The ‘mad’ family that everyone rejected
Whispers went ahead to conclude that the mother, the only ‘sane’ person in the entire family, was to blame. It was said that she must have done something terrible, and her family was paying for it.
What you need to know:
- Had this family been fortunate enough to live at a time when ‘madness’ had a diagnosis, hence treatment, each and every one of them might have gone on to lead a productive life.
- The children would have completed school and gone to become the lawyers, doctors and teachers they kept hearing about.
That is how we described mental illness those days. I remember that it was a family of seven children, and as each child grew up and got to a certain age, they began to exhibit symptoms of ‘madness’. They would become violent, start talking to themselves and neglect their hygiene.
Consequently, they would all drop out of school, one by one, and would spend their days roaming about the local shopping centre collecting garbage, begging and sometimes physically attacking those they came across unprovoked.
The once vibrant, outgoing children became reclusive adults. The whispers said that the family was bewitched. Every mentally ill person then was said to be bewitched, after all, they did not have a condition that required them to be hospitalised. They seemed fine, apart from their erratic behaviour.
Back to this family.
The whispers went ahead to conclude that the mother, the only ‘sane’ person in the entire family, was to blame. It was said that she must have done something terrible, and her family was paying for it.
As you can imagine, this family became pariahs, they became outcasts that no one wanted to associate with, lest the same curse befall them. With just one person left to care and provide for eight people with no social support, the mother eventually caved in and began to exhibit symptoms like those of her husband and children.
Looking back, I have no idea how they survived all those years because they were in no condition to earn a living. If I remember correctly, the woman and two of her children passed away, and afterwards, the remaining members of the family moved to live with relatives somewhere, the whispers said.
The home remained vacant for a couple of years until someone who did not know the history bought the land, demolished the dilapidated house and put up a beautiful home.
People expected the curse that had befallen that unfortunate family to affect the new owners, but it did not.
In fact, the new owners thrived with each passing year, and went on to become respected pillars of the community. May was the World Mental Health Awareness month, and as it comes to a close, it is only fitting that I add my voice to this important topic: Mental Health.
This year’s theme was ‘Mental Health is a Universal Human Right’. Had this family been fortunate enough to live at a time when ‘madness’ had a diagnosis, hence treatment, each and every one of them might have gone on to lead a productive life. The children would have completed school and gone to become the lawyers, doctors and teachers they kept hearing about.
Their father would have been a proud breadwinner, managing to educate his children and provide for their needs, while the crucified mother would have had a solid support system, a community that understood her struggles and therefore offered her moral support and helped her raise her children.
After all, doesn’t it take a village to raise a child? We have come a long way in understanding mental health, which some, unfortunately, still dismiss as a ‘white man’s disease’ while others brand those with this condition weak, lazy, or accuse them of pretending. It is time that we as a society become proactive and seek to understand mental health.
We are all susceptible, and even though many of us may not suffer from the many forms of mental illness, someone in our circles, could be a relative, friend, or colleague or neighbour, may suffer from it, and will need understanding and a shoulder to lean on, not rejection and judgement.
