No, don’t call them mad, get them help instead

It is difficult to imagine that Charles Wachira is the incoherent, dirty and unkempt man that once roamed the steep ridges of King’ong’o on the outskirts of Nyeri town, carrying a sackful of trash.

He is well-groomed now, eloquent, his clothes clean and tidy, facial hair and beard neatly shaven.

Unlike four years ago, people no longer avoid him, nor do the children run away from him, like they once did.

Born in a family of 12 children, his parents could not afford to take him to high school, so shortly after completing primary school, he travelled to Nanyuki, where he got a job as a kitchen help, and then a cook, in the same hotel.

“All this time, I was fine,” he says.

It is here that he met his wife. They were happy until he fell sick in 1998. He was admitted to Nyeri General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with mental illness, schizophrenia.

He was hospitalised for a month, but when he was released, he found it impossible to work, because, as he puts it, the injections and medication he was taking left him drowsy and unable to do much.

Soon after, Wachira’s wife left him, taking their daughter with her.

His family took over caring for him, and in 2000, he was well enough to start working. Shortly thereafter however, he got ill again and was laid off.

“I would occasionally become aggressive,” he says of his illness.

He got another job in a hotel on Thika Road, but was again laid off after he fell ill again. He went back home a frustrated man.

Though he was on constant medication, he started smoking cigarettes, bhang and chewing khat.

VERY HEALTHY

Wachira’s condition deteriorated to a point where he neglected personal cleanliness and hygiene. He even burnt his house down.

From an independent and self-reliant man who once had a family and a home of his own, he started rummaging through dustbins, collecting trash, which he would then shove in a dirty sack that he lugged on his back all day long.

Wachira would probably still be this man that society gives a wide berth, the ‘mad’ man, had Helen Karimi not come across him.

Helen is the coordinator of the Mental Health Program at Caritas; the Development arm of the Nyeri Catholic Archdiocese.

“I met him aimless walking around and decided to talk to him. He agreed to come with me to our offices, where I explained what we do. He kept coming and going, and during one of these visits, he told us that he wanted to get better,” she says.

Helen shaved his unkempt hair and took him to a psychiatrist who subscribed medication. Once he was better, Wachira was employed at Caritas, where he now works as a guard. He is self-reliant once again.

“With the money I get from this job, I am now able to buy the medicine I need, and also support my daughter," he says.

Wachira is one of the more than 15,000 beneficiaries of the Mental Health Program at Caritas.

The programme has a presence in Nyandarwa, Tharaka-Nithi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Nairobi, Nyeri and Laikipia counties, as well as in Southern Sudan.

“All types of mental illnesses can be managed, and although some of the patients, especially those who are chronically sick, might never fully recover, they can become functional,” says Helen.

The project is jointly run by BasicNeeds Organisation and local health institutions, and is funded by the UK’s Department For International Development, and the European Union.

Besides getting treatment for their patients, and helping trace their family members, these two organisations also defend the rights of the mentally-ill and.
Helen says: “Mental health patients usually suffer the worst cases of human-rights abuses, such as discrimination, abuse of personal dignity, inhuman and degrading treatment, sexual violence, and psychological stress.”

CAPACITY BUILDING

According to Joyce King’ori, the BasicNeeds Chief Executive, unlike popular belief, it is actually the society that prevents the mentally sick from fully participating in activities that can improve their welfare.

“In many cases, society is the problem; we exacerbate, rather than ameliorate the situations people with mental disorders go through,” Mrs Kingori observes.

To go around this, her organisation teaches local people that mental sickness is just like any other health disorder.

“We organise community meetings during which we encourage participants to adopt a more positive attitude towards people with mental disorders.”

Also, they try to debunk the myth that mental disorders are confined to the lowly; they have been known to afflict doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians and other elite.

In fact, these disorders can be managed the same way we manage diabetes or other long-term illnesses.

Once they understand the sickness, those that have relatives with mental disorders are requested to allow them to participate in the program.

“We then take them to psychiatrists who diagnose how sick they are, and what mental illness they have,” the CEO explains.

The medical attention given to these patients is just but one of the approaches to getting them back to their feet.

“It does not work very well if you just attend to their health needs; you also need to ensure that they can actively participate in bringing about their long-term wellbeing,” she says.

After making considerable recovery, the patients are either trained on how to start and manage small business, or how to bead or weave baskets.

The aim here is to enable them to be able to buy medicine, which helps them to manage their condition.

A number of Equity and Family Bank staff members have volunteered to offer financial literacy training to the recovering patients.

“When we started partnering with the two banks, initially, some of the staff were nervous of being in the same room with people who society considers ‘mad’,” says Mrs King’ori, adding that they were pleasantly surprised that the trainees sat patiently and attentively and that some would even ask relevant questions.

RECOVERY STEPS

Imparting skills and knowledge is not enough though, they still need financial help to start an income-generating project.

Through well-wishers and donors, BasicNeeds is able to provide the patients with some funds to start them off.

They are also encouraged to start, or join associations through which they can collectively lobby for assistance as well as policy and legal reform at both the county and national government levels.

When the patients are taken through the healing process, they end up attaining impressive healing progress.

“I have seen patients who could only be controlled by being tied to trees with ropes get to a point where they become self-employed,” says Mrs King’ori, who is quick to point out that this has only been possible in cases where the patients receive proper care and support from family, friends and neighbours.