One of the elements of a school visit is getting to engage with students after a mentor session or a talk. The students had so much hope for their future and were eager to connect with us.

“Young children should never have to worry about their finances whilst at school, and Jenga Africa looks forward to giving sponsorship opportunities to these students in the near future, once we launch our school clubs.”~ Sheilla Akwara

Categories…

We know that suicidal issues have many causes, from:

• Environmental factors
• Socioeconomic factors
• Biological factors

Yet – even though we have the three categories above, mental health is majorly viewed from a bio-medical lens, with most solutions leaning towards a medical approach. We speak of psychosocial support in Africa – however, this normally comes with some form of prescription, even when there’s a difference between needing support and having an illness. In Africa, mental health is attached to a lot of stigma such as:

Underreported Numbers

All the above makes one not want to speak up, and so numbers become unreported and underreported. Because of missing data, the extent of the issue is not clear, so the solutions cannot be wholly accurate. Many families shy away from reporting any incidents of suicide as they’re afraid of the communities’ judgement and perception. If we don’t clarify the word ‘mental health’, then we cannot move forward and address this topic in an effective manner.

What is mental health?

Send us your answers to myvoice@jengaafrica.com

Please make sure to include where you’re writing from.

There’s no health without mental health. Mental health is an essential part of your wellbeing, so it’s important to not only focus on your physical health alone, but your mental health as well.

Many people have a skewed perception and understanding of what mental health is and what it’s not. In our research, we have found that people think mental health means individuals with issues that deems one insane or mad; so, when you ask, “how’s your mental health?” – the response would be, “I don’t have mental health issues.”

The Perception

This perception has to be corrected. Mental health is part of one’s overall well-being – where an individual is able to handle life stressors, has coping mechanisms should they encounter a difficult situation and is able to be a productive member of society.

Physical health represents one dimension of total well-being, because we have other dimensions like mental health; and if physical health is the state of your physical body and how well its operating, then mental health is the state of your mental faculties and how well its operating.

Good or Bad?

We then say that one can have good or positive mental health or bad or negative mental health. Someone with positive mental health is one who is able to handle life stressors and manage difficult events well, avoiding paths that may lead one to depression or suicide. On the other end, someone with negative mental health is one who is not able to cope with the stresses of life or difficult events and is easily susceptible to stress, anxiety, depression or suicide.

The WHO states that: “Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life.”

If this is the case, then the promotion, exercise and renewal of mental health is important not only to the individual, but communities globally.

We want to hear from you. Email myvoice@jengaafrica.com with your response. Make sure you tell us where you’re writing from.

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This event held at the secretariat building in New York was attended by ministers, secretaries of state and participating celebrities, during a Commission on the Status of Women(CSW), ‘The Times is Now! Let’s end harmful practices against girls and women by 2030’’, hosted by UNFPA. 

More pictures to be updated soon.

The Star newspaper reports on Jenga Africa event that was meant to happen in 2020, but pushed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic . The event will highlight the issue of depression and suicide in Africa.

In 2018 and 2019, Jenga Africa was at the United Nations and participated in a podcast + a published article in the United Nations website. Read about it by clicking the stories below:

PODCAST: For effective suicide prevention, we must ‘break the taboo’, UN News | 2018

Sheila Akwara | Habari za UN | 2019

The 2021 Leadership Africa Summit Awards to recognize Sheilla Akwara with an award for the work done with young people struggling with depression and suicide this year, 2021.