On Saturday 22nd November team Umoza’s community liaisons organised a football tournament between secondary schools. I took this opportunity to raise awareness about the effects of cannabis and alcohol usage at a young age on young people’s mental wellbeing. This was personal to me because I have had friends who developed mental health issues because of misinformed choices they made about taking drugs as young teenagers.
To prepare for my campaign I spoke to youths. I found out mostly boys smoke cannabis and drink alcohol at a young age. Boys and girls thought that smoking cannabis made you intelligent, a deep critical thinker and gave you energy to work and study harder. Additionally, the cheapest and most accessible form of alcohol is sold in sachets. A Malawi youth movement is petitioning the government to ban sachets, due to the number of young fatalities it has caused. Also, farming cannabis has increased because it is easy and cheap to grow and farmers can make a good profit. Consequently, it is plentiful, easily accessible and not policed.
I wanted firstly to dispel the misconceptions the youth have about cannabis, secondly the link between mental health issues and using cannabis and alcohol at a young age and thirdly who they can talk to in Mzuzu about drugs and alcohol. My aim was to share these three ideas in an interactive, memorable and well informed manner.
I invited the nurses from St John of God; a local mental health clinic, to carry out a workshop, and to tell the youth about the services they provide. St John of God provides free counselling services, drug rehabilitation programmes and they run mental health clubs in local schools, such as Moyale Secondary School. The nurses provided an interactive and engaging workshop then stayed to speak to the youth in an informal manner around the stall. Musta Chirambo a community nurse said “you have done a recommendable job inviting us we really appreciate it”. Armus Sara another community nurse and Dora Chari a registered mental health nurse praised the organisation and facilitating methods of the campaign.
I also invited Moyale Secondary School’s mental health club to perform their inventive and celebrated play and song based on the effects of cannabis. Daniel Jerwa a member of the club said “the song is about discouraging smoking chamba (cannabis)”. Koreen Banda another member said that “the ‘Short Man’ play is engaging because it portrays the message using drama.”
Another important component of my campaign was the friendship bracelets. I wanted the youth to learn how to make friendship bracelets so that they could remember attending the community event and my campaign. Yvonne a spectator said that she “learnt how to make two types of bracelets, and taught four other people”. Paron Gojera said “I came to play football but learnt a lot by coming.” Paron went on to say: “I learnt how to make bracelets then taught my friends. The information was a good lesson for me; I have never heard that cannabis might cause mental health issues.”
I also made and distributed a leaflet so that the youth can have the information in writing. Umpaso Ilongweo was surprised to read in my leaflet that “sachets are made cheap because they are not good or safe alcohol.” He also “learnt how to make three friendship bracelets.”
The event was a great success. By combining fun, social activity with an opportunity for learning we were able to raise awareness of an important issue.
