Episode 5 Conversation with Hauwa Ojeifo the founder of Shewritewoman on Mental Health in Nigeria and among Africans in the Diaspora

In this episode, we are honored to have a special guest from Nigeria, Ms. Hauwa Ojeifo. Ms. Ojeifo a former investment banker now the founder of She Writes Woman, a non-profit organization focusing on educating and advocating for people living with mental illness in Nigeria. Her organization’s mission is to eradicate the stigma placed on people with mental illness. Ms. Ojeifo is a mental health advocate, a coach, a role model for young men and women in Nigeria and throughout the diaspora within Africa and hopefully Africans living abroad. Hauwa Ojeifo is an excellent example of someone who was diagnosed with mental illness, and she is thriving, blooming, prospering. She continues to help others in Nigeria suffering from mental illness, promoting mental health awareness and destigmatizing mental illness through her personal experience. In this dialogue, she advises Africans in the diaspora dealing with mental illness or those who may have a family member diagnosed with mental illness? In this episode, we discussed Mental health and mental illness in Nigeria and sexual abuse. We talked about societal stigma towards people who have mental illness and if the stigma more common among the younger or older generation in Nigeria. We further focus on the cultural and religious values that continue to perpetuate this stigma. We discussed the accessibility of mental health care in Nigeria, recognition & diagnoses, psychiatric care, access to medication (fake medication Vs. authentic medication & affordability), counseling, and qualified professional counselors. For Africans in the diaspora being in America, Europe, and other parts of Africa, we talked about how most continue to carry on the same cultural beliefs and religious values. The beliefs tend to be the barrier that continues to prevent us from seeking help for ourselves and our love once when it comes to mental illness. For a child who may show symptoms of mental illness at an early stage, we may not consider it as an illness but rather label it as the child is out of control. We may dismiss depression as something we pray away or associate depression with poverty as we believe back home. E.g., You have light, water, food, and so why would you say that you are depressed. Regarding sexual abuse and assaults on women and children in Nigeria, we talked about the progress or lack of progress in prosecuting the offender or challenging the stigma associated with the victim of the act. Women, children, and even men suffer from sexual abuse, but men and the victimization of boys are not talked about due to the stigma associated with the homosexual act. To contact She Writes Woman and to support the organization for the fantastic work they are doing, please log on to the website @ shewriteswoman.org. Please find this option at bit.ly/donatetosww, bit.ly/givetoSWW or click here to go straight to the page.