03 Jul 2022

After surviving suicide by a whisk, Hazel Speaks blogger and podcaster Hazel Maseko realised the gravity of mental health problem and the urgency to tackle it.

Experience being the best teacher, Maseko, an educator by profession, said as a survivor she realised the need to assist others who could be going through the same problem, hence the birth of Hazel Speaks blog. 

She said mental health was dicey as at times the affected were not cognisant that they were suffering from such and only to realise when they were on the edge.

“I did not know I had a mental health problem until the day I wanted to commit suicide. I realised late and ended up at Jubilee Hospital psychiatrist ward, where I was hospitalised for two weeks. I got to understand why any little thing would make me feel that I was not good enough.

You tend to have this negative vibe that leaves you sulking,” said Maseko.

In her quest to tackle the problem, she recently held an event dubbed Chill and Listen Botswana geared to raise awareness on issues of Arts & Mental Health, as a way of empowering those ‘dying’ in silence.

The Chill and Listen Botswana session, held at Molapo Leisure Gardens in Francistown attracted people from all walks of life to share experiences via mental health talks, poetry, live music and traditional dance.

She said holding such came handy as some people unaware of their condition could relate to what others were sharing. 

Through the blog and podcast interviews, she received a positive response from followers, sharing their own challenges.

Being a non-professional counsellor, she refers her clients and most come back to express their gratitude, hence her motto Voice for the Voiceless. 

“I started this event because I wanted to make a difference by helping those who cannot and were not able to relay they conditions to their families or to the public,” she said.

She said while some people were seen to be smiling, those smiles were concealing the hurt stemming from the problems they had.

The major objective of the event, she said, was to sensitise the society on the importance of mental health by hosting various mental health experts to provide counseling.

The event also afforded local talent an opportunity to showcase their special art projects in poetry, dance and many others, key in message dissemination.

For her part, Ms Gaone Mchive, a teacher at Mephato High School said in 2018 she felt depressed, which state caused her to think too much. She said depression was not stress, but stress triggered depression, a mental health problem.

“Mental health has a lot to do with social and mental being.” Ms Mchive said having been bullied or abused when young or lacking things as a child may lead to people wanting to satisfy themselves when they grow up, thus dictating the decisions they make.

She noted that rejection trauma was one thing that made people post disturbing messages on social media in order to be relevant and specific to their issues for the world to see.

Ms Mchive advised parents to desist from abandoning their children as this may lead to depression.

District Health Management Team principal registered nurse, Sarudzai Munemo said government has realised that there was a lot happening concerning mental health from grassroots level.

She said her team was tasked with providing counselling service and psychological support as well as conduct assessment and in some cases made referrals of people going through such conditions.

Munemo noted that mental health problem was a chronic disease like others and needed to be attended to so that it did not develop into an illness.

“When people are depressed, they become sad, they neglect their hygiene, develop self-harm tendencies and lose appetite,” she said.

Safety health environment and quality officer at Bokomo Botswana, Ms Lorraine Kgosidintsi said people perished because of lack of knowledge.

She said in the recent years, cases of mental health were rising as a result of the advent of COVID-19.ENDS