Faith Networks and Education on the Front Lines of Ebola

As deaths mount in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, a Nashville-based nonprofit is mobilising faith communities, animation, and local language messaging to save lives before fear and misinformation claim more victims than the virus itself.

When Ebola strikes a community, the disease itself is not always the first killer. Fear, mistrust, and misinformation can be just as deadly driving people to avoid health workers, continue traditional burial practices that spread infection, and attack the very teams sent to help them.

That is the reality facing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda today. Since early May 2026, the two countries have been battling an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a particularly dangerous variant for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment. By late June, the DRC had recorded more than 1,000 confirmed cases and at least 254 confirmed deaths, making this the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record. The World Health Organization declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May. Uganda has also confirmed cases, all linked to travel from the DRC.

(Editor’s note: The Bundibugyo strain is distinct from the more familiar Zaire strain responsible for previous large outbreaks, including the 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic. The vaccine licensed in most countries (ERVEBO®) was developed for the Zaire strain and is not expected to protect against Bundibugyo virus.)

Into this crisis has stepped the Rev. Neelley Hicks, head of Harper Hill Global, a Nashville, Tennessee-based nonprofit. Reports of attacks on health workers and burial teams have reinforced what she already knew: without education and community trust, medical interventions alone cannot stop the disease.

Based on previous experience working in West and Central Africa during the 2014-2016 outbreaks, her response has been to activate a resource that official health systems often overlook, notably faith-based networks. With earlier outbreaks, Hicks developed SMS text-messaging networks and provided training and strategy for the use of radio in disseminating messages.

“Without understanding it, people die,” Hicks said.

Portable classroom in Wobulenzi, Uganda.

Ubuntu as a public health strategy

One of Hicks’s key partners in the DRC is the Rev. Dr. Betty Kazadi Musau, a United Methodist Church communicator in the North Katanga region of eastern Congo. Musau has framed the public health effort around the African concept of ubuntu based on the idea, common across many African cultures, that a person’s well-being is inseparable from that of those around them. In a community facing Ebola, ubuntu is not merely a philosophical principle; it is a practical argument for protective behaviour.

“Ubuntu via education will be a vaccine,” Musau said, in a conversation with Hicks and animator Firdaus Kharas, founder of Chocolate Moose Media.

Hicks had previously worked with Kharas during the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola outbreak, through United Methodist Communications. This time, Kharas’s team at Chocolate Moose Media, a Canadian media production company working with Artha Animation, produced a new 3.5-minute animated film in just six days in direct response to urgent requests from partners in the DRC and Uganda.

“This video is the fourth in a series of animations on Ebola containment and prevention,” Kharas said. “It came about not because we thought of it from far away, but in response to an urgent request from the DR Congo and Uganda.”

Mother and child watching animation on video in Kisangani, DR Congo

The hardest message: do not touch the dead

One of the most painful and culturally sensitive aspects of Ebola response is the handling of the dead. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick or has died from the disease. In many communities across the DRC and Uganda, traditional burial practices involve washing and touching the body of the deceased. This makes funerals one of the most significant drivers of transmission.

The new animation addresses this directly, without judgment. “The animation uses emotion to help affected populations understand the necessity to not touch bodies of their loved ones with Ebola,” Kharas explained. “We provide an alternative way of thinking for family and friends, and emphasise that the burials conducted by health workers are dignified and safe.” The aim is to allow audiences to “come to their own conclusion to accept safe funeral practices.”

The animation is available in several languages, including Lingala, Congolese Swahili, French, Ugandan English, Luganda, and Lugbara, reflecting the linguistic complexity of a region where national languages often carry less weight than local ones. It is being distributed through WhatsApp, SMS, television, radio, and mobile classrooms that can be quickly assembled in villages.

School children learning Ebola prevention at Panyimur Primary School, Pakwach District, Uganda.

A crisis compounded by conflict

The scale of the challenge is stark. “Ebola has reached three provinces in our episcopal region,” said Judith Yanga, communications director for the United Methodist Church in eastern Congo. The three affected provinces - Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu - are linked by the movement of displaced people fleeing ongoing armed conflict.

"Two of the three affected provinces are under the control of armed groups that the DRC government is unable to manage,” Yanga noted. “This makes the response process extremely difficult.” Eastern DRC has experienced decades of armed conflict involving multiple militia groups. The resulting instability significantly hampers disease surveillance, contact tracing, and the movement of medical supplies and health workers.

“Communication and education are absolutely essential in responding to Ebola,” said Joseph Kanyike, communications director for the Global Methodist Church in Uganda. “Medical interventions alone are not sufficient. People need clear, accurate, and culturally relevant information about how the disease spreads, how to recognise symptoms, when to seek medical care, and how to protect themselves and their families.” (Editor’s note: The United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church are separate denominations. The latter was formed in 2022 following a split over the question of LGBTQ+ inclusion. Both are engaged in this Ebola response.)

A coalition reaching across boundaries

In the DRC, Hicks worked with Yanga and fellow United Methodist communicator Chadrack Tambwe Londe to arrange translations and distribution. Yanga described plans to broadcast the animations on television and radio in local languages, and to use the UM Connect platform to send SMS reminders about protective measures.

The effort is deliberately ecumenical. It brings together United Methodists, Global Methodists, and secular supporters around a shared public health goal. The messaging was developed from a faith standpoint, and the animation depicts clergy working alongside grieving families, a framing designed to build trust in communities where the church is a central institution.

“Harper Hill Global has been a valuable partner in strengthening community-based Ebola awareness and prevention efforts,” said Kanyike. “They are also helping build local capacity through online training programmes for members of the Ebola response task force and community leaders involved in prevention and response activities.”

Focusing on both the urgency and the underlying purpose of the initiative, Kanyike maintained: “Together, we can help prevent further suffering and bring hope, healing and resilience to those most affected.”

Harper Hill Global is raising $125,000 to equip local communication teams with translated content, purchase radio and television broadcast time, and provide technologies that allow life-saving messages to be sent throughout communities. “I want people to use their power to prevent this disease before it spreads,” Hicks said. “So sharing these communications with others…that’s key.”

Tim Tanton is a journalist based in the United States and a supporter of Harper Hill Global.

Harper Hill Global is a nonprofit agency that uses digital media and mobile solutions to address humanitarian needs. It provides training and support for victims of trauma, as well as empowerment initiatives for marginalized communities in Africa, Haiti, the Philippines, Europe and the United States.

An earlier version of this article first appeared on harperhill.global.