The Sunday Mail
Dr Christine Peta Disability Issues
This is the true story of Mayita, a 48-year-old woman who has mental disability. She was raised by both her parents in a poor family of ten in her rural village in Gokwe. When Mayita turned 19, she enrolled to study for a three-year Diploma in General Nursing at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare.
It was during her second year of nursing training when she started dating George, a young man of Indian/European descent. Mayita acquired mental disability at the age of 24 when her own and George’s parents refused to grant them permission to marry. George was a student pastor and his relationship with Mayita was fashioned around strict Christian principles which directed them not to have coitus before marriage.
However, after four years of dating, and when Mayita had successfully completed her Diploma in General Nursing and George had also completed his pastoral studies, they decided to get married; firstly through George paying bride price and thereafter in Church. In keeping with the African tradition which does not allow a young woman to tell her parents directly about her intentions to marry, Mayita and George told Mayita’s tete (her father’s sister) that they wanted to get married, so that she could in turn tell Mayita’s parents and give the couple a reply.
Both their parents refused to bless their intended union.
“My parents said to tete; ‘How can we have a son-in-law like that? He can’t kill a cow or a goat in the village, what about cutting fire wood or kubata gejo (holding the plough) and ploughing the fields?
“‘Ko kuenda nechibage kuchigayo (how about taking maize to the grinding mill? Surely, haana hunhu hwechivanhu (he is not cultured in the African way).’”
George’s mother, in particularly, totally refused to bless their intended marriage.
“George’s parents said they did not want me for a muroora (daughter in law). To quote his mother’s exact words, she said; ‘We don’t want a kaffir in the family, I would rather have my son marry a python and bring it in the home or I would rather he goes to a pub, pick a harlot and bring it home, than for him to marry an African woman.’”
The African custom of paying bride price forms the foundation, or the first port of call, of marriage in Zimbabwe (Chabata, 2012). Although the payment of bride price has come under criticism in recent years on the grounds that it assigns a woman to the status of a commodity that is bought and sold, local cultural commentators such as Chigwedere (1982) argue that bride price still holds its significance in the African custom.
The bride price brings the two families together at a traditional ceremony which symbolises gratitude to the bride’s family for birthing and raising their daughter, who in turn is expected to expand her husband’s family by birthing children. By-passing such a fundamental traditional practice symbolises deviant behaviour, which is said to bring misfortune upon the couple and their children.
The standpoint of Mayita’s parents and George’s parents reportedly caused Mayita’s mental disability.
“For four years we were not touching or doing anything, we were a God-fearing couple; so it was painful and I became mentally disturbed.
“I started breaking things in the house and shouting at people and taking off my clothes in front of men, women and children without shame … I was taken to hospital.”
Mayita’s narrative concurs with the assertion made by Patel et al (2001) that mild and severe mental disorder may be caused by depression. The same authors state that a direct Shona word for depression does not exist, but depression is often called ‘kufungisisa’ (thinking too much). Mayita could have been “thinking too much” about the turn of events.
Patel et al (2001) cite intimate relationship problems as one of the reasons for widespread prevalence of depression, particularly amongst women. Treatment and rehabilitation In the panic and confusion of her family, Mayita’s hands and legs were tied with a rope before she was ferried in a scotch-cart to a small clinic in her rural village.
She was later transferred to a bigger hospital in Gweru, where she was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. From Gweru she was transferred to Ingutsheni Hospital in Bulawayo, which admits mentally challenged people for long periods. Although Mayita had been admitted in a psychiatric hospital, her parents did not believe in the prowess of Western science doctors to “cure” Mayita’s mental disability.
Convinced she had been bewitched, they devised a plan to take her out of hospital to traditional healers. They requested the hospital to grant Mayita one month leave of absence, on the pretext that they wanted to take her home to check if she could now live with other family members without being violent.
“My parents lied to the doctors, they just wanted to take me to traditional healers, because they think doctors of hospital are not trained to treat witchcraft and doctors are also blind-folded by witches so they cannot see the real problem.”
Before colonisation, traditional healers used to enjoy a great monopoly as both medical and social experts, leading traditional healing and rehabilitation programmes (Chavhunduka 1998, Mpofu & Harley 2002). The entry of modern healthcare has seen traditional healers being relegated to a primitive status, resulting in them standing in society with a tainted image (Dandurad & White 2000).
Such is the reason why Mayita’s parents could have found it difficult to disclose their belief in traditional healers to “modern” healthcare practitioners. However, the first thing that traditional healers did when Mayita got to their homesteads is they took her psychiatric tablets and threw them away.
“They said ‘if you continue taking these hospital tablets you will die, doctors are not good’.”
Mayita reflects on an incident which saw her going back and forth between a psychiatric hospital and a traditional healer.
“I stayed at one traditional healer’s compound for one week and I got into mental relapse because he had thrown away my tablets.
“My parents took me back to mental hospital and when I was stable they took me back to the traditional healer and I kept doing that.”
However, two years following the onset of Mayita’s mental disability and regretting the repercussions of their decision, both families – who were now meeting during visits at the psychiatric hospital and receiving counselling from psychiatric professionals – decided to allow Mayita and George to marry; but the harm had already been done.
Within four years, the marriage birthed two daughters before Mayita’s occasional mental relapses took a toll and they divorced.
What do we do? Mayita’s narrative points to a need for conscious and active collaboration in healthcare provision, particularly in aspects that are related to “curing” mental disability.
The idea is to reduce the suspicion and antagonism between authentic traditional healers and “modern” healthcare practitioners. Furthermore, whilst fathers and mothers may in some instances be faced with parent role dilemmas, they ought to realise the disability-related repercussions of using their children as tools to fulfil the parents’ desired lifestyles.
Dr Christine Peta is a public healthcare practitioner who, among other qualifications, holds a PhD in Disability Studies. Be part of the international debate on how best to nurture a society which is more accessible, supportive and inclusive of disabled people. Partner with Disability Centre for Africa (DCFA): WhatsApp +263773699229; Website www.dcfafrica.com; E-mail [email protected].
