Ebola outbreak in DR Congo: Mourners learn how to grieve and safely bury a body

Nyamurongo cemetery in Bunia, a city in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that is the epicentre of the current Ebola outbreak, is much busier than usual.

“Today is the sixth time I have come to the cemetery,” says Joel Lonza Makumbu as he explains how the virus has devastated his family and community.

“Yesterday I buried my father. Today I have come to say goodbye to my mother.”

As he fills the grave with soil, he says he has also lost three sisters and a brother-in-law to Ebola.

“I want to say for all people [to hear] that Ebola is true.”

It is a message he is desperate to communicate as the authorities try to tackle misinformation around the disease which has so far killed almost 200 people in the last few months, mainly in the province of Ituri of which Bunia is the capital.

The current outbreak has been caused by a rare species of Ebola known as Bundibugyo, which kills about a quarter of those infected.

Ebola is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, including blood, urine, vomit, semen and breast milk. Stringent protocols have to be followed to stop it spreading – and safe burials are vital.

One of several gravediggers hard at work at the cemetery tells me that 15 families were currently attending burials – but there is none of the usual crowds, ceremony, singing and other rituals.

One traditional practice that is now strongly discouraged is the washing of dead bodies by family members before burial.