Anelitha Tukela
Mental health and well-being within the rural community of Kwelera is a key theme that I have identified throughout my 12 months in the field. On the 7th of June 2024, a community engagement event took place in Kwelera, Tuba Village. Kwelera is an administration area under the Buffalo City Municipality which consists of 12 villages with Tuba village being one of them. The event focused on mental health and well-being issues within the village; this community event was a follow-up engagement after our engagement with government departments in May.
Figure 1: Ward councillor at the community engagement (Taken by Anelitha Tukela July 2024)
The community engagement aimed to provide a platform for both the community and several government stakeholders including the Department of Health, Department of Social Development, the Mental Health Review Board and local NGO Living Hope to learn about mental health issues as well as create awareness about the existing mental health programs. This engagement aimed to build an understanding of the challenges and issues of mental health from the community perspective to create effective policies and interventions after the COVID-19 pandemic. The ward councillor, the ward committee, the community health worker and community leaders also supported this community engagement.
Based on the findings presented by myself and other Women RISE researchers in the area, Kwelera was identified as the field site that has issues of mental health and well-being as the main of our findings show how community mental health has deteriorated since the onset of the pandemic and the trauma continues to bare weight on the community. Job losses, the death of husbands, the death of household providers and increased youth unemployment, have taken a toll on many households. These affects of the pandemic has triggered gender-based violence and child abuse. Imprisonment in the home with spouses was an unfamiliar and difficult experience, associated with conflict and perpetration of violence by men in these rural households. Whereas, children and women from disadvantaged households in South Africa have no or limited access to psychological or other mental health services. The researcher also identified some coping mechanisms in the community such as the use of drugs and alcohol and one positive coping mechanism which is using sports activities to deal with mental health issues.
During the community engagement, the ward councillor who is the leader of the Kwelera community as the power of the communities is invested in ward councillors and elected community leaders stated that he sees the importance of such research in rural communities because the existence of the Women Rise research project in the community of Kwelera has helped him understand the needs of the communities, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Women Rise researcher worked closely with the office of the ward councillor to deal with and understand the issues of women in the communities. He highlighted how the community of Kwelera has been and the events that have been happening before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been several recent incidents, including killings and shootings, which have left residents traumatized and at risk of mental health issues.
The community members were very excited about having a community engagement with the government stakeholders they needed and stated that they wished such events could continue for them to have an opportunity to engage with all government stakeholders. During the discussion, the community pointed out issues of crime that are affecting their mental health and well-being. They stated that there is a drug problem in the community and the drug problem is increasing the crime rate in the area. They stated that these children who use drugs [mostly their children] commit crimes around the community to have money to buy these drugs. The increase in crime has the community living in fear and anxiety which mostly contributes to and affects their mental health and well-being. The community emphasized that this is a significant challenge for the community, and they noted the difficulty in responding to these incidents. They mentioned the fear of taking the law into their own hands, worrying about the potential consequences. However, several residents of Kwelera raised the issue of unemployment as a major contributing factor to crime and mental health issues in the village.
Figure 2: Community members bow heads in prayer at engagement (Taken by Anelitha Tukela July 2024)
A community health worker highlighted the issue of the absence of social workers in these rural communities and stated that the presence of a social worker in the village could decrease the rate of mental health issues. They believe that the presence of social workers can help with the dominance of drug and alcohol use in the community as people use drugs and alcohol to deal with mental health issues. Community members cited incidents where they needed and requested social workers and they never got the services, with the lack of the service resulting in bad incidents happening. Residents complained that the local clinic fails to do medical assessments due to a lack of medical equipment and they stated that they can't visit the clinic for mental health issues as the clinic doesn't have equipment for medical health screenings. In addition to this was the issue of rehabs that are very limited. The residents raised the fact that they have children who need rehab in the village, but they cannot afford to pay for private rehabs as it is very costly for them to do so.
The relevant stakeholders responded to the community discussion, and the Department of Health offered an education about mental health and well-being. The Department of Health discussed the causes of mental health and educated the community on how to deal with mental issues and how to identify a person with mental health issues. The mental health review board gave a brief explanation about their contribution to mental health services and how the community can support a person who suffers from mental health without hurting them. The Department of Social Development began by analysing all the issues that were raised that required their attention, with a particular focus on the lack of social workers in the village. The representatives noted that a social worker had been assigned to the village to support those in need of their services; the contact details of this social worker were provided to the community members. The Living Hope organisation offered some of their services, including testing people's blood pressure and for HIV, as well as distributing free condoms. Some of the community members took this opportunity as they stated that their clinic doesn’t have these medical services.
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