SALOME KARWAH: Green Personality for July 2019

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NAME: SALOME KARWAH

DATE OF BIRTH: 1988

NATIONALITY: LIBERIAN

“Helping others with Ebola brought meaning to my life.”
— Salome Karwah

FAMILY

Karwah’s father was a medical doctor who was the first person to die from Ebola in Liberia. She lost also her mother and seven other relatives to the epidemic. She herself was an Ebola survivor who later engaged to work with ‘Medecins Sans Frontierers’ (i.e Doctors Without Borders) and other healthcare professionals helping to save lives of thousands of people from the Ebola epidemic.

However, in 2013, Karwah had met James Harris at a mutual friend’s place and the two later became lovers. They had two children together before getting married in January, 2016, while Karwah was pregnant with their third child.

It’s unfortunate that Karwah died on February 21, 2017, while giving birth to the fourth child for James Harris.

It’s noteworthy that though James Harris too had been infected with the Ebola Virus, it was discovered that both Karwah and Harris had developed a natural immunity to the particular strain of Ebola in Liberia. Thus, shortly after their discharge from the hospital, ‘MSF’ (i.e Doctors Without Borders) hired the couple as mental health counsellors in their Ebola units.

EDUCATION

Karwah was educated in Liberia and apparently was trained to be a medical practional. 

OCCUPATION/CAREER

Although Karwah had lost her parents and other relatives to the Ebola epidemic in the Liberia, after her surviving the attack herself and the survival of her then boyfriend, James Harris, the two later devoted all their training and experiences on the disease to caring for other victims without minding the risk to their own personal health.

Thus, they were employed by MSF to serve as mental health counsellors in Ebola units. For instance, when Karwah was interviewed on her work by ‘NPR’ in 2014, she recalled that ‘it was not hard to come back (to the Ebola treatment centre)….. if I can help someone survive, I will be very happy.’ No wonder she remained at the unit until the end of Ebola crisis.

ADVOCACY AND ACHIEVEMENT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTALISM                                         

In October, 2014, the Guardian featured Karwah as a guest writer. In the piece, she stated categorically that helping others with Ebola brought meaning to her life. She also declared that ‘If someone has Ebola, it is not good to stigmatize, because you don’t know who is next in line to contact the virus.’ It’s noteworthy that Karwah’s efforts, determination, sacrifices and experience really helped thousands of victims of the Ebola epidemic while it lasted in Liberia.

PRIZES/AWARDS/HONOURS 

Times Magazine named Salome Karwah as its Co-Person of the year, along side several other ‘Ebola fighters’ in December, 2014. Also, various publications and institutions celebrated her rare and tremendous contributions and doggedness on the fight against the Ebola epidemic.

_The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened._.png

RESOURCES

Paye-Layleh, Jonathan (2017-03-02). "Ebola health care worker dies after childbirth in Liberia". Associated Press. CBC News. Retrieved 2017-03-15.