Harmonious chaos
As I am writing this, I have paused
my film for tonight to pin out the state of the elephant in our society’s room. For
a few weeks, or months I have seen the conversation of mental health “mu Rwanda”
brought up on twitter and to my surprise it was brought up on a national level
through a trauma symposium.
I was surprised to see it brought up because of
what I usually know happens when it the convo starts. I have been in many of
those, more often mental health and mental disorders will be dismissed as a
luxury third world countries, more specifically Africans can’t afford. In other
cases it will be made a case of bourgeoisie versus working / poor class problems.
The argument being the poor
are preoccupied by their unsatisfied basic needs that the mental health related
issues are to be dealt with in another lifetime. I can clearly quote one friend
of mine saying “when you don’t have problems you create them/ find them” referring
to the rate of depression and suicide in developed countries.
While it might be absurd to think
that mental disorders and suicides are rates linked to the fact of the country
being developed or not, it is true that most countries with high suicide rates
are mostly eastern European, automatically assumed to be developed by my fellow
arguers and I. They are not the most developed economically but they have some developed
infrastructures and their education ranks among the highest in the world.
I personally usually would state how
suicidal people living in cold countries are mostly during winter, and link it
with capitalism saying : " It overworks the poor and doesn't give them time to find
purpose in something other than work while the elite have time to ruin the
world leaving their children to overthink, guilt about it and develop all sorts
of anxieties about anxieties."
Statistically basing on 2019
data by the WHO, among the 10 countries with the most suicides there is 1 African
country, 5 European countries , 2 American countries and 2 Asian ones. The first
one on the list being Lithuania and Russia the second, as for Rwanda well it is
the 102nd .
As for the most developed countries
economically speaking , the U.S , China and Japan are the most developed and
rank at the 27th , 64th and 14th which leaves
an anticlimactic feeling to our
hypothesis of the rich being miserable and the poor too busy. Rich or poor the bigger picture is in a world
where 16 people per 100, 000 or said simply one person dies (kills themselves)
every 40 seconds.
Digitizing these people doesn’t
really help raise much empathy, it really comes when the news is close . I recently have been listening with an
open ear on stories of suicide like one I just heard tonight of a fellow
literally my age. And people seem to wonder why the person did it , "they had a good life , nothing seemed off!" Which again might be true but suggests people without the said possessions/ achievements are more prone to suicide...
As a Rwandan who is
aware that my generation will have to deal with the blessings of an identity
crisis from colonialism plus the part where we are from families that are
melting pots of cultures from our own plus the one from Burundi, Uganda, Congo Tanzania due to exile ; a
generational gap between ours and our parents’ same as theirs and last but not
least the indelible mark of being the post-genocidal generation whichever form
of inherited trauma this one causes , I am alive so far.
But I be damned niba iyi Kigali itazabikandagira
byose bigatuza!!!
I have understanding for
how people choose to deal with the above, denying, self-harming(not advisable), and levitating
in the surreal world of your choice… After all I can barely find my on
catharsis.
I just think if the “word” made life through time as we are lead to believe,
then silence is slow and temporary death. Ergo "Umuryango utazimuye urazima!"
If you can talk to someone, or
something (siri, an empty book, the voice in your head , a mic in the studio) or can
do an activity that makes you release the energy building up then do it. The same goes if you can listen or lend your time / energy to care for the one who seems in need , your-self included!
Naho ubundi I will continue Alejandro
Amenabar’s “The sea inside” which ironically is about a tetraplegic former boat
mechanic who fights his case for a legal suicide… I wouldn’t want to lecture anyone on the simplicity
and intricacy of life, church, Leta and Green ferry music are way better
#kinyatrap #Esenimuebue.
So, let us to address the oceans inside of us
before they come out.
NB: It should be noted that Suicide is only the measure
of those who choose to end their lives, it cannot account for the level of
mental illnesses in one country and the two can easily be mutually exclusive.
Also there are a lot of factors such as culture and the mental health awareness
and available care for people showing that contribute to some countries having
lower or higher suicide rates.
,
;Sources: WHO , befrienders.org , worldpopulationreview.c
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