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There
is an old Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to be happy for a lifetime,
grow a garden.” There is a lot of truth in the tried and tested
philosophy of this saying. And now we ask the question: can flowers and plants
and the verdant green of the environment help the mentally sick towards
recovery? Looking at the colorful display of flowers against a green background
of foliage at the Mental Hospital at Angoda, a fifteen-minute drive from Sri Lanka’s capital city of
Colombo, one sees a refreshingly positive answer.
Human
Dignity: A ‘Basic Need’
This
innovative new approach to treating the mentally ill through a horticulture
project is being carried out by a Sri Lankan non-governmental organization
(NGO), Basic Needs1, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. The
fundamental approach of this NGO is to work with communities to change their
attitude to the mentally ill. Volunteer committees set up in different parts of
the country promote the institution of activities organized around mentally ill
men and women. Small garden plots and group farms on temple land are also
encouraged as ways to interact with the mentally ill, which also helps them use
their time profitably and earn a little something on the side.
“Most
of all this has been the best way of reducing the stigma and discrimination
usually attached to the mentally ill. As one volunteer put it, ‘the word we
earlier used to describe a mentally ill person (pissa meaning a mad one) which
was disparaging is no longer used’,” says Chinta Munasinghe, Director of
Basic Needs.
Stigmas
remain in the best of communities, despite their being trained to accept those
who have returned after years at the hospital for the mentally ill. The
horticulture project by Basic Needs is one way of preparing the mentally ill to
fit in better with the community once they return. It is also aimed at the
long-term residents of the hospital at Angoda who may never go back home.
“Most
of them have lost touch with their folks. There are instances that the families
do not want them and they are destined to spend their days here. It is mainly
these people that we have involved in the horticulture project,” says Angela
Foster, a British volunteer from Volunteers Services Overseas (VSO) who has been
in charge of the project for the past couple of years. She is assisted by a
trained agricultural officer, volunteers from Basic Needs, and a translator who
fills in for Foster’s minimum knowledge of the local languages, Sinhala and
Tamil.
Volunteers
from the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade are also enlisted after receiving training in basic mental
health and an introduction to the rehabilitation aspect of psychiatry and
horticultural therapy. These volunteers are an important section of the
personnel that form the horticulture therapy unit.
The
aim of the project is to rehabilitate these patients so that they can be
eventually discharged. But problems abound. At present there are no places to
accommodate them after discharge while they are on their way to eventual
recovery. Though they are able to live in an environment away from the hospital,
this is not possible as there is no “half-way” house for them to live in
away from the seriously ill.
Buddhadasa,
in his thirties, is physically a fine young man whose family occasionally visits
him. He is slowly on the way to improvement and this has been speeded by his
participating in growing flowers and vegetables. His mental capacity is low and
he may never be totally mentally stable. But his days are now full and happy and
his interest in the plants and flowers that surround him is tangible.
Successful
and Expanding
Initially,
the patients started gardening around their wards and the project was gradually
extended. Looking at the acres of the horticulture project, the colorful
flowers, the abundance of vegetables, the birds that flit about chirping
happily, and the ancient trees that border the land, one is compelled to believe
that nature truly does have a role to play in the happiness and recovery of
these men and women within the compound.
The
Basic Needs program is proof that mentally ill patients can effectively
participate in the development of their own selves, provided that their basic
needs are addressed and basic rights respected. It started small – inviting
mentally ill persons, care-givers and community members to join hands and help
one another.
In
all their projects, Basic Needs has about a hundred village volunteers working
with the mentally ill with support from professionals, and it is hoped that the
program will expand its coverage to other areas of the country in partnership
with mentally ill people, their care-givers, volunteer committees and government
and non-government sectors.
“The
project covers only a few wards now. The results have been so positive that I
have plans to replicate it to cover wards where the inmates are medically worse
than these,” says Dr. Jayan Mendis, Director of the Mental Hospital.
Opening
Eyes to the World
The
project has an inbuilt income-generating unit. This is the sale of flower pots
made of clay from the land itself by the mentally ill supervised by a volunteer
from Basic Needs. In addition to pots of various sizes and designs, there are
also paving slabs, mushroom spores and bags of compost made with the garbage
from the hospital.
“Sixty
percent of the income is put into savings for the patients and the rest is
ploughed back into the project,” says Nirosha, Foster’s translator.
The
short term project is to rehabilitate the patients to be independent and come
out of the deep depression which they are in with nothing to do. Even those who
read cannot concentrate for more than a few minutes and the rest of the time
they spend sitting around gazing into space, says Foster.
“Having
been in hospital for so long has made them institutionalized, which means they
have stopped thinking for themselves and do nothing the whole day. What goes on
in their heads was more important to them than what was actually happening
around them. Concentration was most difficult when they first started working on
the project. They would work for five minutes and go into their own private
world. We had to work hard to bring them back to the real world,” says Foster
Involvement
in the project meant that patients who earlier refused to make eye contact or
communicate with one another started asking questions from one another and from
the trainers. Gradually they have come alive, they are now on the way to being
individual people with ideas of their own who can even make choices, says Foster
The
devotion and enthusiasm of all those involved in this project is easy to see.
Enthused and encouraged by the positive results of this pioneering effort, Dr.
Mendis now plans to cover more of the available hospital land to extend the
project.
“I
am determined to see this through and extend it,” he says, “before the
politicians move in and grab the land that rightfully belongs to the
hospital.”
*
Vijita Fernando is a freelance Sri Lankan journalist with more than 25 years of experience. She is a member of the Sri Lanka Federation of University Women, Chairperson of the Centre for Family Services, which works with women and children victimized in local conflicts and is a Board Member of a consortium of NGOs working in water and sanitation in poor rural communities. Your emails will be forwarded to her by contacting the editor at:
ScienceTech@islam-online.net
1-
Basic Needs is an international NGO with affiliates in Sri Lanka, India, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. Its vision is to see that the basic needs of the mentally ill throughout the world are met and their basic rights are respected. They initiate programs in developing countries that involve the mentally ill and their care-givers, and enable them to realize their basic needs and exercise their basic rights. The work of this NGO is based on the philosophy of building inclusive communities where mentally ill people – through development – realize their rights.
The main office is Basic Needs UK Trust.
Email:
chris.underhill@basicneeds.org.uk
Sri Lanka office:
chintha@basicneeds-srilanka.org
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