Ebola stops Sierra Leone student in Nova Scotia from going home

A woman from Sierra Leone is stuck in travel limbo. She's not allowed to return home, yet she can't stay in Canada.

Yvette Sia Kamanda came to Nova Scotia in the summer to take a leadership course at the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier University. She's required to leave Canada soon because her student visa is set to expire on Jan. 6.

But the Ebola outbreak in Africa is keeping Kamanda from returning home.

Just weeks after arriving in Nova Scotia in July, the Ebola outbreak in her home country of Sierra Leone escalated. More than 2,500 people have died.

There are now travel restrictions in place that prevent people from travelling to and from western Africa. This means Kamanda can't get a flight home. Even if she could, she says the city of Freetown — the capital of Sierra Leone — is in quarantine, so she'd be stuck at the airport.

"A lot of areas have been quarantined and it's not even safe for me to go back home for now," she said. "I have lost a lot of family members, because, even my eldest sister lost her husband."

The Coady Institute has been helping Kamanda apply to extend her student visa. Her request was rejected in November. Kamanda says the institute hired a lawyer, who helped her re-file right away.

"We're expecting the process to take like four weeks, but we haven't heard anything from her up to now," Kamanda said.

Kamanda, 45, is a community worker in the city of Bo, where her two daughters and son are. Her husband is looking for work, so she's the main source of income for the family.

While she's away from her job with a non-governmental organization, the cost of living keeps going up. Kamanda sent what money she had to her family. She says it should last them until the end of January.

"A bag of rice is going for like $70. So how many people can afford that?" she said.

Kamanda doesn't know when she'll get home. For now, she waits for news about her second request for a visa extension and keeps in touch with her family by phone.

"I will not leave because I have nowhere to go."