Unravelling the myths surrounding mental illness
Fifty years ago or so, mental illness was regarded as mostly physical in our African communities. There used to be one thin, small chap, as dark as ebony. He would walk hurriedly clutching a large stick along Independence Avenue (nowadays Samora Avenue), Dar es Salaam, chasing women. I recall strolling with a very self confident lady, who chatted excitedly. Her voice was high-pitched, loud, her laughter infectious and pleasant. She was in charge of the conversation. But no sooner had she finished a certain sentence than she bent to take off her high heels, bolting barefoot like Nzael Kyomo, the fastest female athlete of the 1970s. She vanished.
I turned to face this wiry man, stick in hand sneering and swearing. I sneered back and he quickly crossed the road in fear. I was ready to kick his butt, but to women he was the frightening monster.
KICHAA YULE!
Around 1980 I ambled down the same Samora Avenue with a white American female tourist. We passed what was then Twiga Hotel heading towards Mnazi Mmoja, and lo and behold, the tormentor appeared with the fimbo in hand.
He stared intensely at my companion.
“Wee Mzungu wee, lete pesa hapa! Au n’tavuruga pua yako ndefu!”
WHAT IS HE SAYING?
Instead of replying I looked at the sick chap.
“CHUKUA TAIMU! HAYA POTEA!”
He sniggered at my military style command, stamped his foot akin to a threatened male cheetah, stormed off.
But two steps away he turned to look at the visitor to Tanzania. Declared warningly.
“WEE MZUNGU NTAKUKUTA SIKU MOJA PEKE YAKO N’KUONYESHE KAZI!”
“What is he saying?”
Gibberish, I replied.
Anyway. As we sat somewhere, afterwards, I explained that this guy’s specialisation was beating and chasing women.
IS HE A MISOGYNIST?
Those days I did not know the meaning of misogyny. A misogynist is a male who hates (or dislikes) women. Misandrist - a woman who loathes men.
As you can see that was our understanding of mental illness. The description, summed up in common Swahili words CHIZI, WAZIMU, KICHAA, TAAHIRA, etc.
Years passed and as I travelled around the world I carried THAT definition of mental disease in my mind.
Many decades later living in London one night I hang with a group of Jamaicans. They worked hard, cracked jokes and were now telling me the history of racism. How back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s blacks were rolled alongside Irish and dogs.
“The word nigger was dished out easily, mon.”
The N word, yeah?
“Yeah. You know dem people in dis here country mad, mon!”
Again the word mad did not mean much more than what I knew.
But across neighbourhoods, I would note physically mentally ill people. Asian. European. African.
“No, bro. It is not that type of madness, like dem naked lot. No. It’s hidden madness.”
Again it took me a while to fathom “hidden madness”, subtle mental, psychological illness.
What my Jamaican brothers were trying to warn me against was the fact that mental illness is not just stripping naked, or chasing females with a stick.
It was more than that. And it is more than that.
Last week a retired soldier was jailed for killing cats. The man had served in Iraq and Northern Ireland and was said to have suffered from PTSD. That word – PTSD – (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is currently very popular and one of the various mental illnesses said to be affecting one in every four people in the rich world. It is due to an unforgettable distressing event that always resurfaces, and is said to be affecting young people too. PTSD from being bullied at school. PTSD from being taunted on line by trolls. PTSD from family breakdown.
PTSD is serious.
So this 54-year-old war veteran had a habit of stabbing to wound (or kill) cats he saw on streets. It is reported that at least 16 cats became his victims. The callous and cruel activity also affected the owners, as it is very rare to have stray cats here. Being beloved pets, cats are therefore, part of families and subsequently there is a strong emotional connection.
One woman is still undergoing therapy due to how her cat was murdered by this bloke.
She was quoted grieving :
“He showed us so much love. I still wake up in the small hours thinking of him and crying. We had a murderer walking the streets with a knife with an intent to kill.”
And the huge point is that most of such mentally ill folks do not walk around with no shirt or making scary noises. They are silent and mostly appear calm.
Normal.
