From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
In the late 1970s, a benevolent British lady, Ms Roseline “Nkechi” Cowill, came to Uzuakoli in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State as a missionary worker of the Methodist Church.
Worried by the increasing rate of mental cases in the area, Cowill established a home for the mentally challenged at Uzuakoli in the mid 1980s.
With time, Cowill, whose benevolence over time earned her the name, Nkechi, by locals, decided to look for a more serene location and she found a perfect place in Amaudo-Ntalakwu, Itumbuzo, in the same local government area. So, in 1990, Colwill moved the home from Uzuakoli to Amaudo.
After Cowill left for England on health grounds, Methodist Church Nigeria, Umuahia Diocese, took over the running of the centre and later renamed it Amaudo Integrated Community Mental Health Foundation (AICMHF).
The 65-bed health facility was established to provide “accessible, affordable and sustainable systems of mental health care as well as rehabilitation for individuals, who have become homeless due to mental health problems and learning disabilities.”
Despite what the centre stands for in tackling mankind’s mental challenges, going to Amaudo-Ntalakwu itself is hellish. Not withstanding the recent interventions made on the road by Senator Orji Orji Kalu, it is still difficult to access.
Multiple-award winning journalist, Mr Henry Umahi, who toured the area sometime ago, described the road as wretched and forsaken. According to him, moving on the road is pure torture to man and machine.
Umahi said: “Going to Amaudo, Itumbauzo, in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, is like the biblical journey through the valley of the shadow of death. It is akin to journey to Golgotha or a trip to the land of spirits.
“Amaudo belongs to another time and age. The road is indescribable; it is narrow, broken and gully-ridden. Going there, you feel like you just might be heading to the edge of the earth. It’s the end of all roads. The people navigate precipitously on motorcycles, as only a handful of vehicles go there. In fact, taking a vehicle there is a risky venture because there is no guarantee that man and machine will come out intact.”
Umahi added that erosion control projects in the area were abandoned even as the construction company workers impregnated some girls and fled.
The AICMHF recently played the role of a resource center when it organized a one-day seminar for media practitioners in the state
Put together by the Methodist Church Nigeria and AICMHF, in partnership with the Abia State Government, Federal Neuro- Psychiatric Hospital, Enugu and Amaudo UK, the seminar was not only aimed at raising awareness about mental health of Nigerians, but also used to draw attention of governments at all levels to the challenges of people living with mental illness.
The organizers believe that the seminar would equally educate the media organizations on their role in creating awareness in mental health and address poor mental health knowledge, negative socio-cultural and religious perceptions and interpretations of mental health that promote stigma and discrimination as well as reduce help seeking behaviours in mental health among the population.
Delivering a keynote address at the seminar, the director of Federal Neuropsychiatrist Hospital, Enugu, Prof Monday Igwe, disclosed that one person commits suicide every 40 seconds around the world as a result of mental challenges.
Prof Igwe, represented by Dr. Okwudili Obayi, cautioned the media against applying derogatory languages against people with mental problems.
Igwe informed that the new Mental Health Act signed by former President Mohamadu Buhari has changed the narrative about how mentally challenged or distress issues are handled in the country.
While regretting that factors which make mental illness rampant are increasing in the society, Igwe listed factors driving mental illness to include stress, tobacco abuse, alcoholism, cocaine, tramadol and caffeine abuse, among others.
The director of the foundation, Very Rev. Kenneth Nwaubani, decried the attitude of Nigerians to persons with mental challenges.
He said it was unfortunate that people with mental disorder are sometimes discriminated against, sexually abused, extorted and exploited.
The director appealed to journalists to help in driving the crusade for a better place for people with mental problems through fair reportage, stressing that they should project and protect the rights of mentally challenged people.
He revealed that the facility has been transformed from Amaudo Itumbuzor Centre for Mentally ill persons to an integrated community mental health foundation where student-nurses from different states come for academic learning.
He said: “Apart from this, thousands of mentally ill persons have been rehabilitated, empowered and integrated back to the society by the foundation since its inception”.
At present, the centre is operating at full capacity as Nwaubani disclosed that the 65-bed facility, has 64 residents who are recieving rehabilitation and care.
Nwaubani commended the people of Amaudo Itumbuzo, the host community of the foundation, for their contributions in the growth of the foundation.
Chairman of Amaudo Integrated Community Health Foundation, Emma Ndukwe, disclosed that no resident in the facility is maltreated.
A 10-point communique was later issued at the end of the seminar, with the theme: “Changing the narratives in mental health, the role of the media.”
The communique reads in part: “The participants called on government to make the study of mental health and other related courses attractive with a view to addressing the shortage of manpower in the mental health sub sector.
“Participants called for increased budgetary provisions towards tackling mental health issues and provision of incentives for medical practitioners and journalists in the field.
“They urged government at all levels to give adequate attention to mental health issues and equip facilities at the primary health care level to address cases relating to mental health.
“Participants also called for the strengthening of relevant government agencies saddled with the responsibility of regulating drug use so as to restrict access to drugs especially among the younger population.
“They equally called on state governments to domesticate and implement the new mental health act recently signed into law by the immediate past administration of President Mohammadu Buhari.
“Participants identified lack of adequate knowledge in the area as a challenge and called for regular seminars/trainings for media practitioners on mental health issues as a way of properly equipping them to eliminate bias in their reportage and enhance the publicity given to mental health issues.
“They called on media organizations to design and dedicate adequate time to publicising mental health issues in their various media outfits as a way of enhancing sensitization of the public.
“Experts in mental health area should be open to discussing mental health related issues with the media as a way of educating the public while families of victims of mental ill health should be encouraged to accommodate and assist them appropriately and avoid stigmatization.”
Investigations carried out by Daily Sun indicated that the modus operandi at the centre has changed. A senior worker at the centre, who spoke to this reporter under the cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the press, said when the centre was newly established, the management picked inmates from the streets as they were not receiving people brought by their relations.
That policy, he said, has changed as management now accept people brought by their relations, who must have someone to look after them at the centre for the period he or she will be treated, which in normal cases does not exceed there months.
The centre is in need of funds and Nwaubani made this known when he appealed for more funding from Abia State government, corporate organisations and able individuals, just as he called for the reconstruction of the Bende/Itumbauzo Road that leads to the centre.
