01 Jul 2024

Kgosi Kealetile Moremi has called for protection of mentally ill persons from the harsh environmental factors.

She said the traditional leadership was concerned about the rising number of people with mental disorders in Maun, the majority of whom were young people spotted roaming the streets exhibiting anti-social behaviours.

Kgosi Moremi made the remarks during the just-ended international mental health conference with tourism organised by The Just Hope Foundation (JHF), complaining that many of mentally ill persons had no shelter and therefore slept in the streets while some had places to stay, but were uncontrollable.

Serious mental illness, she said, not only impacted individuals, but also their families and circle of support, adding that care givers of people with mental illness faced unique challenges as they lacked skill of how to handle them.

However, she thanked the organisers of the conference, which attracted care givers and professionals in mental health institutions as well as social workers, saying participants would share ideas on how best those people could be protected and supported.

The coordinator of The Just Hope for Foundation, Ms Karabo Swartland concurred that they were equally concerned about mentally ill persons roaming the streets and stated that they had a dream of constructing a day care centre intended to provide a safe space for the mentally ill, where they could be assisted to regain their dignity.

Through the centre, she said the patients would also be assisted to regain dignity as well as hope restored into their lives through the support and care provided to them.

The intention, she said, was to collect them in the morning, offer the necessary support and take them back home in the evening.

Ms Swartland admitted that caring for someone with mental illness could be challenging more so that some were uncontrollable and believed that through the centre, patients could be managed better, fed, bathed, given treatment and monitored at one place.

“It is our dream to have a care centre one day, where we can gather people with mental illness and take care of them and we can achieve our dream through collaboration with stakeholders. It is heart breaking to see these people roaming the streets with dirty clothes scavenging the garbage cans in malls,” she added.

Ms Swartland further appealed to business community and members of the public at large to come on board and assist the foundation in realising its dream of taking care of mentally ill persons.

Apprising the conference about the foundation, she said it was a citizen-owned non-governmental organisation birthed in 2014 and brought into life in 2022 with the generous help from National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency.  

The foundation primarily inspires hope, caring and healing, fostering growth through the provision of counselling services, education and information sharing.

In a side interview, Ngami District Health Management Team coordinator, Dr Sandra Maripe-Ebutswe explained that mental health disorders were caused by a number of factors ranging from alcohol and substance abuse, complications related to mental health disorders, poor family support system, and poor adherence to treatment cause by poor social economic status.

She emphasised the need to discuss mental health, saying they were critical for human health.

She appreciated JHF for organising the conference, which she said would motivate participants to share experiences and knowledge on how best they could meet mental healthcare needs of the society.

During the conference, Dr Lorraine Guth from Indiana University of Pennsylvania presented on optimising wellness for mental health professionals and helpers, emphasising self-care, which she said was critical in ensuring that one could support themselves and their the one under their care. ENDS