Twenty-eight mentally challenged persons within the Kasena-Nankana East Municipal and West District Assemblies of the Upper East region got their hearts touched with love this Easter when members of the Sound-Mind Project, a mental health awareness group, went on the streets of Navrongo and Paga and treated them to good food and clean clothes.
With a tricycle loaded with food, chilled water and sobolo and some used clothes, the group moved through corners in market places, the streets and visited homes with chained mental patients. Bathed, fed and clothed them.
The Easter outreach was themed “Meals On Wheels, Putting smiles on the faces of the mentally challenged this Easter”
According to facilitators of the group, their main priority is to help create awareness and educate people on issues of mental health within the two assemblies which have made very little attempts in addressing the issue. They also believe “seeing to the physical wellbeing and hygiene of these people is equally important”.
Desmond Atogiwe Kampoe is one of the facilitators of the Sound-Mind Project. He says the essence of the Easter outreach was to use the message of Christ Crucifixion to show love to the mentally challenged persons in society who will not have the opportunity to join in the celebrations.
“within this very month which marks one of the events in the Christian calendar which is Easter, and as we all know Easter expresses how Christ died for us, and showed us love and sacrifice, we are out here to also show that kind of love to our fellow human beings. They are our brothers and sisters so they need to be shown some love” he said.
He said in order to achieve reintegration of persons suffering mental illness into our society, there is the need for families to help in the process other than abandoning patients to their fate.
Mr. Kampoe also indicated that running the Sound-Mind Project has not been easy as the group sources funding from monthly contributions of members. He also named the lack of family support for mental health patients, criticism from the public, and the dangers of getting hurt by patients as some of the serious challenges the group faced.
“In every societal intervention, there are always challenges. This is not an exception. Our major challenge is finance. We started this ourselves. Every month we pick our salary and each person brings a little and with that money we buy the food stuff for preparing the food, buy clothes, soap and other items with which we feed, bath and cloth our mentally challenged friends.
“Families also don’t support their mentally challenged relatives. They abandon them and leave them to their fate. This is a situation that is not helping us.
“Another challenge is we have critics who think we do this for personal gains” he added.
Mr. Kampoe appealed for help from philanthropist and corporate entities to enable the group to continue offering service to this group of humanity that has been neglected.
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