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Psychosocial support workshop underway in Harare
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
November 30, 2008

After a period of serious violence, deepening crisis and increasing poverty due to the lack of food and other basic commodities, many people are so stressed that many households throughout the country there are people who are experiencing serious problems that need to be attended to. However, many people do not realize that they may be suffering from stress and trauma, or if they do, they may not be aware of how and where they can find a cure for this ailment.

Besides failing to come up with an undisputed result, the 2008 elections also produced a stressed nation which will need strenuous efforts to heal. Many people went through untold experiences such as harassment, intimidation, assault, torture, rape, loss of family members who were murdered, and loss of livelihoods and home that were destroyed. Others had their livestock killed and grain stores torched to the ground. Hence some of them do not have any food and have been reduced to beggars. Even up to now these victims do not know what to do about the situation they find themselves in.

On the other side there are people who say they were forced to commit atrocities against their neighbors. They remember the people against whom they committed serious crimes such as those mentioned above. After the elections they and their victims find themselves in a similar situation. Theirs could even be worse. Hence they wonder why they were involved in such dastardly acts only to find themselves no better off than they would have hoped for.

There is yet a third group of people that was neither part of the victims or the perpetrators. These are those other people who heard and so these evil things happening in their communities but could not do anything about it. They too are stressed because maybe they are living in constant fear that anything can happen to them anytime. They think they may have escaped last time but if this defines the community in which they are staying, then anything can happen to them anytime.

All these are issues that confront traditional leaders and other opinion leaders in their communities. These leaders thus need skills to understand the problems and how to deal with them. However, they too need to first of all deal with their own problems before they can be able to assist others effectively.

This is the workshop that started today in Harare which is being attended by some traditional leaders and opinion leaders from Mashonaland West and East. They are undergoing the course which will enable them to deal effectively with problems that were brought about by this serious crisis the country is experiencing. It is hoped that they will be able to make a difference back home, and help their communities to not only recover from the trauma that is affecting them, but also ensure that their people reconcile and live in peace, understanding that each of them is responsible for the others.

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