The domino effect of Patrick Sawyer's unfortunate sojourn into Nigerian soil still echoes into today, as we read from the PUNCH newspaper that a Liberian woman (known simply as 'Kate') committed suicide in Isheri-Oke over the stigmatization that greeted her.
The #PUNCH newspaper reports below:
While they said that the woman had been sickly for some time, the residents said she did not appear to have any problem with anyone in the community.
But after the outbreak of the Ebola disease that was brought to Nigeria by a Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, some of the people in the area opted not to have anything to do with her.
One of the residents who pleaded anonymity said, “We see her in this neighbourhood every day. She always looked sick but people stopped selling to her after the Ebola outbreak. It could be because she was Liberian and looked sickly. This might have frustrated her.”
Another resident who spoke to our correspondent after his request for anonymity was granted said, “She attended a church in the area and her church members still saw her yesterday. I used to see her every day in the dress she died in. She was sick and people in this area had avoided her, especially after the Ebola outbreak.”
Meanwhile, while we cannot confirm this, a blog claims that the woman committed suicide because she tested positive for the HIV virus. "...she recently went to an hospital where some tests were carried out on her, and it revealed she was HIV positive. She has been finding it difficult to live after that, but I never knew she would commit suicide," the blog says.
