Congo’s Ebola burial teams battle community anger, fatigue and fear of infection

BUNIA, Congo -- Yuma Adolphe and his team are responsible for the safe and dignified burial of some of the people who die from Ebola in Ituri, the epicenter of history's deadliest Ebola outbreak. Nearly every day, they dig the graves, prepare the bodies and handle the coffins.But as the authorities grapple with the outbreak, which has killed nearly 3,200 people among more than 6,500 cases, the burial team says they are at their limits, struggling with an increasing workload and hostile communities.“It is difficult, but we try to push ourselves beyond our limits,” Adolphe told The Associated Press. Since the outbreak began in mid-May, authorities have deployed small burial teams like Adolphe's across the hot spots to handle the burials. Paid $20 a day, they are a part of a group of front-line workers who are working to contain the rapidly moving disease.Despite the toll, the burial team members say the priority is to keep their community safe.“We have to look at our own mental well-being, and physically the fatigue mounts, but we keep going to ensure the community is protected.”But their work is in the crosshairs of the locals' frustration with the outbreak, which not only has taken...