"My name is Hélène Mula. I've been a volunteer since 2018. I'd known about the Red Cross for a while, but I was afraid to join at first because I only knew about their work conducting burials [during Ebola]. I thought that’s all they did. So I was scared.
But when I arrived here in Mbandaka, a friend of my son's came to visit him. He was wearing a Red Cross T-shirt. I asked him some questions about it, saying I loved Red Cross but was scared. He put me at ease.
Every day I spend about four hours raising awareness on health issues. I do it in the community where I live with members of my community and family. They know me very well. When they see me they say, ‘Oh Mommy Red Cross, how are you?’. Then I go over and talk to them. It’s work that we do with our hearts. If something is going on, they tell me about it.
Mpox is here. I learned about mpox through the Red Cross, that there is an epidemic. I didn’t know about the disease before. I was trained about mpox through CP3 [Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness programme]. Now I’m capable of talking about the disease within the community. I explain what the symptoms are, how it spreads, how to avoid it and how people can protect themselves and the community.
At first I was scared about going into communities to talk about mpox and the risks. Because I know it can spread from person to person. But it’s okay to be scared. I am a volunteer, I have no choice but to go and try to save lives.
It’s been difficult because before we started sensitizing the community, some people didn’t believe in mpox. Others did believe it existed, but thought it was some kind of curse. Some thought that the Ministry of Health had made a curse in order to come and demand money from the community.
But over time, when they started to see more and more people dying, they started calling us saying ‘come, come, there’s a problem here’. I’d call my supervisor and we’d follow up to see if there are cases. The fact people are calling me now reassures me I am doing good work.
In my neighbourhood, people have started to protect their children, wash their hands regularly, and limit contact with people who are sick or suspected of being sick. They now take people who are showing symptoms to the hospital. Before, they used to keep people who were sick at home. But now when they see symptoms they understand they can’t leave them at home, that there’s a risk of the disease spreading."
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Hélène Mula is a DRC Red Cross volunteer based in Mbandaka, Equateur - one of the provinces hardest hit by the mpox outbreak. This testimony was captured in mid-July 2024.
Hélène is part of the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness programme (CP3) - a multi-country programme funded by USAID which supports communities, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other partners to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to disease threats. The CP3 programme has been active in DRC since 2018. Learn more here.