In this paper, the author reflects on her personal experiences as an expatriate psychologist, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in 2007. As there is still no cure for this highly contagious, fatal disease, segregation from those infected appears to be the only preventative solution. This has quite different impacts and consequences for local people than for expatriate staff. Yet, in their quest to find meaning and to deal with the horrible events that took place, expatriates, staff and local people all felt powerless.