Coming at MSP during the day is like going to the moon. Probably you would say that you want to have the first ticket. “Going to the moon?” I would be the first too. Perhaps, it is not as really exciting as you would imagine. MSP is located outside of the city, a place where public transport is not accustomed to go, like to the moon…It makes sense. But this is not the moving part of the story. The first time I was taking the taxi from the city I asked the taxi-man to take me to MSP which is on the way to Oumé. The taxi-man seemed not to understand what I was saying. I thought that it was my “French” which was not understandable. So, I repeated the same thing, “I want to go to MSP, how much?” The guy looked at me and told me, “is it that place where they treat crazy people?” Grudgingly, I said, “yes”. From there I was able to discuss the price with the taxi-man without any problem. Since then I came to understand that MSP was publicly known as the “city of crazy people” or “where crazy people are being treated” (là où on soigne les fous). Hopefully, the taxi-man did not think that I was also a crazy man who wanted to go there for treatment; otherwise he would not have taken me.
In reality, when you leave the city during the night taking the road toward MSP, some miles before the hospital, what you see is an isolated type of city, surrounded by bright lights, in the center of a forest. As you drive along the road, no other light you see other than the ones at MSP. As you approach the city, you start seeing everything clearly: beautiful buildings surrounded by large gardens with lights everywhere. Only those who have been inside these buildings know what city it is all about.
Me, I call it the “city of hope”. This is the place where everyone who comes in goes out transformed. They call them crazy people when they come in, but you have to wait till they go out to see how joyful they are. This is a place where these individuals are given “back” what they have lost out there: dignity, ability, love, but mostly, hope. One resident who was admitted with suicidal ideation shared with us a week later that he was no more thinking about killing himself, because he was “loved more than he has been even at his own home”. He loved the care, the ambiance, the atmosphere, and the place. Being here, he realized the really joy of living. When his parents came to visit him later, they jumped with joy.
Yet, our “city of insane” as the public calls it, still has a long journey to go and challenges to surmount. The foremost is community sensitization. We want to spread the city of hope out of the walls of MSP. This hope that those who come at MSP go out with should be kept even when in the community. It is always devastating when we receive former residents who come back due to failure to carry on their hope. The most reason that is given is that the community was not compliant and supportive to their recovery. It is only when the community understand what its members are living that the stability of health can be achieved.
Jean-Clement Ishimwe, fc
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