By David Bowden, Senior News Correspondent
Sierra Leone is now at the forefront of the fight against Ebola in West Africa, with more reported cases - over 8,000 - than any other country, a rising number of deaths and many children left orphaned.
But the impact of the disease goes far beyond the victims themselves.
There are thousands of so-called "Ebola orphans", young children who have lost one or both parents to the disease and many have seen their close family wiped out by the virus too.
In Sierra Leone there are estimated to be more than 4,500 children in this situation and caring for them is a growing problem.
As the first deployment of 16 British reservists sets off for Sierra Leone to join almost 800 service personnel based there, Sky News visited one of the centres that cares for children who have no-one else to look after them.
Before the Ebola outbreak the St George Foundation - founded by Unicef just outside Freetown after the civil war in Sierra Leone a decade ago - cared for street urchins and child prostitutes, but not any more.
Now the youngsters here, aged from just one and a half to 17 years old, are without their loved ones because of Ebola.
For founder Justina Conteh and her staff it is heartbreaking to have to explain to ones so young that they are alone in the world. All deal with it differently.
She said: "For the boys, give them one week and they are ok, but for the girls you really see them in the corners in a sulky way sitting down thinking, holding their heads.
"For the girls it really takes time for them to get over the psychological problems."
There are 35 children being looked after at St George's, but as the others tuck into their lunch, two remain apart behind a sagging nylon rope marking the boundary of the quarantined area.
This is where Haja and Fatima live for now. Haja, who is 17, has lost 10 members of her family to Ebola including her mother, seven of her sisters and two brothers. Her father died five years ago.
Haja, too, was infected but survived.
She explained what happened in hospital: "So two to three days and I didn't die. After I don't die they transferred me to Hastings (an Ebola treatment centre). I stay there for about two weeks and they discharge me."
She has been at the orphanage ever since, acting as an unpaid nanny to other orphans who are suspected of having Ebola.
Her survival has given her hope for immunity from the virus a second time.
At the moment she only has one charge, nine-year-old Fatima, whose mother died from the disease, but who so far is showing no signs of being infected herself.
An 11-month-old baby boy who had been in quarantine has just died from Ebola, though Kadija, 10, recently left Haja's care after she tested negative for the virus.
The ordeal for these youngsters is not over yet, finding them new homes is proving very difficult because of the stigma of Ebola.
No one, not even extended family, seems to want anything to do with a child who has been so close to the killer virus.
:: You can watch an extended special report on the Ebola crisis at 4.30pm today.
