Ebola 'Horror Story' Inspires Briton's Charity

Londoner Memuna Janneh describes the horror of seeing the the ebola crisis hit the streets where she grew up.

04:13, UK, Wednesday 15 October 2014

Sierra Leone has been hit hard by the latest outbreak of ebola

By Rhiannon Mills, News Correspondent

A woman from London whose family are living in ebola-affected Sierra Leone is launching a campaign to supply meals to those hit by the virus.

Memuna Janneh, who was brought up in the west African country and continues to do business there, has set up the charity lunchboxgift.com to supply fresh, cooked meals for communities left in crisis by the spread of the disease.
She told Sky News: "It's just a horror story for me.
"These are streets I used to play in, these are houses that I visited as a child, so it's very real to me and you just watch the programmes and you hope you don't see somebody that you know, you just worry this is coming closer every time."
Earlier this year, while in Sierra Leone, she was concerned to see areas being locked down to stop the spread of the virus.

Memuna Janneh was brought up in Sierra Leone

She said she was especially worried about the consequences of the lockdown for those who go out on a daily basis to find their meals.
Ms Janneh quickly gathered a team together to supply 2,600 meals to those living in seven communities.
She is now hoping to raise enough money to supply 50,000 meals to hospitals, orphanages and quarantine zones.
She said: "This is just something that we can do. As citizens, as Sierra Leonians, as Africans, as people of the world.
"This is something we can handle without waiting for the big organisations, this is something ordinary citizens can come together and handle."
She hopes that by taking control of something as simple as food, the authorities can be freed up to deal with medical issues.