Youths rise against suicide

When a 10-year-old boy hang himself to a kitchen roof in Karonga District last year, dumbstruck villagers asked: What drove a boy so full of life into suicide?

For two days, his father asked elders to delay burial so he could consult witchdoctors “to understand what befell him”.

The witch-hunt, declined by seniors, mirrors the shock and furry triggered by young people who cut their lives short in bizarre circumstances.

Before you make sense of one suicide, another life may be lost in your home, community, school, faith group, extended family or beyond your circle.

Sadly, many take their lives before they get a listening ear to help them release their innermost fears.

Youth counsellor Towera Kabaghe narrates:  “We tell young people they have their whole lives ahead of them, but many have decided not to believe that promise.

“We want to make mental wellbeing part of everyday life rather than something people only think about when things go wrong.”

She leads Mthunzi Minds, which uses interactive sessions to confront mental health burdens among young people.

Clinical psychologist Chiwoza Bandawe, from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, says disorders commonly affect ages 12-24, because they are moving from adolescent to young adulthood.

“They are going there with a sense of despair, especially those who are unemployed or are not doing well in school. That can lead to addiction to alcohol and taking drugs,” he says.

Over 70 percent of patients at Zomba Mental Central Hospital are aged 18 to 39, mostly students from secondary schools and universities.

“We are seeing more and more young people consuming dangerous drugs and the consequences are devastating,” says hospital director Dr Raphael Piringu.

About 1 800 clients—76 percent of 2 344 patients St John of God Community Services engages—are 18 to 40 years old.

This means at least three in every four experience a mental breakdown in their prime years, according to the facility’s in-charge Charles Masulani.

But the finality of suicide masks a heartrending truth: The distressed young people do not actually want to die, but they cry for help that often eludes them.

“If you meet that pain with presence, help and real conversations instead of silence, scorn and tired expressions that arrive before the breaking point, we give hope the one thing it needs to endure: time!” says a survivor, who completed rehabilitation sessions at St John of God.

Increasingly, the youth are rising to give one other a shoulder to lean on when it matters.

The likes of Timange in Mzuzu, Youth for Change and Development in Rumphi, Mzuni Hope Initiative at Mzuzu University and Sorry, We are Not Sorry in Blantyre and Zomba promote mental health awareness, youth empowerment and peer support in schools and surrounding communities.

“The most important thing is to make the youth speak out,” says  St John’s institute for Health head of department MacLove Kamba. “Within those voices, they find help as they struggle with drug and substance abuse, relationship problems and inferiority complex that fuel mental problems for the youth.”

However, it takes the entire community—parents, teachers, community influencers and faith leaders—to create supportive environments where young people can thrive.

“Young people need spaces where they can belong, connect and find purpose,” says Kabaghe.

Her organisation combines physical activity, nature engagement, social connections and mental wellbeing.

For them, mental health is health like treating diseases, wounds and broken bones, he says.

Giving mental issues the deserved urgency and visibility—just as authorities treat physical illnesses and fractures—could save young people in distress from battles they should never fight alone.

In 2024, Sparkle Foundation rolled out mental health training sessions to raise awareness, reduce stigma and encourage everyone to seek help before it is too late.

The interaction helps participants identify signs of mental distress and offer meaningful support.

However, funding woes frustrate the youth-led grassroots movement.

“Funding is mostly restricted to tertiary mental health institutions, but we need policies and financing that actively integrate mental health into primary and secondary school curricula, universities, national youth programmes and primary healthcare services,” Kabaghe says.

Last year, Parliament enacted Mental Health Act to enhance treatment, care and support nationwide.

In an interview, Secretary for Health Dan Namarika called for collective solutions “the deepening problem” among the youth.

“As the Ministry of Health, we provide services and we want to decentralise the supply of essential medicines,” he said.

Police have recorded about 2 100 suicides since 2022.

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