My heart is heavy; my eyes misty. How ignorant can a people be yet claim to be wise. I woke up this morning highly motivated and enthusiastic to face the week but the flash of a thought changed it for me. A thought of someone; a brilliant mind!

I got to know him during the time I taught in a secondary school. I was his Economics and Geography teacher. I had earlier resigned my full-time appointment with the school for my university studies. I would teach for few weeks or months whenever I had break at school. It was during one of these times that our paths crossed.

I had met him kneeling at the entrance of the staff room with a cluster of students watching from a distance. Apparently, a teacher had asked him to as a punishment. As the school's Discipline Master I made efforts to find out what his offense was. My inquiry was met with a barrage of responses from the students.

"Hehehe Sir Spain, leave that boy o! He is not well...", "Sir, he has small madness...", "Sir Spain, he is possessed...", "Sir, he cannot talk..."

I had to disperse the students when I noticed their responses were more of a harassment than genuine explanation. I waited for the affected teacher to return to truly understand the situation.

"Sir *****, I learnt you instructed him to kneel down while he should be on break. May I know what his offense was?" I asked.
"Don't mind that stupid boy. He's trying to prove stubborn to me. Can you imagine he refused to do the class assignment and when I asked he snubbed me. Let him stay there. When I'm done dealing with him he will open that mouth and shout..." he fumed.

Fortunately, I was able to persuade my colleague to pardon him with a promise to look into the matter. I invited the boy to an empty room in our school where I hoped to probe him further with the intention of seeing things through his eyes.

Tears dropped from his eyes as he stood with his head bent downwards. I tried to make him feel safe around me. I convinced him that I am not probing as a teacher but rather as a friend he could confide in. It took me ten minutes to get him to utter a word. To my surprise, the guy is brilliant! I mean, he speaks very well albeit a stutter. His application of subject-verb agreement was on point. How then does everyone see him as a headcase? Why then has the society condemned him as being possessed by demons?

We spent some time together until the break was over. I took personal interest in his well-being. I made sure to visit their class to enlighten his mates. I got another shocker when his classmates told me he actually was the best math student. His grades in maths were excellent. He has never, I repeat, never scored below 99% in math. Legend has it he never failed a math question. He solved even complex engineering problems from topics he had never been exposed to. His math skill matched my "draw" soup eating skill.

Unfortunately, he was also a distressed soul. He often experienced episodes of delusion, apathy, catatonia, hallucinations, depression and aggressiveness. My research suggested these were strong symptoms of SCHIZOPHRENIA. He had little interest in other subjects but mathematics. I needed to help him at least while my stay lasted. I made friends with him. I made sure to check on him everyday at school. I also started a campaign to change the perception people had about him. I encouraged teachers to engage with him on a more friendly note. With time, he began to improve socially. He could answer class questions no matter how long I had to wait. Sometimes, five minutes.

Of course, there were days he would relapse but we now understand better. I was trying to see if I could reach out to the family. I heard he had been taken to different prayer houses to deliver him from the evil spirits. Ignorance! If only they knew. Sadly, my stay was cut short and I had to go back to school.

Two years later, I learnt he had committed suicide! Such a brilliant mind. Such a mathematical genius. If only WE knew earlier what he was going through. If only his family made scientific efforts to find out more about SCHIZOPHRENIA. If only the society knew how to manage the SCHIZOPHRENIC genius amongst us the stigma and abuse would have been replaced with love and care. Though in my early twenties at that time, I believe I could've made more efforts.

RIP my boy. It's been years you left but I can't explain how your thoughts flooded my mind this morning. In your next life, do come back as a GENIUS without schizo.

MODIFIED:
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others.

Symptoms
It can be difficult to diagnose schizophrenia in teens. This is because the first signs can include a change of friends, a drop in grades, sleep problems, and irritability—common and nonspecific adolescent behavior. Other factors include isolating oneself and withdrawing from others, an increase in unusual thoughts and suspicions, and a family history of psychosis. In young people who develop schizophrenia, this stage of the disorder is called the "prodromal" period... It is possible to live well with schizophrenia.
Read more about Schizophrenia >> HERE

You are yet to define schizo

Ouchh

glossy6:
You are yet to define schizo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

Nigerians, always quick to blame things on evil spirit.

schizophrenia and geniuses are almost always together in one person

How about Autism?
Thats one stuff that is always confused for evil spirit posession

I dropped a tear reading this.
It made me remember a friend I served alongside with a year ago in Bayelsa.

He's such a genius, studied elect elect, but how he was able to scale through University as a schizo baffles me..


He doesn't relate with anybody socially, no friends, always on his own, luckily there was a lady who studied psychology in school, through her help I became his friend to the extent he sleeps in my room..


I really don't want to go into details cos anytime he crossed my mind or I pull a call through to him, I always cry. He's intelligent and I learnt a lot about this life from him. He's full of wisdom and of course he always knows what he's doing. Even when the world ain't seeing his good sides, I'm opportune to see them.


R.I.P. to this young lad, God rest his soul..

slimderek:
How about Autism?
Thats one stuff that is always confused for evil spirit posession

Autism is usually confused with schizo. They both share similar symptoms however autism is more pronounced in kids while schizo manifests in teens and adults.