When I sat down with CTV Anchor Steve Murphy prior to departing for Liberia, I told him I was most looking forward to speaking with those who had survived Ebola - those most impacted by what we cannot even begin to imagine.

Today I was overwhelmed as I found myself in a room full of survivors, dozens of them. It was difficult to grasp that they had all stared death in the face. All of them.  

When we arrived at the meeting of the Ebola Survivors Network there was skepticism. They explained that they had seen camera crews before and not been happy with the result. They wanted to know who we were, what was our purpose, did we intend to sell the documentary? I thought they were all good questions. They demanded that cameraman George Reeves and I each stand to introduce ourselves. When I explained that I had applied for a fellowship to be here and could have chosen any developing country but selected Liberia because I believe in this story, that there remain many stories to tell here, they thanked me, and asked us to continue.

They gather because it helps them to be together.

“I think that survivors are the best people right now for us to be with because most of us, we don’t want to go outside because people always stigmatize us,” says the group’s co-ordinator, Sedikie Sannoh. “Our family members, our colleagues, down to our community members.”

He explains that people are still afraid of him, that survivors need to stick together.

“If you touch one, you touch all,” says Sannoh. “That is our motto.”

I felt a pang of guilt as I recalled the first time I shook an Ebola survivor’s hand. My research reassured me that I was OK, but the thought definitely registered with me.

Almost all of them are struggling. I ask how many of them have issues with their eyesight. More than half raise their hands. They also suffer from joint pain and impotency. Sannoh says he has considered taking his own life.

They do not feel they are getting the help they need, but they believe there is strength in numbers. They all tell me, after having survived Ebola, they can survive anything.