I have argued again and again that celebrities from all walks of life have a huge role to play in the noble battle against the stigmatization of the African mentally challenged.

Celebrities cashing in on their star power have a huge following on social media which is now the new currency and have the clout to influence things as well as swing public opinion in favour of a particular cause. No wonder many brands now use them as ambassadors to sell their goods or services because their strategic partnership will guarantee massive sales for the corporate bodies.

Some celebrities in Nigeria like Beverley Naya, Kemi Lala Akindoju etc have publicly identified with the mental health challenge cause with Akindoju even going as far as producing a movie on mental health.

The latest celebrity to identify with the mental health challenge cause is Adaeze Maryprecious Atayobor a.k.a Vendajules and founder of Vendajules Slay World – a Nigerian Ghana based celebrity makeup artist and beauty entrepreneur who has worked for many Ghanaian celebrities like Yvonne Nelson, Zynell Zuh, Juliet Ibrahim, and Efya.

She recently reached out to a mental health centre in Ghana where she offered free makeup services to some of the patients there.

This is a rare act of kindness as not many celebrities publicly identify with the mentally challenged and so this is worthy of celebration as it would go a long way in the anti-stigmatization battle.

While her act of the August visit is highly commendable, we urge celebrities with an interest in mental health to do more other than visits and the sharing of victuals to the mentally challenged. They should go a step further in empowering these people as not mentally challenged persons are incapable of independent living or institutionalization. Many with the medications and health support from experts can still live normal lives. All what they need is love, care and emotional support from members of the society and they would be home and dry.

Celebrities should take more than a passing interest in them and look for ways to make them acquire relevant, market in demand skills that would make them either more employable or self employed so that they can afford the expensive medications and be useful to themselves and the society at large.

If the war against stigmatization is to be won then all hands must be on deck to ensuring that these people are effectively integrated into the society and made to live up to their full potential so that they wouldn’t be a burden on the working class. Financially empowered mental health patients would have a loud voice which would lead to their gradual acceptance by other people as with the passage of time the ailment would be seen like no different from people battling with diabetes or hypertension who in most cases are on lifelong medications and aren’t really discriminated against.

I would love to see centres for the mentally challenged being built all across Africa where instructors would teach them useful skills to navigate this thorny journey called life and be able to stand on their two feet rather than tokens always being thrown at them. Most psychiatric hospitals in Africa especially the government owned ones lack humaneness and a spirit of empathy as in most cases the workers there vent out their anger and frustration on the poor patients and would worsen the plight of the latter.

The World Health Organization said about one billion people out of the seven billion people around the world have a mental health disorder and a sizeable number of that are domiciled in Africa where poverty and conflict as well as the presence of a failed state in most of the 54 countries that make up the continent make them more prone to mental illness.

Foreign Donors should look more at funding mental health projects to ensure that the mentally challenged can stand and thrive independently. There should be the reordering of priorities from the mindless doling out of foreign aid to assistance that would make these special set of Africans truly financially independent so that they can develop their quota towards the development of the continent.

The ancient Chinese aphorism goes thus: The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The likes of the aforementioned Naya, Akindoju, Vendajules and a host of others have taken that bold step. With the passage of time, I am confident that others would come in and ensure a better deal for the African mentally challenged who with the power of love would be made to dream dreams, chase vision and their divinely orchestrated purpose.

For this sturdy step well done Vendajules!

SOURCE: https://africavoiceshq.com/2022/06/29/thumbs-up-vendajules-by-tony-ademiluyi/