Vision Statement:
“All people achieve the highest standard of mental health and well-being.”
Mission Statement:
"To actualize a community that is sensitive to mental health as well as respect for human rights"
WHO WE ARE?
Olddrift Initiative on Mental Health Care is a nonprofit corporate body established under the Companies Act, No. 10 of 2017 of the Laws of Zambia operating as a limited company by guarantee. It was originally registered on 27th November 2019 under the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) under #:120190009293 with the mandate to promote community involvement in mental health services, care and inspire communities on how to prevent mental health conditions as well as promote holistic rehabilitation of people living with mental health conditions in the communities.
Currently, the organisation consists of three co-founders; the first one is a practicing mental health specialist with more than ten years experience managing and treating metal health patients in Zambia, second one is a retired Zambia Army major, certified professional counselor and HIV/AIDS activist. The third co-founder is another certified professional counselor, Human rights activist, retired police officer with lived experience of taking care of a biological child with mental health condition for more than ten years. It is a great team of passionate, hardworking and dedicated professionals with unrelenting desire to help empower and restore dignity of vulnerable people living with mental health conditions, especially those neglected, homeless and looming around the streets of Zambia and Africa at large.
Traditionally, psychosocial disability in Zambia has been, in some cases perceived to be a misfortune or punishment in the family caused by ancestral spirits and witchcraft. Due to these misconceptions, beliefs and myths, persons with mental health disabilities are in some cases hidden from society by family members, as they are considered to be a misfortune and incapable of carrying out day- to- day activities on their own. More often than not, they are denied the opportunity to engage in socio-economic activities for their livelihood. They are deprived of quality care and support, secure and affordable shelter, health services, healthy food and other social amenities.
In Zambia, therapy almost exclusively comprises the use of psychotropics; talking therapies and community based rehabilitation are non-existent. Prevalence of mental illnesses resulting from abuse of alcohol and other substances has resulted in high burden of care in mainstream hospital, necessitating a new mental health Act of July 2019 premised on community approach in provision of rehabilitation services such as basic living skills, family relationships, peer and social relationships, employment, education, recreation, health, and wellness.
Worrying Statistics
According to Livingstone District Health Office 2021 mental health statistics, Livingstone alone has more than 500 persons living with mental health conditions currently accessing medication and majority of these are youths aged between 16 and 35years. Substance abuse (alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and other drugs) have been top on the causes of mental ill health in this age group. Of the 500 persons living with mental health conditions in Livingstone on 5% are in formal employment, the rest are living by and looming around the streets.
Livingstone alone currently has more than 100 persons living with mental health conditions who are completely neglected in the streets, communities and at household level. These vulnerable people do not have access to any health services, secure shelter, clean and nutritious food to eat; they do not know their HIV status. No one knows when they are sick and need urgent medical attention hence they are usually discovered dead in the streets like the Maramba compound and Dambwa central market cases.
Due to negligence and mistreatment of these vulnerable people with psychosocial disabilities, we see them wondering about, picking food from the waste bins in streets of Livingstone and spending their days in the scorching heat and their nights in the open, cold and dangerous places. Therefore, they are exposed and subjected to all forms of abuse in these streets ranging from sexual abuse, physical, economic, social, psychological and emotional abuse.
Vocational, education and housing support are important aspects of recovery for persons with mental health conditions. According to WHO studies have shown that, when people with mental health conditions obtain education and employment, their quality of life and mental health improves and they have fewer hospitalizations.
It is for this reason that Olddrift Initiative on Mental Health Care acquired 21.7 hectares of land in Sibusenga village, 15km east of Ngwenya township for psychosocial rehabilitation services and developed a local simplified and well-coordinated mental health sanitation model that will;
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Address the persistent and ever-increasing problem of persons with mental health disabilities being neglected in the streets, communities and at household level in Zambia and Africa at large.
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Equip neglected persons with mental health disabilities with vocational skills for their survival and easy integration into their families and community
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Make it difficult for persons with mental health disabilities to be neglected in the streets, communities and at household level.
Our holistic psychosocial rehabilitation services (BIOPSYCHOSOCIALECON) will assist clients to find and maintain employment. This will include helping clients develop vocational skills, connecting the client to employment services in the community, assisting with career planning, and providing transportation assistance.
How We Started
In 2016, after working for and with people living with mental health conditions in Livingstone for six years, we discovered that stigma and discrimination against mental health and people suffering from the mental illness was escalating at alarming levels.
Constant abuse of human rights of people living with mental health conditions, especially those neglected, homeless and looming around the streets became normal and justified by community members in Livingstone. Stones were being thrown at these vulnerable mental patients in the communities, chasing them from their own community to go to unknown place (streets).People living with mental health illness were not considered to be human beings who deserved care, social support, clean food, clothes and safe and secure shelter.
Traditionally, psychosocial disability in Zambia has been, in most cases perceived to be a misfortune or punishment in the family caused by ancestral spirits and witchcraft. Due to these misconceptions, beliefs and myths, persons with mental health disabilities are in most cases hidden from society by family members, as they are considered to be a misfortune and incapable of carrying out day- to- day activities on their own. More often than not, they were and are still being denied the opportunity to engage in socio-economic activities for their livelihood. They are deprived of quality care and support, secure and affordable shelter, health services, healthy food and other social amenities.
As though that is not enough, people suffering from mental illness were denied their right to mental health care services at the hospital by their relatives due to the perception that mental illness is caused by witchcraft which has no medicine from the hospital. We identified lack of correct mental health information by patients’ relatives and community members as the chief cause of the above challenges people living with mental health conditions were facing. We therefore, wrote a project proposal in 2016 to conduct community mental health sensitization in Livingstone communities for a period of three months (from August 2016 to October 2016).
The project proposal was approved by Community Based Rehabilitation-Zambia Support Programme (CBR Zambia). This organisation funded our project of mental health sensitization activities in Livingstone and the amount received and utilized from CBR was K15, 000.
We successfully implemented this project, thereby increasing significantly the number of people living with mental health seeking medical attention at the hospital mental health department. We further saw significant reduction of community members throwing stones at mental patients in their communities. During the same period, we successfully had a unique and first of its kind commemoration of world mental health day on 10th October 2016. In conjunction with Livingstone central hospital staff and with support from CBR, Avani international, Shoprite, Spar, DAPP Zambia, community members and Livingstone city council, we managed to pick all (10) identified neglected and homeless mental patients looming around the streets of Livingstone city at the time. We bathed them at Livingstone Civic Centre, gave them clean clothes and had lunch together and had a group photo, see photos below.
This event brought positive change in the way community members treated people living with mental conditions especially those neglected, homeless and looming the streets.
Despite this tremendous achievement we had brought towards mental health and people suffering from mental illness, we encountered one serious challenge after the ceremony ended. The challenge was where to take these homeless people living with mental conditions. Remember we picked them from streets, rubbish pits and other dirty places of Livingstone city. They were now clean and in clean clothes we could not allow them to go back to the streets. We had no option but to take them to Livingstone central hospital mental health department. Upon reaching there, we were told these people living with mental health conditions did not meet the parameters to be admitted at the hospital as they were not violent or having any acute illness which required immediate admission.
In short the mental patients were stable enough to be managed from the community even though they were given medication, but no one was willing to take care of them or provide shelter for them. Unfortunately, they went back to the streets, rubbish pits and other dirty and dangerous places of Livingstone city. We tried to find ways in which we could best help these vulnerable and homeless people living with mental health conditions that do not need hospital admission but are looming around the streets. We failed due to the fact that we were not a registered organisation but people with passion to help mental patients.
In 2019 three of us teamed up to form a nonprofit organisation by the name of Olddrift Initiative on Mental Health Care to help empower and restore dignity of people living with mental health conditions, especially those neglected, homeless and looming the streets. This team consists of mental health specialist, profession counselor and HIV activist, and another professional counselor with lived experience of taking care of a biological child with mental health condition who was later bushed by a moving train in Livingstone in 2018.
Olddrift Initiative on Mental Health Care Ltd is a nonprofit corporate body established under the Companies Act, No. 10 of 2017 of the Laws of Zambia operating as a limited company by guarantee. It was originally registered on 27th November 2019 under the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) under #:120190009293 with the mandate to promote community involvement in mental health services, care and inspire communities on how to prevent mental health conditions as well as promote holistic rehabilitation of people living with mental health conditions in the communities.
Our organisation was recently been empowered with 21.7 hectares of land 15km east of Livingstone by our local traditional leadership (His Royal Majesty Chief Mukuni) to facilitate undertaking of our planned holistic community psychosocial rehabilitation programs within the Livingstone district. See site plan below.
We further developed and launched a simplified and well-coordinated mental sanitation model 2021(attached) called 'The Kabanda-Sinyangwe-Katembo Mental Health Sanitation Model 2021 (KSK-MSM 2021)' to help us sort out the identified gaps in the area of mental health in Zambia and Africa at large. This where we are now.
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