Forgotten social class in Wajir district
- Devastated, abandoned, pale, starving and left at the mercy of the scorching sun and have nowhere to call home. Nobody is willing to accommodate them. A section of Wajir district population in north eastern Kenya can only be described as mentally ill. A common saying: "Hadhiis waalantahay Wajeer aad" literally translated as "if you are mad, Wajir is the place to be" seems true.
They suffer from mild to complex mental disorders. But it is no one’s fault. Mental disorders/ illness are a psychological or behavioural pattern associated with distress or disability that occurs in an individual and is not a part of normal development.
“By-passing him will make you guilty of negligence but then what can you do about it?” asks Hasan Abdullahi a kiosk operator in Orahey market. He lost his eye-sight at young age. As if this is not enough, his life changed for the worst when he developed mental disease as a result of stress,” reveals Habiba Jilaow, his aunt who is now blind too.
Civil societies, well-wishers have not been generous enough to cater for them, either. Unfortunately, they are battered as community trash often that got their condition as a result of a curse.
To cater for some of them has actually proved difficult as they are violent and destructive. Some caretakers have to contend with constant blows. As a result they are chained to trees lest they cause destruction. Others are sedated with drugs to keep them immobile and inactive.
Poverty
Poverty has also complicated the already stressful condition, with many needy patients in North Eastern province, unable to access medical attention for the mentally ill.
Abdi Deere was a jovial man, in fact, a religious cleric before he went berserk. He is now found rummaging in garbage heaps at dumb sites and talking to unseen audience, sometimes laughing alone.
The province has no psychiatrists, not even commercial private practitioners. The province which was already at ground zero health-wise, have no single medical centre to cater for such people.
There is no single accepted or consistent cause of mental illness currently established. A common belief even to this day is that disorders result from genetic vulnerabilities exposed by environmental stressors. In Wajir district, local survey indicates most people associate mental illness with hereditary complications. Others believe it is brought about by demons. It’s about the scorching sun, others joke.
Some believe the situation is caused by spiritual curse that requires divine intervention rather than a psychiatrist. And this explains why mentally ill persons are not often taken to mental hospitals; rather they are confined to an enclosed area by families who have hopes of their loved ones getting well.
But problems faced by mentally challenged in Wajir cannot be estimated.
However, it is clear enough from a simple statistical analysis across the whole spectrum of mental health that there is a strong relationship between the various forms of severe and complex mental disorder in adulthood and the abuse or neglect of children during the developmental years. And this begs the question: Who might have abused them at young age?
Stigma
“They are hounded out everywhere, whipped and when they ask for a cup of tea (if at all they do) no one gives them an ear. No hospital to treat them, no home care,” says Halima Osman a Wajir town resident.
Stigma and discrimination add to the suffering associated with the mental disorders.
Priority is not given on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people affected by this disorder. Repetitive use of the drugs like Khat that results in lack of sleep is also seen as a contributing factor to these ever increasing mental disorders in Wajir
Studies have indicated that genes often play an important role in the development of mental disorders, although the reliable identification of connections between specific genes and specific categories of disorder has proven more difficult.
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511 berichten
Lid sinds January 2010
511 berichten
Lid sinds January 2010
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