Running through the pain for mental illness
‘Daddy’s girl’ on a mission to raise awareness on depression, suicide
ZANELE Hlatshwayo has always been a daddy’s girl. However, when her father committing suicide, she picked up running – which he also used to do – as a coping mechanism.
Now, she is running to raise awareness and funds for depression and suicide. This year, Hlatshwayo will run 18 races in an effort to raise R118000 for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) through her Rise18 campaign.
“My father passed away in 2010. It took me years to speak about it without getting emotional or crying, and 2018 is the year I decided to open up about my dad and what I went through.
“The number 18 symbolises the year I decided to do something and just filter through to the 18 races and the R118 000 that I am trying to raise,” Hlatshwayo said.
Sadag operating director Cassey Chambers said it was incredibly difficult for the organisation to raise funds. She said the NGO spends between R40 000 and R60 000 a month on its phone bill.
The Sadag call centre runs between 8am and 8pm and is manned by volunteer counsellors to deal with the about 400 distressed calls a day.
“It is difficult to raise funds because we are dealing with mental health, and it’s hard to sell mental illness. We deal with hectic cases on a daily basis. We rely very much on our volunteer counsellors,” Chambers said.
She added that 23 suicides and 420 attempts happen across the country every day.
This is personal for Hlatshwayo, who, despite the stigma around mental health, worked hard to deal with her father’s suicide.
She said that in 2008 her father suffered a panic attack at work, which they suspected was a heart condition.
It turned out to be depression, and he was eventually admitted to a mental healthcare facility. He could not deal with the condition and committed suicide in 2010.
Hlatshwayo chose to run to raise funds because when she was growing up, her father was a runner and she picked up the habit to deal with her grief.
“As a kid, my dad used to train quite a bit. He used to run, and when he died, I needed a coping mechanism because I got tired of sitting and crying. When suicide happens you don’t know what to do. It was such an emotional roller-coaster dealing with the fact that someone you love killed themselves.
“At first I was running away from the emotions and the bitterness. As I progressed I realised it was making me feel better and helping me go through this. Running became my passion. For me it is a matter of marrying my passion and going through my pain and trying to help fellow South Africans who might be going through similar situations.”
Hlatshwayo said the races would be an important way to raise awareness and encourage more people to tell their stories of mental illness and suicide.
“You get so much information about HIV, TB and so many other illnesses, but mental illness is not something that organisations focus on.
“People think it is wrong to commit suicide, so they don’t want to talk about it, and mental illness isn’t spoken about. That is what I want to demystify and destigmatise.
“We have to be comfortable because there are so many people suffering from it,” Hlatshwayo said.
On her YouTube channel, Hlatshwayo will interview six people who have survived or are being affected by suicide in an effort to show that depression can happen to anyone.
So far, the ultramarathon runner has completed seven races, with the last one being the 42km Gift of the Givers Township Marathon.
Her next race is the Kosmos 3-in-1 on March 10 where she will run the 42.2km, 21.1km and 10km races in one day.
She will also run her third Comrades and third Two Oceans. Her 18th race will be the Washie 100 Miler in the Eastern Cape.
Hlatshwayo admits that running pushes her hard physically.
“The biggest issue is managing injuries. I have a back problem and I have to run through the pain. You have to have the discipline to train, and that is very similar to life. “There are a lot of challenges that people go through. It is managing those injuries.
“The pains you go through while running is the same as in life. It is never easy. You constantly have to fight through everything to finish the journey. That is the same with life.”
So far the campaign has raised about R28700.
For more information on Rise18 or to assist Hlatshwayo raise funds, go to https://www. backabuddy.co.za/champion/ project/rise18
‘When suicide happens you don’t know what to do’