placed inside. The coffin has a few transparent panels on the side to allow mourners to be able to see inside. Another change has been to body bags, which now have clear film at the top so the face inside can be seen. "We n