Chain, chain, chain The dark side in West Africa, Mental Illness

chained in a room at a prayer camp near Lomé, Togo,
in April. Chaining is a last resort for families in
.chained in a room at a prayer camp near Lomé, Togo
175 are chained there.

When I lived in Liberia, West Africa I came across a man who was wearing no clothes and had a car bumper chained to his body.  He was carrying it Down the street of Buchanan, then the second largest city in Liberia. Traveling in the backcountry I would often see women topless, But I never seen a man naked. Louis Orta a veteran missionary explain to me that the man was mentally ill and this was the way people knew to stay clear. His family would have to feed him and providing any shelter. I inquired about the man and it sounded like he was suffering from schizophrenia.

When I read the New York Times, the series of articles by Benedict Carey reporting on the Chains of Mental Illness from West Africa, my 40 year old memories came back to me. It was in the rainy season and this man would've been naked day and night.

The West Africans have a strong belief and fear of demons. It is embedded in their culture long before Christianity came to Africa. Mr. Carey I think is absolutely right in reporting what are families to do with the severely mentally ill. In Liberia there is one psychiatrist and very few are in the other countries of West Africa? If the mentally ill have a family who will care for them, it is my guess until I'm proven wrong, that they would be fed once a day. I would have to have that theory checked out but, I think it's very possible. Most people in Liberia eat one meal a day when I was there. 

When I was in Liberia, if you were convicted of a crime or waiting for trial if your family did not feed you, you did not live to be tried. I interviewed a man name Matthew Sasaw who had ate 9 people near Harper, Liberia. Cannibalism was still practicing the month of December back in the 1970s. I interviewed several tribal people who told me before Pres. Tugman the practice was more widespread in the 50s. Matthew did not live up to the trial because his family did not feed him.

Once again here is an opportunity for the Internet to play an important role in helping to advanced care for Liberia and West Africa. There is little chance for medical people to give up all lucrative practice to go help the unfortunate who cannot pay. But what if psychiatrists could donate an afternoon for an online clinic where they can help diagnose precribe medicines that could be adapted with follow-up online appointments. Online classes and workshops could be presented to the people who care for these unfortunate. With better information and support families and caregivers could provide more humane care.

The lessons that we learn in our own world of the mentally ill who are homeless and inadequately medicated and uneducated can be applied to the third world. Or the other way around, if we put into place strategies to improve care for the mentally ill in West Africa, what we've learned could be applied at home. 

Carrying for the mentally ill is filled with challenges, both at home and abroad that isn't nice to care for something beyond ourselves. Keep walking

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Follow up and read

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/mental-health-care-in-west-africa-is-often-a-product-of-luck.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/health/the-chains-of-mental-illness-in-west-africa.html