To many the concept of mental illness was merely a narration by the western world, I grew up
looking at depression as laziness and bipolar and other grave mental problems as a
consequence of witchcraft or sorcery.
Now, with such a status quo you may start getting a glimpse of the kind of challenges that came
along when I decided to allocate most of my strength into advocacy for mental health
No, I am not anything close to God or even a saint and neither do I have healing powers.
However, I do have the power to begin a conversation. This intriguing potential to write poems
and articles and the neck wrecking bravery to speak about mental health is something that
keeps me pivoted. Knowing there is always a promise of what can be and maybe just for a
second the world or simply Uganda could pause and reflect on the number of lives lost due to
suicide.
The amount of little attention and escalating isolation of the topic has made it hard for my
organization to set up clubs in various schools and faced with limitations of fund, it's entirely
complex to stir up conversations and discussions on this topic.
I am a mental health advocate not because I have no other thing to shout about, but I am
convicted as a survivor of mental breakdowns to challenge the daily stereotypes and break the
stigmas around these concepts to foster a good healing environment.
I know what it means to be shut off and not accepted and I also know how hard it is to access
help as a young person because people confuse our problems with adolescence. I feel like
more credit should be given to teens that master up the courage to seek help than to teens who
score straight A's. Grades stay on paper, but mental health stays and lives with us.
The narrative I want to change is that what we experience every day is not an act or a scheme
to miss school or get support.
Unless each one talks and each one listens mental health remains a threat to the 21st
Teenager.
-Rubangakene Deogracious
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