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Tirivanhu Therapeutic Community - a first in mental disorder rehabilitation
National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
Extracted from Disability Update, Sept 19-26, 2006
September 21, 2006

Sprawling over 98 acres along the Harare-Mutare road in Ruwa, Tirivanhu Therapeutic Community, a structured rehabilitation centre for people recovering from severe and persistent mental disorders and currently home to 18 members under rehabilitation, is living testimony to the success of a holistic psycho-social community based rehabilitation: scores of people with mental disorders who have passed through the programme in the two decades that the centre has been in existence have since been reunited with their families and integrated into the community, where they are leading respectable lives. The name Tirivanhu (We are also human) is inspired by the stigma and discrimination that people with mental disorders are subjected to from a society which views them as a curse and a burden to it.

Tirivanhu’s secret to success lies in its ability to give to people with disorders what the rest of society denies them – a sense of responsibility, control over their lives, participation in the farm’s diverse activities and appreciation. From the moment one sets foot on the farm, the members undergoing rehabilitation take over, explaining the objectives of the centre and the intricacies involved in the running of the farm’s diverse projects such as the rabbit breeding project, calendar making project, fowl rearing, vegetable growing, maize growing and cattle rearing projects. The projects are run entirely by the members, 4 of who are women, with the help of three supporting staff. This sense of ownership and empowerment is complemented by the diverse services the centre offers in its community based rehabilitation care design. These include clinical care, health education, social and technical skills training, group dynamics, individual and family support, and extended rehabilitation options.

The Director of the Zimbabwe National Association for Mental health (ZIMNAMH), Mrs Elizabeth Matare, affectionately known as ‘Elizabeth’ by all the members and the driving force behind the Tirivanhu Therapeutic ommunity, said that while the centre does everything in its power to empower people with mental disorders with self-sufficiency and equity, it is the duty of the government to provide adequate medication because there is a danger of these people relapsing if medication was not made readily available.

"When the persons are referred to us from the Ministry of Health or the ministry of Justice, we look at the talents of the individual and then maximize on those talents. In terms of maize production, we surpass the new farmers that have been given land. We are still feeding on last year’s maize and we estimate that we should be getting about 80 bags this year, ´she said.

Tirivanhu Therapeutic Community runs a thriving horticultural project and produces a variety of vegetables like broccoli, rape, cabbages, onions and beans for local consumption and for sale. In addition to a cattle-rearing project, the farm also runs a rabbit breeding project and a fowl-breeding project. All the members are familiar with the variousstages of production required in the various projects and equal participation is ensured by means of a roster, which everybody is expected to follow. Members also take turns to do the cooking with little supervision.

However, despite the successes that the model community has posted during the two decades that it has been in existence, the farm needs an urgent injection of funds in order to keep afloat.

"A lot of deserving people with mental disorders fail to access this community and benefit from the rehabilitation due to financial considerations. If I had funds, I would increase the accommodation facilities to accommodate 30 persons. The grant of $30 000 that I received this year from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare is not enough to meet the needs of the farm and we are having problems in terms of meeting the salaries of staff and daily upkeep. The problem is worsened by non-cooperating relatives who fail to provide toiletries and other contributions for the upkeep of people undergoing rehabilitation at the centre,’ she said.Mrs Matare also bemoaned the lack of funds that prevents her from building more rabbit cages and increasing the number of rabbits from 36 to a total of 200. This would ultimately allow her to give her inmates something to kick-start their own projects with when they leave the center after successful rehabilitation. She said she was also hampered by the persistent load shedding of electricity, as this prevented them from pumping water from the boreholes into the horticultural field. Drip irrigation would greatly maximize on yields but lack of funds prevented her from introducing this innovation.

Despite these hurdles, however, the centre continues to forge ahead with a singleness of purpose that has earned it the respect of all members undergoing rehabilitation. Says the philosophical Shepherd Mapfumo, who was referred to the centre by medical authorities in April this year after engaging in certain acts of defiance that earned the wrath of the law enforcement authorities: ‘This place is like paradise to me. You learn a lot of skills and you can also read. t is better to get wisdom and knowledge than riches.’

Shepherd’s room, which he shares with another member, contains a variety of books on social issues, which he reads whenever he can afford the time. He now acknowledges that he was rather wayward in dealing with the authorities and is on his way to full recovery.

Another member, Farai Murevanhema, who is married and has been at the centre considerably longer than the others, professed that he is now fully recovered and will be going back to rejoin his wife and family soon. Other inmates showed mild signs of disturbance while others, like Tendai Chidavanyika who chaperoned us around the farm and explained all the activities of the farm from start to finish, showed no overt signs of mental disorder at all. Inmates are encouraged to talk about their mental problems openly as this helps them to confront these problems. After successful rehabilitation at the farm, the onus will now be on the family to ensure that these people continue to take their medication in a conducive environment.

In the true spirit of self-reliance, chickens raised at the farm are village chickens which are easy to manage in a home setting and do not require expensive chicken feeds, while project cattle are used to till the fields at the farm. Manure from the chicken, rabbit and cattle breeding projects is used to fertilise the horticultural project. An easy-to-manage village kitchen complements this community setting. As a community based rehabilitation centre, Tirivanhu Therapeutic Community is clearly in a class of its own.

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