47-year-old Hellen Ngeywo from Kimama, Bungoma County is a Coffee farmer and a member of the Kimama Coffee Society. She is married, and a proud mother to eight children – four daughters and four sons, all still of school going age. She is a beneficiary of mental health literacy through a public awareness activity that was conducted by Community Health Volunteers in her village, as part of the community mental health program for small holder coffee farmers in Bungoma County in Kenya, funded by the ECOM Foundation. Photo by BNBR  

Prior to interacting with this program, I did not know anything about mental health, aside from the common myths and misconceptions that circulate in my community.

I however got to interact with Community Health Volunteers attached to Chesikaki Dispensary who were doing rounds in our community, educating us on mental health and epilepsy. I got to learn about a number of things such as basic ways of identifying mental illnesses, the fact that mental health conditions are illnesses like any other and can be treated, and that I should not stigmatize people with mental health conditions but instead guide them to help.

I would run away from people displaying signs of having mental illness

Unlike in the past when I would run away from people displaying signs of having mental health conditions or even epilepsy, now I no longer avoid them but instead offer help. For instance, I now know that when someone is having an epileptic seizure, I should not run away from them but instead, I must ensure that people don’t crowd around the individual as they need to be given space because good air circulation is important for their recovery. I also know that I need to stay by their side until they have recovered from the seizure.

I now go out of my way to debunk myths and misconceptions held by my community members around mental health and epilepsy as they are not a result of witchcraft, sorcery or curses, but are illnesses that can be treated.

I would like to have more opportunities to pass the knowledge I have learnt on mental health and epilepsy to the rest of my community so that we can embrace and normalise caring for people with these conditions particularly children so that they can receive treatment and get to live a full and fulfilling life.