Global society
all articles
Grandmother Shery's questions are mostly new to her visitors. They have never been presented to them in a lifetime. Many cry when they hear the first one. "What are you up to?" Asks Shery Ziwakayi, 67, and waits. And with a hesitation: "I will not tell anyone." That's enough. Then the stories come. And the tears.
Ziwakayi listens three days a week. The tenfold grandmother sits on a wooden bench in a hospital garden every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The clinic is located in a suburb of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The place is called Glen View, and most of the people who live here are so busy with survival that they actually don't have time to answer questions about their well-being. They are also not used to talking about themselves and their feelings. You don't do that here.
Grandmother Ziwakayi runs ten minutes from her home to the hospital. From the room in which she lives with four other people, she first runs up the stairs and then down the street, across a field, behind the big rubber tree on the right, and finally past the dealer, where she has a little something now and then to snack.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
Grandmother Shery Ziwakayi learned in a special training how important listening is
Then it is there. A hat on her head, against the sun, a blanket on the bench, her clipboard with the sticky note and a questionnaire in one hand and the pen in the other. As soon as she has sat down, her first hour begins.
Shery Ziwakayi is one of 240 lay therapists across the country who care for people with mental illness. All of these therapists are grandmothers, the youngest 35 and the oldest 85. Everyone is sitting on benches in front of hospitals.
If you have problems, you can sit next to them and talk. Without registration. Without fear of being ridiculed. The project that trained the grandmothers is called the "Friendship Bench". First the outdoor therapy places were called "Bank for mental health". But nobody came. Mental illness is a taboo in Zimbabwe. Those who fall ill are considered weak, sometimes possessed. Every fourth person suffers from Kunfungisia, which translates as much as: "If you think too much". Depressions.
Ziwakayi has listened to hundreds of lives in the past three years. Sometimes there are lives in which a loved one or a job is lost. Sometimes those where there is no money. In which the mother-in-law causes problems. The best friend has revealed a secret. The children are worried. The man or woman cheating. Most of the time, however, it is life in which a lot of it comes together and then everything gets worse. Where the strength is lacking to continue. Or hope.
"I've heard enough to know that I haven't heard everything yet," says Shery Ziwakayi. She knows how important her job is. Maybe he was never as important as now.
Zimbabwe, the former granary of Africa, is in a disastrous situation. Droughts, inflation, mismanagement, corruption, food and gas shortages are affecting society, which is already traumatized. After 37 years of dictator Robert Mugabe's reign, the new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has not achieved the improvement hoped for by the people. On the contrary, it all got worse.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
The beginning of a long line of cars in front of one of the few petrol stations that still had petrol in Harare at the end of November
Millions of people in the country don't know how to feed their children. Many are HIV-positive and rely on healthy nutrition and medication, both of which are now hardly affordable. The number of suicides in Zimbabwe has been increasing for years. From January to March 2019, they are said to have almost doubled compared to the same period in the previous year.
Political conflicts and poverty promote mental illness. The increasing suffering of people does not necessarily make Shery Ziwakayi's work easier.
Over 60,000 people have visited a friendship bank in Zimbabwe in the past four years. A study shows that patients with anxiety showed four times less symptoms of depression after talking to a grandmother. Thoughts of suicide were five times less common.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
The friendship benches, on which there is always a grandmother and a patient, are now distributed in many gardens of the Harare hospitals
But for many it has become even more difficult to visit the grandmothers on their benches. The calls are free, but who has the time to sit on a bench for an hour? Just to talk about problems? If, during this time, you could advance through the hours of water lines or sell something to feed the family.
Nevertheless, new patients come every day. Sometimes so many that there is no bank left and some grandmothers are sitting on blankets in the hospital garden. Some banks have also been stolen recently - they are good firewood. The remaining ones are therefore close to the main house and were partially screwed to the floor.
Traditionally, grandmothers in Zimbabwe are the ones who keep families together and take care of everyone. That's why patients like to come to them. It is not only more pleasant to sit on a blanket or bench next to a grandmother than in a consulting room in front of a doctor in a white coat. It is also the case that grandmothers can hug without being improper. It is not frowned upon to seek advice. You are considered wise. If you understand, don't turn away, help - then you don't have to be ashamed.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
Due to the lack of benches, the grandmothers sometimes sit on blankets on the lawn with their visitors
"But the best thing for me is to stop giving advice," says Shery Ziwakayi. "I learned that in training, we always ask: 'What can you do to change your situation?' It helps people when they think about themselves and me because it creates a boundary that I didn't know before. "
The therapy grandmothers are called "community grandmothers". Many of them had previously worked for the health department for many years and explained in their neighborhoods that washing your hands can prevent cholera and HIV is no shame. Until they were also trained psychologically and hired by the friendship bank project. You earn a little more than the equivalent of 100 euros a month, here a good salary.
In 2007, psychiatrist Dixon Chibanda, 52, developed the idea of friendship benches. After his studies and some trips, he noticed how little people looked after the mentally ill in Zimbabwe and other African countries. "In principle, that's still the case," says Chibanda. He is one of twelve psychiatrists in a country with more than 16 million inhabitants.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
Psychiatrist Dixon Chibanda at the Friendship Bank headquarters
Many African countries face extreme shortages of doctors. Where there is nobody to treat wounds, cure malaria or carry out vital operations, aid organizations do not send a psychotherapist first. Many are traumatized, suffer from depression or urgently need professional support if they are HIV-positive. In Zimbabwe that was a total of 1,300,000 people in 2018, 38,000 are infected annually.
Every single one of them has problems that you can hardly imagine in Germany. Like the first visitor Ziwakayi receives on her bench this morning. It is Shupikai Mharapara, 49, widow and HIV positive. She was with Grandmother Shery several times a year ago. "That saved me," says Mharapara.
Anne Backhaus / DER SPIEGEL
Shery Ziwakayi (left) with Shupikai Mharapara
Back then she didn't want to live, the grandmother was the first to listen to her. She understood what it means when the man dies and the neighbors point a finger at you. "Some said I killed him," says Mharapara. "He had AIDS and didn't tell me about it. He infected me, died and left me alone with three small children."
When she was diagnosed with HIV, her husband was already dead. The neighbors whispered again. Had she slept with another man? A slut in the neighborhood? Even today, a few years later, Shupikai Mharapara wrestles with tears. "It's hard to stand." After a few sessions, grandmother Ziwakayi persuaded her to go to the hospital psychiatric unit because of her persistent suicidal thoughts. Most of all, she helped her find just enough hope to take her medication again.
more on the subject
Chibanda, who works on a voluntary basis, is currently traveling a lot to tell about the success. Berlin, Cape Town, London, Toronto and San Francisco. He only returned to Harare the day before. "I hope that there will be benches like this all over the world," says Chibanda.
At first he was afraid that the grandmothers could become unhappy. That the bad stories are too much. That it affects them not to be able to talk to others about it. The opposite is the case. "It's nice for us to be needed," says Shery Ziwakayi. "So we are an important part of the community into old age. Who wants to be alone?" It is no different in Harare than in the rest of the world.
This contribution is part of the Global Society project, for which our reporters report from four continents. The project is long-term and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
What is the Global Society project?
Reporters from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe will report under the title Global Society - about injustices in a globalized world, sociopolitical challenges and sustainable development. The reports, analyzes, photo series, videos and podcasts appear in the SPIEGEL policy department. The project is long-term and has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for over three years.
Is the journalistic content independent of the foundation?
Yes. The editorial content is created by the Gates Foundation without influence.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes. Major European media such as "The Guardian" and "El País" have developed similar sections with "Global Development" and "Planeta Futuro" on their news pages with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Have there already been similar projects at SPIEGEL ONLINE?
In recent years, SPIEGEL ONLINE has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition Tomorrow" about global sustainability goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals" several award-winning multimedia reports on migration and flight have emerged.
Where can I find all publications on global society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL ONLINE on the topic page Global Society.