Lucy Akini Were is a shy seventeen year old girl. She lives with her parents, Rose and Joseph, and five siblings in Kangemi, an overcrowded sprawling slum on the outskirts of Kenya’s Capitol Nairobi.

Lucy’s family share a two-roomed dwelling with unplastered brick walls and a corrugated iron roof.

Lucy Suffers from Schizophrenia. She started showing symptoms in autumn 2005. Initially her parents attributed the changes in Lucy’s behaviour to her age, but as her actions became increasingly erratic they began to realize that there was something amiss.

As Rose, Lucy’s mother, recalls, “We thought it was just the normal truancy in teenagers, so we did not pay much attention till November of the same year when she started behaving differently.”

Lucy, like many sufferers of schizophrenia, became prone to episodes of extreme paranoia and violence. This put a great strain on her relationship with her family and community. Lucy frequently refused to eat food prepared by her mother, claiming that she was trying to ’bewitch“ her. She later scalded her sister with hot porridge.

Lucy’s parents, though poverty stricken, have always been resolute in the determination to find a cure for her and have spent much of their meagre family income on treatment, both conventional and traditional.

As her father, Joseph explains, “If I had the money I would have gone all the way to Mombassa [500 kilometres from Nairobi] to seek treatment.”

This search for treatment has led the Weres to become entangled in a spiral of poverty, a plight typical of many families affected by mental illness throughout the developing world.

Lucy parents initially took her to their local health clinic where the doctor mistook her psychosomatic symptoms for pneumonia. Unsurprisingly Lucy finished the treatment programme with no alteration to her condition. After experiencing a catalogue of similar misdiagnoses and failed treatments her parents turned to alternative forms of treatment.

Rose and Joseph explain that, on one occasion, they sought the services of a highly respected traditional healer called Amboseli. At their first meeting he asked them to return with two chickens, one red feathered and the other white feathered. After performing his rituals Amboseli charged them Kshs 1500 (Around $20) and asked them to leave him the red chicken and to discard the white one on the path home. They have also attempted various forms of spiritual healing, including the attendance of all night vigils at crusade churches.

During this time Lucy’s condition continued to deteriorate. Her violent schizophrenic episodes, including the frequent accosting of neighbours and the destruction of property, eventually led the Weres to be evicted from their home.

In May 2006 Rose was informed about the BasicNeeds mental health clinic in Kangemi by a neighbour who had recently attended with their own child. Rose first attended the clinic with Lucy and her sister Betty who suffers from epilepsy on 17th May 2006. At the mental health clinic Lucy was finally diagnosed with Schizophrenia and put onto a treatment programme. Rose claims that she was “shocked” by the level of empathy and understanding shown towards her family at the clinic.

Although Lucy is still in the early stages of recovery there have already been visible improvements in her condition. Rose is ecstatic at these changes. “I have seen great improvements in Lucy since she started taking medication. She no longer beats anybody or screams at night.”

With the support of BasicNeeds and our partner organizations Lucy now receives free medication and psychosocial support. Her condition has stabilized, she has become a regular member of the congregation at her local Anglican church and she has even begun to show a desire to return to school.

Lewis Garland