A lobby group that seeks to deal with the youth crisis in Kenya has appealed to parents to be patient with their children. – By Gerald Gekara.
Tunza Kenya (TK) is a public outreach programme that seeks a holistic approach to addressing issues of mental health, largely presenting as depression across the country.
The initiative hatched by George Kimando, is set to address socially deviant behaviours among the youth that need professional attention.
Kimando argues that the contious sidelining of mental health issues has resulted in the sharp rise in criminal cases, domestic violence that are normally discovered when its too late.
“Unfortunately, these cases are largely unnoticed, ignored or treated as criminal. Worse, many affected people are going through life unaware of their depressed mental state, only to be realized when catastrophe happens.”
The initiative will be rolled out through different media, that will aim to achieve awareness, advocacy and keep a contact list of profressions who will execute Tunza Kenya’s mandate.
“We have rolled out a three prong approach that will raise awareness through advocacy, create a network of professionals to deal with the numbers arising from the advocacy, and eventually execute a strategy to address the menace at a preventative level as opposed to curative.”
Kimando says that partnership with the national government will be an important turnkey in organizing resources to assist patients dealing with mental health issues.
At this level, the involvement of both the national and county governments, together with their partners in health, will be key.
Unshackled!
The organization, will also seek to reach out to the masses through a television series, dubbed Unshackled!, that focuses on the various challenges facing the modern day man.
With the rising empowerment to the girl child and the societal norm for men to ‘man up’, many have resulted in drugs and alcohol to drown their feelings, posing a serious danger to his immediate family, and community.
Unfortunately, these societal changes have not spared the woman either. Much of domestic violence, homicide cases, socio-economic oppression and family break ups affect more women than men.
This is what Unshackled! will seek to intervene on in the long run keeping the family unit intact.
Kimando has however called for well-wishers to provide monetary, structural assistance that will be used in maintaining the existing Silwan Fountain Treatment and Recovery Center and office facilities.