In March, West African leaders called for a “Marshall Plan” to help with regional reconstruction after Ebola, saying the region is “coming out of a war” with its economy and public services decimated.

It is the second time that Sierra Leone will attempt such a recovery in less than 15 years. When Ebola hit, the country was still rebuilding from a civil conflict that ended in 2001.

The war left an estimated 70,000 people dead and displaced roughly 2.5 million people. As Dr Muctarr Amadu Sheriff Jalloh, a former president of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, once explained: “The civil war brought all of the health and economic infrastructures down to zero during the 10 years.”

History seems to be repeating itself. Government restrictions on travel and public gatherings, together with the closure of markets, have severely impeded many business activities.

In the agricultural sector – where most of the population works – fields remain fallow, seeds rotted, and food stores depleted.

According to Kumarabai Kamara, administrative head for Kagbantama, there is no rice left.

“We had been in farming, but now there is no more farming,” he said.

“There are no farming implements, and when the [Ebola] crisis came, all the rice rotted.”

Official forecasts for food production in Sierra Leone in 2014 were already revised down by 6.4 percent since the onset of the Ebola outbreak.

So far no “Marshall Plan” for West Africa exists, though the heads of the most affected countries have stressed the “importance of maintaining international engagement with the recovery and development process in the Ebola-affected countries”.

According to Abdul, help from abroad will be important to post-Ebola recovery, and should focus on two important areas: “To help the children go to school and to improve the hospitals.”

This will help prevent another crisis, he said.

Abdul said he will overcome the personal difficulties he faces “with the help of the almighty, and the others”.