In a country that lacks so much in terms of healthcare, you can imagine how little help there is for the mentally ill. People here refer to these men and women as “madmen” and you often see them wandering the streets in cities and by themselves along the side of the highway. They are usually wearing very ripped, tattered and dirty clothes or (more often than not) very little clothing at all. Their behaviour isolates them from the rest of society and, sadly, they are a very marginalized group within this society with few available resources.
Here in Masaka there are a few men like this that we see regularly around town. One of them occasionally comes to visit Megan and me when we are working in the Christian Schools Association office in town. He walks right in, sits himself down in one of the chairs and starts talking to us. He has obviously been educated, as he speaks very fluent English, and he loves to expound on one or two of his favourite conspiracy theories. The topics seem to revolve around Catholicism, racism, Judaism, the War in Iraq and any combination of these and other hot topics. The other day he started the conversation (actually, it was more of a monologue, truth be told!) by asking “Where is Osama Bin Laden?” and so it went from there. Neither of us is required to say much in response to his thoughts, and he usually ends up saying something that cracks him up and then he gets up and leaves abruptly at that point.
We were in the office this morning and he hadn’t showed up during our time there. We weren’t too disappointed, as it’s a bit difficult to get any work done when someone is sitting in front of you discussing world politics. However, on the way home we stopped to pick up a few things and noticed him amongst the crowd at the weekly Friday market. As we drove by, he recognized us and we waved at him as we drove by.
I feel like I’ve passed some sort of milestone in terms of cultural adjustment...the local “madman” knows me and greets me in passing.
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