By Neo Kolane
Thirty-nine-year old Lekhetho Khama is the founder of Tṧane Foundation, a mental health awareness organisation that provides free counselling to young people.
Khama, who has diagnosed with bipolar disorder after experiencing first-hand the pain of losing a sister who was driven to suicide by depression in 2004, established the foundation in 2021.
So far it has been doing well in the country. It has helped over 37 youth since its founding who had mental health issues – depression and anxiety – and were suicidal.
Khama disclosed that the organisation has eight patients currently on medication and attending therapy sessions at Mohlomi Hospital. It is also providing counselling to 15 people for free.
“We are aware of the current spate of depression that is affecting our youth, which is triggered by a variety of stimuli,” he said.
“We also work with the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association in terms of family planning, as we attempt to discourage the high pregnancy rate and unprotected sex. Basically, the foundation encourages the youth to live positively mentally.”
He explained that in a way, the foundation serves as a link between mental health institutions where the team offers counselling services, and patients. If a patients need to go for psychiatric evaluations, Tṧane Foundation takes them to a mental institution.
The organisation visits high schools and tertiary institutions where its team hosts awareness campaigns. The team is made up of 12 professional counsellors who offer their services on a voluntary basis.
Khama told theReporter this week that he would like to see the foundation spread throughout the country.
He, however, indicated that it experiences financial constraints since it is self-funded and depends heavily on the generosity of donors and people of goodwill.
“Sometimes we find ourselves without fuel when we have to travel to campaigns. Another challenge that we have to contend with is that of power relations within families. Some of our patients blame their stress on their parents. More often than not, it is hard to get through to the parents because they believe they are right and tell us we cannot dictate to them how to raise their children.
“Some people still do not have an understanding of what we do and, worse, there are those who still do not understand what mental health is,” he noted.
To address this problem, there was need to hold more campaigns to inform people what mental health is.
“So as we mark mental health awareness month, our message is: people with mental health disorders should not self-diagnose and they should stay away from drugs,” Khama said.
Lekhetho Khama can be contacted on +266 63421722, on Facebook – Tṧane Foundation – and TṧaneFoundation@gmail.com
