After surviving Ebola, Maseray Kamara made a vow to restore the dignity of women who die of the disease. She is now one of the first female undertakers in Sierra Leone.

I am an Ebola survivor. My husband and my sister are not. They are among the 3,900 Ebola victims who have died in Sierra Leone in the year since the epidemic began.

I am also one of the first female undertakers in Sierra Leone.

In November last year, I travelled to Freetown see my family. While there, I visited a long-time friend, who didn’t know that he was in the early stages of Ebola. Shortly afterwards, I developed a fever. I was terrified when stomach cramps and vomiting hit me. I called 117 – the national Ebola hotline – and an ambulance soon arrived. Fallay and Issa felt ill, too, but they refused to come with me to the hospital. “No one comes back from the Ebola ward,” they said. “It is a death sentence.” How I regret not convincing them to get in that ambulance.