Client: NAMUH for UNICEF | Photography: Sarah Grile

I AM THE FATHER AND I AM THE MOTHER

When William Poopei’s uncle became ill in 2014 and traveled to Monrovia for care, William’s wife took care of him. Soon after, she found herself coming down with the same illness. William took his wife to several clinics to help find a cure her but she later died in his arms.

Both William and his son, Patrick, started showing similar symptoms to his deceased wife and , decided to go to the nearest Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) where both tested positive. They both survived. 

William, who worked at a lumberyard, spent all of his savings on paying for medical bills when trying to save his family and could not afford to start his business again. Over 15 of his family members passed away from the disease. 

“It costs (lots of) money to put Patrick and Jeremiah in a good school. But I want him and his brother to have a good education and be independent, and be able to live good lives,” William says.

“I am the father and I am the mother,” says William. Before, when I was at work, my wife used to do all of this. Take them (Patrick and Jeremiah) to school and bring them back. Now, all the burden I have been taking it.”

“We don’t talk about it, but I know he misses his mother,” William says of his son, Patrick. “In the morning, he gets close to me and hugs me like he did with his mother,” he says.

In 2016, William passed away from an illness and Patrick and Jeremiah would later move to the United States to live with a family member.