Depression is real: Don’t take it lightly!

While a few years back there was little talk about mental health, we are slowly moving away from the silence. Several NGOs and professionals in the health sector are doing everything in their power to sensitise communities on mental health issues.

Times have been hard, and many people are carrying heavy loads and end up feeling like there are no options except to take one’s life. Over the past months, hardly a week goes by without reports of someone committing suicide. The Monitor has covered many suicide articles and so have other newspapers.

Many of these alleged deaths by suicide do not have any suicide notes. Perhaps this trend shows that many people in our country are struggling emotionally and the cause could be many issues including but not limited to financial difficulties, relations with family members or just issues of mental health, for example, undiagnosed depression and other mental health illnesses.

This week The Monitor carries an article on an 86-year-old farmer committing suicide. The reasons are not known since he did not leave a suicide note. Suicides have been increasing in our country of late. While currently, we do not have the most recent statistics, those who have been following the news will relate.

Botswana used to be a close-knit community and family members would ensure that they do not stay for long without checking on other family members, but now it is a different story. People are busy trying to fend for themselves and seldom have time to entertain relatives. Times are tough and most families are in economic hardships. While, there are murder-suicide incidents, which of course are usually a result of misunderstandings between intimate partners, our elders over the past months seem to be leading the pack on suicide. What could be the problem?

And another question that begs an answer is whether our government is doing enough to ensure that our elders don’t at least go to bed hungry. Old age pension in our country after the recent P100 increase effective April 1 stands at P730. Realistically speaking, is it possible to survive for a whole month on P730 with the prices of necessities going up every day?

Our government should seriously look into the old age pension currently being given to the senior citizens because, without any assistance from other family members, there is no way an individual would survive on this meagre allowance!

This is also a wake-up call for us as a community to ensure that we check on our loved ones regularly. That can save a life! Let’s stand together to save lives!