Break free from your depression, Tembisa woman urges
There are many causes of the condition and she encourages people to seek help or attend workshops such as the ones she is planning to host in Tembisa
Many people in the township suffer in silence and feel trapped in confinement of a disease that is less understood in our African cultures.
Depression is often misconstrued within the realm of traditional healing and people who suffer from this disease are said to have been bewitched due to detected suicidal symptoms.
Founder of Voice For The Voiceless Lerato Mofomme is hell-bent on unraveling the mystery and dispelling township myths that surround this disease.
Mofomme said she is a victim of depression herself hence she wants to help sufferers of the disease to break free from the chains of the mental condition.
“It came to my heart that I should educate people that this mental illness really does exist. It is something we should take seriously. Looking back I was raised by a mother who also suffered from depression,” said Mofomme.
She said she is a victim of molestation by her own father and she almost got raped when she was in primary school. Mofomme could not talk about her ordeal because as a child she was scared and now she constantly has to deal with the reality that she is a rape survivor.
As a result she has to deal with depression herself because she never got help for the feelings of sadness and disgust that were piling up in her mind.
“I was bullied at school and I grew up with these thoughts until they broke me. I didn’t want the next person to relive the life I experienced. I established Voice For The Voiceless to help another young girl who has been raped,” said Mofomme.
She wants to be there for rape victims who cannot break free from their experiences and as result drown in depression. Mofomme said from the workshops she is planning to host around Tembisa she aims to share an in-depth knowledge on the nature of the mental illness.
“The community must stop saying the sufferers of depression are crazy. They must strive to identify symptoms of the condition and find the appropriate help for the ill person. These teachings will be done annually where people will learn what anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder is as well what stress is,” said Mofomme.
She said there are many causes of the condition and she encourages people to seek help or attend workshops such as the ones she is planning to host in Tembisa.
Mofomme understands that there are many people who cannot open up about challenges they face therefore her organisation will give them a voice and save their lives.
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses and it is differentiated from normal sadness by the nature and duration of symptoms.
It is said that for the condition to be called a ‘disorder’, at least five out of a total of nine symptoms should be present for more than two weeks which would include at least sadness and/or loss of interest or things that were previously enjoyed.
