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It's no surprise that nearly all cross-border migrants struggle with trauma and stress as a result of having endured massive human rights violations.
The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 50% of refugees suffer from mental health problems.
Upon arrival in South Africa, most asylum seekers face overwhelming obstacles and an unwelcoming environment which exacerbates mental distress and can lead to a state of immobilisation.
Who was Adonis Musati?
One of the saddest stories to hit the press in the past few years was that of 23-year-old Adonis Musati, a young Zimbabwean policeman who in 2007, starved to death on the streets of Cape Town, waiting in a queue to get his immigration papers from Home Affairs.
Musati was just an ordinary man trying not to lose his place in a line that was his only hope for a decent life.
"It was like a knife in my heart," says Gahlia Brogneri, a former high school teacher and counsellor who had just returned from doing volunteer work with street children in Peru, when she heard about Musati's death. Brogneri, and a few other like-minded people took action, forming a soup kitchen, which eventually grew into the Adonis Musati Project (AMP) in 2007.
The organisation's aim: to offer psychological support and practical resources to disenfranchised refugees and asylum seekers in Cape Town and build sustainable support systems within the community.
More than 300 000 asylum seekers and refugees are formally registered within South Africa, and while statistics on undocumented migrants are difficult to confirm, it's estimated that roughly one million undocumented migrants reside within South Africa, partially due to inefficiencies within the Department of Home Affairs.
The majority of these individuals originate from DRC, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia.
Peer Support
When AMP began in 2007, its main objective was to provide humanitarian and welfare assistance to refugees in Cape Town.
However, after years of serving this community by providing very basic emergency support, the organisation felt it was time to design a more strategic, high-impact programme which would bring about catalytic change by both addressing the pervasiveness of the mental health need of refugees and empowering them to help themselves.
How AMP'S Peer Support Programme Works
It took over a year of extensive research and six months of planning to launch AMP's Support Programme.
For its development, AMP partnered with Judy Strickland, Director of Hope House Counselling Centres, who Brogneri calls "one of South Africa's most credible trainers."
The extensive interviews yielded eight counsellors who would each lead their own Support Group.
The eight counsellors were given a stipend and extensive training. Each was required to be in a support group, and begin going into communities where refugees lived, to lay the groundwork for putting together their own groups.
Their training was ongoing, even once the groups were launched, further developing their skills and giving them the forum to feed back information to AMP on how the Programme was working in the field.
In April 2013, the first Peer Support Programme groups were officially launched, each with 10-12 participants. Groups meet in a variety of locations, from paid-for venues to churches, all chosen with sensitivity to avoid creating xenophobic reactions within communities.
Groups have thus far been based in Capricorn Park (Vrygrond), Maitland (Joe Slovo and Brooklyn), Retreat, Salt River and Observatory.
Group sessions are held once a week for three hours, and end with a meal. Babysitters are provided, so that participants, particularly women, can feel relaxed.
The sessions focus on developing skills that are essential for transitioning to self-reliance, and building a support network amongst group members that can continue to assist them and strengthen their community.
Peer facilitators incorporate practical information such as education on basic legal rights of refugees, gender equality legislation and profiles of organisations in the area where specific services can be accessed.
All sessions are conducted in English, which helps participants to learn and practise the language in a safe environment. The home languages represented in each group are there for back-up support, on occasions when English fails to communicate emotions or ideas adequately.
The Programme is goal-oriented, and guides participants in developing their own life goals. Many of the participants, particularly the women, have never been listened to, and have had no previous outlet.
The need to increase self-esteem is great, particularly with the preponderance of gender-based violence in the community. To illustrate this point, Peer Counsellor Caroline Mutimbanyoka states that the majority of the women in her groups have been sexually abused. "Often, we are laying the groundwork for the most basic self-esteem," says Wylie.
The Results
Since its inception, 26 Peer Support Groups have 'graduated' from the Programme. Participants are led by eight peer counsellors representing the DRC, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and South Africa.
"The Programme has a ripple effect, creating some measurable changes, and many others that are equally important but less easy to measure, like husbands who come away from the programme communicating better with their wives, thereby improving their family relationships," said Wylie.
"It is inspiring to see how the participants deal with the challenges they face. If I had to sum up all the benefits in one statement, I'd say the Peer Support Programme creates hope, which is imperative for healthy contributors to society," says Wylie.
Wylie says it has also been very rewarding to watch the counsellors in action.
The idea is that some of the graduates of the Programme will themselves go through the training, and eventually lead their own groups, spreading their support to others in need.
Funding the Peer Support Programme
The success of the programme has garnered the attention of Professor Sally Guttmacher, the Director of Public Health at New York University (NYU), who is a frequent lecturer at UCT and UWC.
Guttmacher was so impressed that she is putting together a proposal to do a longitudinal study of the Peer Support Programme model, to see if it would be viable outside of Cape Town.
"There is a massive mental health and empowerment need for refugees, who having faced rape, xenophobia and other abuse, are our most vulnerable group," Wylie adds.
No matter how we came to be in South Africa, we must never forget the struggles of these refugees and migrants, who bravely seek to create a life for their families, and become fully-fledged and contributing South African citizens."
Follow Women24 on Twitter or like us on Facebook.
The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 50% of refugees suffer from mental health problems.
Upon arrival in South Africa, most asylum seekers face overwhelming obstacles and an unwelcoming environment which exacerbates mental distress and can lead to a state of immobilisation.
Who was Adonis Musati?
One of the saddest stories to hit the press in the past few years was that of 23-year-old Adonis Musati, a young Zimbabwean policeman who in 2007, starved to death on the streets of Cape Town, waiting in a queue to get his immigration papers from Home Affairs.
Musati was just an ordinary man trying not to lose his place in a line that was his only hope for a decent life.
"It was like a knife in my heart," says Gahlia Brogneri, a former high school teacher and counsellor who had just returned from doing volunteer work with street children in Peru, when she heard about Musati's death. Brogneri, and a few other like-minded people took action, forming a soup kitchen, which eventually grew into the Adonis Musati Project (AMP) in 2007.
The organisation's aim: to offer psychological support and practical resources to disenfranchised refugees and asylum seekers in Cape Town and build sustainable support systems within the community.
More than 300 000 asylum seekers and refugees are formally registered within South Africa, and while statistics on undocumented migrants are difficult to confirm, it's estimated that roughly one million undocumented migrants reside within South Africa, partially due to inefficiencies within the Department of Home Affairs.
The majority of these individuals originate from DRC, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia.
Peer Support
When AMP began in 2007, its main objective was to provide humanitarian and welfare assistance to refugees in Cape Town.
However, after years of serving this community by providing very basic emergency support, the organisation felt it was time to design a more strategic, high-impact programme which would bring about catalytic change by both addressing the pervasiveness of the mental health need of refugees and empowering them to help themselves.
How AMP'S Peer Support Programme Works
It took over a year of extensive research and six months of planning to launch AMP's Support Programme.
For its development, AMP partnered with Judy Strickland, Director of Hope House Counselling Centres, who Brogneri calls "one of South Africa's most credible trainers."
The extensive interviews yielded eight counsellors who would each lead their own Support Group.
The eight counsellors were given a stipend and extensive training. Each was required to be in a support group, and begin going into communities where refugees lived, to lay the groundwork for putting together their own groups.
Their training was ongoing, even once the groups were launched, further developing their skills and giving them the forum to feed back information to AMP on how the Programme was working in the field.
In April 2013, the first Peer Support Programme groups were officially launched, each with 10-12 participants. Groups meet in a variety of locations, from paid-for venues to churches, all chosen with sensitivity to avoid creating xenophobic reactions within communities.
Groups have thus far been based in Capricorn Park (Vrygrond), Maitland (Joe Slovo and Brooklyn), Retreat, Salt River and Observatory.
Group sessions are held once a week for three hours, and end with a meal. Babysitters are provided, so that participants, particularly women, can feel relaxed.
The sessions focus on developing skills that are essential for transitioning to self-reliance, and building a support network amongst group members that can continue to assist them and strengthen their community.
Peer facilitators incorporate practical information such as education on basic legal rights of refugees, gender equality legislation and profiles of organisations in the area where specific services can be accessed.
All sessions are conducted in English, which helps participants to learn and practise the language in a safe environment. The home languages represented in each group are there for back-up support, on occasions when English fails to communicate emotions or ideas adequately.
The Programme is goal-oriented, and guides participants in developing their own life goals. Many of the participants, particularly the women, have never been listened to, and have had no previous outlet.
The need to increase self-esteem is great, particularly with the preponderance of gender-based violence in the community. To illustrate this point, Peer Counsellor Caroline Mutimbanyoka states that the majority of the women in her groups have been sexually abused. "Often, we are laying the groundwork for the most basic self-esteem," says Wylie.
The Results
Since its inception, 26 Peer Support Groups have 'graduated' from the Programme. Participants are led by eight peer counsellors representing the DRC, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and South Africa.
"The Programme has a ripple effect, creating some measurable changes, and many others that are equally important but less easy to measure, like husbands who come away from the programme communicating better with their wives, thereby improving their family relationships," said Wylie.
"It is inspiring to see how the participants deal with the challenges they face. If I had to sum up all the benefits in one statement, I'd say the Peer Support Programme creates hope, which is imperative for healthy contributors to society," says Wylie.
Wylie says it has also been very rewarding to watch the counsellors in action.
The idea is that some of the graduates of the Programme will themselves go through the training, and eventually lead their own groups, spreading their support to others in need.
Funding the Peer Support Programme
The success of the programme has garnered the attention of Professor Sally Guttmacher, the Director of Public Health at New York University (NYU), who is a frequent lecturer at UCT and UWC.
Guttmacher was so impressed that she is putting together a proposal to do a longitudinal study of the Peer Support Programme model, to see if it would be viable outside of Cape Town.
"There is a massive mental health and empowerment need for refugees, who having faced rape, xenophobia and other abuse, are our most vulnerable group," Wylie adds.
No matter how we came to be in South Africa, we must never forget the struggles of these refugees and migrants, who bravely seek to create a life for their families, and become fully-fledged and contributing South African citizens."
Follow Women24 on Twitter or like us on Facebook.
