🌐 WOMEN’S STORIES _ Dorcas Gwata
By Kate
Kerrow, The Heroine Collective
Humanitarian
As a
Public Health Specialist, Dorcas Gwata’s work is wide-reaching. Recently
awarded the Zimbabwe International Women Humanitarian Award, Dorcas is
connected to a large range of mental health projects across the UK, Zimbabwe
and Tanzania; she works to safeguard and raise awareness on issues like FGM,
HIV and AIDS, as well as the health impacts of gang culture.
“I come
from a family of grassroots civil-servants,” she says when I ask her about her
early influences. “My mother had great compassion for helping vulnerable groups
– particularly women and children. These humanist seeds were planted in me long
ago.” From her studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
to working as a cleaner in an Edinburgh hospital – where she got first-hand
experience of the issues faced by low-income groups – she is passionate about
equality. “I advocate tirelessly for these groups because I understand the
issues,” she says.
After her
studies, Dorcas worked as a Mental Health Adviser for AFRUCA (Africans Unite Against Child
Abuse), a charity which was formed as a response to the Victoria Climbié case
in 2000. Victoria, an 8 year old Ivorian girl, who’d been suffering severe
abuse without appropriate social-care intervention, was eventually murdered by
her guardians in 2000. The case was widely reported by the media. Dorcas says
it “struck a code”, resulting in much-needed change across care systems, and
raising questions on the role that religion and culture plays in shaping
cultural practises. At AFRUCA, Dorcas explored African cultural practises such
as FGM, Human Trafficking, Witchcraft Branding and child chastisement. “Working
here shaped my understanding of advocacy in terms of looking at what makes
policies successful at grassroots levels.”
Despite
the notable health improvements in the African population in the last decade,
the continent still faces enormous healthcare challenges. “There is no health
without mental health,” Dorcas explains. “Physical health is intrinsically tied
to mental health and in low-income countries these challenges are compounded by
poverty, poor access to healthcare, and poor healthcare systems. Mental health
across the globe receives very little recognition and funding – and this is
even more the case in low-income countries.”
But
Dorcas says she is always moved by the resilience of people who are so
disproportionately burdened with such challenges. “I think communities in
high-income countries could learn so much from those who have so little –
they’d do well to adopt their models of social and cultural cohesion.”
Dorcas
was tasked with evaluating the African Ebola crisis of 2013-16; she describes
it as one of the most striking epidemics of our time. “Viruses don’t respect
borders,” she says, acknowledging the speed that the disease travelled
across countries. “I learned – more than ever – that the best of our scientific
knowledge is not complete without a robust understanding of local cultural
practices. I also learned that communities have capacity to mobilise themselves,
even when governments fail to do so. And it’s important that Africans take
ownership of our own challenges, and provide better healthcare for the African
population. Equally, we need to credit the African response to the Ebola crisis
– Nigeria was Ebola-free before the U.S.A. was.”
Dorcas is
currently working on mental health interventions in London for young people and
families involved in gangs, and also young girls affected by sexual
exploitation through gang culture. Her current research supports adolescents
who often have high exposure to trauma, and are often stigmatised and/or
isolated from their wider society. “My work takes a broader approach to
understanding the push-and-pull factors that drive young people in and out of
gangs,” she says and notes that a significant proportion of young people
involved in gangs come from minority backgrounds and suffer high levels of
poverty. “My role challenges the notion of ‘Hard to Reach’ groups. It adapts
culturally-adjusted methods of outreach engagement – we’ve taken the clinic to
the streets, for example. It’s our priority to keep young people safe from
knife-crime and to keep young girls safe from sexual exploitation.”
I wish my mother were alive to see the seeds she planted. I miss her dearly. I blame her entirely for my restlessness in seeking a better tomorrow.
Winning
the Zimbabwean International Women Humanitarian Award in 2016 was one of
Dorcas’ career highlights, and she notes the responsibility that comes with it
to mentor others. She was also named Nursing Standard Nurse of the Year 2015
for her work with young people involved in gangs. “The real heroes of that
award are the young vulnerable people I look after – people who are striving
for a better and safer life, often with little acknowledgement,” she says.
But it
isn’t just the awards that inspire her; she loves the arts. “I believe the arts
have an important place in people’s recovery and well being,” she says. “What
would it mean for patients in a mental health hospital to hear a few lines of
poetry or the thump piano?” She feels the arts ground her, and often looks to
women in this field for inspiration. “I love Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie’s
writing,” she says. “I remember meeting her briefly once, and she said to me:
‘We need to hear about Zimbabwe. Keep writing about Zimbabwe’. And Arundhati
Roy – her pen knows no boundaries. She’s unapologetic about advocating for the
voiceless, for the forgotten groups in her society. I take a leaf out of her
book.”
