Award Winning Publications
2002 Aussie Awards for journalism students/Journalism Education Association
Best Occasional Student Publication - New@geman publication
Dr Charles Stuart Prize for best student publication - New@geman publication
Hunter Institute Response Ability Prize for mental health reporting - Melissa Fairi "Mentally ill people on the street"
Mentally ill people on the street
By Melissa Fairi
A Coca-Cola bottle in his hand, he smiles to the people that stare at him as he walks carelessly, heading for the corner of the building. He chooses the seat at the far end, and sits with his long-nailed fingers already on the lid of the bottle. With one lift, the content of the bottle is gone. He runs his wet hand over his dirty shorts. Leaning back on the supporting post of the building, satisfied, he scans the crowd of people, wondering why there are so many of them here today.
No one dares to meet those yellow eyes; instead they all look away. One by one they pretend to check their watch and quickly vacate the house wind. The reaction does not bother him. His skinny hands run through his messy, tangled hair. He stares out at the empty space, smiling constantly at his own thoughts as his eyes fix on nothing.
This is ‘Rasta Man'. He was once a teacher but some years ago, he became mentally ill – something he's thought to have inherited from his family. Since that day, Rasta Man has been living on the streets, eating scraps he manages to find in rubbish bins and sleeping wherever night catches up with him.
Rasta Man is typical of large number of mentally ill men and women in most major towns of Papua New Guinea who live on the streets with no roof over their head or plate of hot food to return to. The sight of a mentally ill person on the streets has now become so common that the public assumes that that is where they belong. People walk past them, laugh at them or just ignore their presence.
However, these people need special homes and care centers, which the country does not have, except for Laloki Mental Illness Center in Port Moresby.
“Laloki only keeps murderers and troublemakers who are mentally ill,” said Nou Kamon, Mental Health Nurse for Modilon General Hospital in Madang. “I am not aware of any organisation that looks out for mentally ill people in Papua New Guinea, except for hospitals. Here in Madang we do have a Mental Health Clinic where they are brought for counselling and medical help.”
However, what is really needed is a community-based organisation to look out for these people and to help them.
“Many mental illness is a life-long illness. A community-based organisation could help in areas which the Government cannot provide,” said Dr Joseph Amban, General Medical Officer for Modilon Hospital.
People with mental illness need support from the community. Many of them need to be loved and cared for. But most of the time this does not happen; communities do not want to have any thing to do with them. These people need help, but instead they are being neglected.
But once they have lost their links with the community, people with mental illness get used to life on the streets.
“They enjoy staying outside,” Mr Kamon said. “In the city they are attracted to things that are happening around them.”
For those with mental problems who live in the villages, it is a different story. They are better cared for, as the people there have their own time to do things and there is more community involvement in taking care of those that are sick.
One example is Mary, a 23-year-old woman from Oro Province. She fell mentally ill two years ago. She lives with her retired parents in their village. Whenever her family go to the garden or leave their house they ensure that someone stays at home to look after her. This is because they live near the sea and they are afraid that she might wander off to the beach and drown.
Those on the streets in towns and cities have lost touch with their families, and hospitals are currently the only source of help. This doesn't mean that medication or hospitalisation are the solution.
“We cannot take them into the hospital; it's still the responsibility of the community,” Dr Amban explained. “These people also have their rights and we cannot force them, unless they are violent, and then they need to be taken in.”
Fifty per cent of mental illness in PNG is linked to drug abuse, said Mr. Kamon. Many of these cases are young people who have left school and, with no chance of work, lose hope. To ease their problems they turn to marijuana and alcohol. For others, a tendency towards illnesses such as depression can be inherited. Either way, our culture often doesn't make things any easier on them.
“These people are bound by the type of culture we live in, where we cannot talk about problems. Instead, they bottle things up until depression takes over and they tend to look for other ways to solve their problems,” Mr Kamon said.
“In a week, I see at least four drug abusers that come in for medical attention and psycho-counselling," Ms Kamon said.
Most of the time the police, a relative or a church worker brings them to the hospital. These people need proper diagnosis, so they are not mistakenly labelled as mentally ill. This is because some of them are only mildly depressed or have a marijuana problem and need help. They would be better off with counselling or a drug rehab programme.
Like the AIDS awareness going on in PNG, there should be similar programmes for the public to know how to cope with mental health problems.
“There should be an awareness campaign focussing on detecting early signs of mental illness, and how communities can deal with these problems and care for these people,” Kamon said.
Opposite where Rasta Man sits, Amo makes his way down the road. He was born with a learning disability, and today, like every day, he carries Coca-Cola bottles and a snow-white bleach bottle in his hands. He smiles at everyone that passes by. He uses his favourite expression “Kain blong yu ya” (That's how you are?), but no one responds. They all mind their own business, not hearing or not wanting to hear his words.
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