A frontal view of Ferdie's House boasting delicate fretwork detail and pleasant window box gardens.
Eulalee Thompson, Staff Reporter
INSIDE Ferdie's House, shielded from John Public's critical eye, a small group of mentally ill people are quietly and diligently picking up the pieces of their lives. In one room, off a narrow passageway, some of them have their eyes fixed to computer screens as they hang on to the instructor's every word. They are learning basic computer studies, Microsoft Word and for the more advanced, Microsoft Excel. In another room, towards the back of the house, others are seated at sewing machines, cutting and sewing khaki uniforms for school children oblivious to the to constant noise of speeding motor vehicles and tooting horns along St. Andrew's busy Old Hope Road.
Ferdie's House with its delicate fretwork detail and small, colourful box gardens was funded by the non-profit organisation Food for the Poor and named after its founder and president, Ferdinand Mahfood. However, the concept of the House is the brainchild of well-known psychiatrist Dr. Wendel Abel and it takes the care of mentally-ill people out of large mental institutions and into the community where they can better readjust to life after their illness.
Dr. Abel, who is also Food for the Poor's Medical Director, said that Ferdie's House offers non-residential support to patients whose mental illnesses are under control either through medication or psychotherapy. The centre will also treat patients who are treat drug abusers completing their rehabilitation, walk-ins and any stabilised mentally ill individual who is unemployed and sitting at home.
"Our focus is work therapy, Jamaica is going heavily into information technology and we are also preparing them to function in the IT sector. But we also provide them with the atmosphere for group activities, trips and opportunities for social interaction. We find that since they have been coming here their self esteem is much better and that they are happier and more stable," he said.
Sam (not his real name), who is learning one of the Microsoft computer programmes agrees that he has achieved a higher level of self-confidence since he acquired these marketable computer skills. "This is one of the greatest medicines to communicate with people who have an understanding of mental illness. There is fear, we express ourselves openly, it is amazing how I feel," said 44 year-old Sam as he proudly displayed his computer literacy.
Since Ferdie House opened in June Sam's routine is to come for his lessons every morning and then to return to home in the evenings. Now he looks quite "normal", his speech is coherent, he has a realistic connection to his environment and his art work speaks of a deep spiritual understanding. But Sam painfully remembers the time before his illness, when as a bright and ambitious teenager, living on the borderline of two violent inner-city communities he was pushed over the edge into mental illness after two separate traumatic incidents saw him looking down the barrel of a gun. He dropped out of a three-year building engineering course at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now the University of Technology), felt trapped between his ambition and poverty, joined the Rastafarian religion, started to use "the weed" then graduated to burning the chalice.
He said that one day after burning the chalice, it was just not the same. There was an almost indescribable feeling. It was as if his head was swelling and there was a more intense feeling than usual of his spirit moving away from his body. After a few of these intense episodes, he found himself recovering in Ward 21 of the University Hospital of the West Indies.
Eric (not his real name) is only 26 years old, but has already had more than one mental breakdown, the first while a teenager living in America's "deep south". He was bright enough to matriculate for college at age 16, but he felt that the deep racial issues triggered his illness. When he was in his early 20's he returned to Jamaica, had another breakdown and was wandering along Victoria Pier. He said that he was beaten with belts and sticks by passers-by and even stoned just because he was mentally ill. Now he is stable and is assisting others to learn computer skills.
Looking at Sam and Eric, in the final stages of the rehabilitation process, Susan Mansfield, Ferdie's House's administrative manager, said that they and others now in work therapy, are an indication what is possible with proper medication and loving attention. "They are now at the point where they can make logical decisions about their lives and their future," she said.
