The 'grandma benches' of Zimbabwe

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zimbabwe has over 14 million people but fewer than 20 psychiatrists. After years of economic turmoil, unemployment and HIV, mental health is a huge challenge and doctors estimate one in four Zimbabweans battles with depression or anxiety. Lucia is one of the 700 grandmothers in the country turning the nation around. She sits on a wooden bench using a gentle form of cognitive behavioural or talking therapy with her community. This is one of 250 Friendship Benches set up by Zimbabwean psychiatrist Dr Dixon Chibanda, who believed that after a few weeks of simple training, grandmothers could become lay health workers for their communities. Lucia has the time, wisdom and respect to help the people who come to her. She understands them and has direct experience of their problems. Presenter Kim Chakanetsa hears the grandmothers are having astounding results. They have helped over 50,000 people and are breaking down the stigma around mental health. Dixon Chibanda explains how he is facing up to the pandemic, moving his idea online and giving the world access to a virtual Friendship Bench.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a small bench
0:02.0	small bench in Zimbabwe's capital Harare,
0:07.0	two women are in the middle of a conversation.
0:10.0	The older woman is called Lucy Angabu and she is asking Emily, the younger woman, how her
0:17.4	plans to find her vegetable business are going and whether Emily is feeling a little
0:22.2	less unhappy today.
0:25.0	This wooden bench they are sitting on out in the open is known as the Friendship Bench.
0:30.0	They are 250 benches in Zimbabwe in total and they've become an innovative and
0:36.6	highly successful way to offer an ear to those who are struggling with their mental
0:41.1	health. By making therapy accessible they are
0:44.0	helping solve not just Zimbabwees but the mental health crisis around the world.
0:48.8	I'm Kim Chakanetsa and here on the BBC World Service this is the Grandma
0:54.2	Ventures of Zimbabwe. Emily and Lucia aren't friends. Emily is actually a
1:02.4	client and Lucia is part of a team of
1:05.0	community grandmothers who help individuals struggling with depression,
1:09.1	anxiety and trauma. The grandmothers are trained and drawn from the community around them.
1:15.1	This simple act of turning benches into destinations for therapy is having astounding results.
1:21.8	It was pioneered by the Zimbabwean psychiatrist Dr Dixon Chibanda.
1:26.0	It really evolved from, I guess a crisis if you want.
1:30.0	After the Zimbabwean crackdown on slums.
1:32.5	In 2006, we had the notorious operation,
1:37.6	Rambatsuina, as they called it, or removed the filth.
	...

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