SICKLE CELL: CHANGING PERCEPTIONS WITH ABIKE

Hello and welcome again to Haven Inc, hope you find it a place to stay. It's the month of September, a special month chosen to create worldwide awareness for Sickle Cell. Today's interview is with a Sickle Cell Warrior, Celebrity and friend. 

Good day to you,  Ms Kawther. Welcome to Haven Inc. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to speak with you. It is a great privilege. Can we get to know you?

My name is Oladehinde Kawthar Olamide. A 300-Level student of the Department of Human Kinetics, Sports and Health Education, Lagos State University.

Thanks for taking out time to be with us. It's Sickle Cell Awareness Month, and we would like this time it to better understand what this means. What is sickle cell?

Thank you. Sickle cell is a group of hereditary blood disorders that affect the red blood cells of a person living with the sickle cell disease.

Thank you. Can I ask what it's like to live with Sickle Cell? How does it affect you as a person, and how does it affect your interpersonal relationships?

First, I'll give thanks to God for keeping me till date (and beyond I pray). [Amen!] It's not easily living with sickle cell I must say; the pain, stigma and the resentment we get from people over something we have no control of (even from close relatives too). Sickle cell disease could lead to lots of debilitating complications, hence the reason we're being viewed as not whole and as weaklings. Majorly, people who suffer from the debilitating effects of sickle cell tend to have low self-esteem.

Wow! We've dealt with how society sees you. But how do you see yourself? And how does Sickle Cell affect the way you see the world?

 I see myself as a complete imperfect individual just like anyone else. I am one who achieves anything I put my heart and strength to. Likewise, other sickle cell warriors, you hardly see a not-smart sickle cell warrior... We're just naturally blessed with lots of intelligence!! Sickle cell has nothing to do with the way I view the world. I mean, to any other person the world is filled with ups and downs, good and bad and so on. And that's just the way it is with me.

 Pls permit me to be a bit blunt here. The fact that one lives with Sickle Cell carries a certain weight because of the projected life expectancy for Sickle Cell warriors. How does it feel to have such a cloud hanging over your head? Does it make you want to go out there and live to the fullest? Or does it make you a bit resentful?

To be honest, I think I'm caught up in the middle of these... Whenever I think of these two points, I have a rethink 'is it really worth it?' I mean, why do I have to think about what no one has control over? As a matter of fact our health is affected by our state of nind. So I'll say, live life as it comes, you don't have to over-do, afterall too much of everything is detrimental to the health.

Now, what's your message to the society? What would you have us know?

We can all help in creating awareness for this disease and we should all do our parts in preventing the birth of children with sickle cell disease.

1: Know your genotype (we can't emphasize enough on this!)

2: Laboratories giving out wrong reports should be prosecuted (only qualified labs should run the tests !)

3: Health care professionals should be well educated on how to take good care of people living with the disease.

4: People generally should also be educated about the disease so as to reduce the stigmatization we get.

5: We deserve all the love, care and support we can get (our mental health matters a lot too!)

6: We're not asking for people to sympathize with us (we don't want pity party), EMPATHY is all that matters!

7: Stop telling sickle cell warriors about the people you know with the disease who didn't live long (don't make us feel like we're dying).

                    

                        Quickfire Session

Q1. Where can the government come in?

The government can help provide emergency centers for people living with the disease, where the rates could be subsidized or free 

Q2. Message to lovers carrying the gene. Is love sufficient even after knowing the genotype?

In everything you do please remember to future, you dont want to birth children with the disease, trust me (it is extorting physically, emotionally, financially and mentally), the pain parents of sickle cell warriors feel cannot and should not be compared to the pain we warriors go through! It is only a selfish person that will sacrifice the life of their future children all for love, it's not worth it please 👏👏

Q3. Message to fellow warriors.

Y'all should remain strong, we're gonna scale through the pain, the hardship and difficulties. Believe in yourself and be the best version of you!

Q4. What can change?

The way people view the disease should change as well as the way people view those who live with the disease.

Q5. On bad days, are there triggers?

Yes, as I said earlier our state of mind affects our health status. A sad state of mind could easily trigger a crisis.

Q6. What can be done to help in case of any crisis?

Stay hydrated, stay warm and get help (preferably to a hospital).

                       Do not self medicate!!!

Lastly, do you have any support groups in case of anyone who wants to join or online resource sites where people can find more information about Sickle Cell.

 Yea we've got WhatsApp group and Facebook group. The facebook group can be found with the name: "Sickle Cell Celebs."

Abike is a 300-Level Health Education student of the Lagos State University, currently on a CGPA of 3.96.

MENTAL HEALTH: BREAKING BOUNDARIES WITH FOYIN!

Good day, and welcome once again to Haven Inc. We hope you always find a place to stay. We'll be have a special discussion today with a mental health enthusiast, advocate and survivor, Ms Foyin. Straight-talking and blunt as usual, she brings us experiences from her past and lessons today for a better life and understanding of the much-discussed topic. Her passion for the subject is rare and frankly refreshing. Thanks for staying with us.

Good day Foyin, it's a pleasure to have you here at Haven.Inc to speak on the issue of Mental Health. I must confess I haven't seen a lot of people with your passion for promoting mental wellness and creating awareness for her events. What drives you?

First of all, I appreciate your curiousity towards having a conversation as regarding mental health. To begin with I must say, I’m a survivor of terrible mental illness. With the experiences I had, I understood what it feels like to have mental illness(es), be it slight or intense! The experiences I had took me long to overcome. I spoke to several therapists online and it was a really effective way of overcoming my mental illness. I became confident and believed truly that tough times do not last, and also that life is all about phases. Over time, I encountered people who have similar and complex mental illnesses and do not have an understanding of a way to manage it. Furthermore, from my basic personal practical survey I got to understand that on a scale of 10, just a maximum of 4 really understand what mental health is and their inability to have sound or basic knowledge on what mental health is has been my ultimate reason to strive hard to sensitize people as much as I can on mental health. Thank you. 

Wow! I'm glad to hear you're a survivor, and we can see the evidence of you strong and happy! Honestly, there's no need for thanks. I believe strongly it's a message that needs to get out there. And thank you for sharing your story with us, we honour your candour and openness.

But if you were to distill your experiences in that period, what would you say helped you the most? What did you learn about yourself and the society in that period? What needs to change?

My experiences I must say were terrible because I was practically hiding the way I was feeling from people around me, I struggled with intense sadness and I compulsorily had to appear happy. It was a terrible one. What helped me the most was the fact that I knew there was a solution to it and I made sure suicidal thoughts didn’t cross my mind or in any minute reminisce on taking my life. I learnt that in every hard time always hold on to the tiny positivity in every negativity, it’s a mind game, process it! In every negativity there’s a probability of 2% positivity in 100% negativity. It’s quite slim, but this would sustain an individual for a while!

It would help an individual suffering from mental illness gather him/herself together to an extent and eventually help them get rid of suicidal thoughts that may cross their minds. Life is truly all about phases and tough times do not last! In those periods and during my experiences , I would say I got to understand that many people do not have emotional intelligence neither do majority understand a little about mental health. This alone could worsen the situation of an individual suffering from a mental illness because some of the individuals might not relate it to the people around them due to MENTAL HEALTH STIGMATIZATION done by the society who has no knowledge as regarding mental health. 

I must say the society at large should have a good knowledge on mental health and the illnesses if not much knowledge but a glimpse would change a whole lot and put a stop to mental health stigmatization and encourage victims to seek for help without being scared of stigmatizations! Thank you!

Thank you once again for the fullness of your words. "A little positivity can sustain us through the darkest times.." You once said that all feelings are valid, and I felt that. I think it was a timely reminder for me, so I'll use this opportunity to say my thanks again.

I can say you've already answered most of the questions we prepared without us even having to ask. But I have to ask, what should I do with my feelings? Is it compulsory to open up about one's feelings before there can be improvement? Because there's a particular stigma attached to saying out one's feelings, and a lot of misunderstanding about what therapy is about.

Thank you for asking. Opening up about how you feel could be for different reasons. First, seeking for help.  Also, just venting to someone to ease yourself off the heaviness you have in your chest (bothered mind). This is why it’s advisable to open up to a counselor, a therapist or certified psychologist. They’re trained to be surreptitious about one’s identity and information being shared. Fear of stigmatization from people has led to inability for affected individuals to seek for help , but there are right sources. You can get through to them through all social media platforms! I strongly believe no one would seek help from a right source and regret, but will instead be thankful because there’ll be growth.

                     Quickfire Session

Q1. If I say my mental health is more important than anyone's feelings, what do you think about that?

Yes! Yourself first, it’s best for one to practice adequate self love.

Q2. How do I improve my mental health? Three words. 

Practice enough self-love.

Q3. Role of recreation in mental health.

It sometimes can make you feel relaxed when stressed out e.g. swimming.

Q4. How can the government intervene? Where can they come in?

The government should provide free therapy centres!

Q5. One of the causes of mental health is poor and toxic relationships. How can that be addressed?

People have different emotional strengths, most times it’s hard for them to leave but whoever is finding it difficult to leave should seek an help from a therapist or speak to who can help him/her.

Q6. You found positivity in negativity. Some go the other way round. What's your message to those who find negativity in positivity?

Positivity in negativity is most times slim, but it’s always a mind game. An affected individual should take time to see for himself, but if the vision isn’t clear, they should train their minds to absorb positive words e.g. Life’s all about phases, tough times do not last, this shall be like a story to tell soon, I’ll survive this.. Statements like that travel far, the contents a person absorbs into the mind has a great and positive effect on them! 

Q7. A confidential resource site one can seek help and talk to specialists.

Psychebabble, Mentallyawarenigeria! (on all platforms)

Finally, what's your message to people who are undergoing a lot of things they can't explain or express.

My message to victims of mental health illnesses is they should strongly believe that they’re survivors already and keep on going with the mindset , they definitely will come back strongly on they feet to be a source of inspiration and help to those whom might fall victim of exact same issue. 

What would you say to friends and family of people who've experienced mental health challenges?

I believe they’ve discovered how strong they’re and how that phase was just a phase amongst all good phases of life! Cheers to all survivors 🥂 

Cheers indeed! I must say it's been a pleasure speaking with you on this delicate issue, and I must confess I've learnt a lot from conversing with you. Somehow, I feel reenergized myself! Thanks for having us Foyin, we appreciate your wonderful presence. It was a pleasure having you here.

Note: May is the Month for Mental Health Awareness.

Foyin is a mental health enthusiast, survivor and advocate. A 300-level Health Education student of the Lagos State University, LASU.