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EQUATORIAL GUINEA: A Classroom for the Mentally Disabled

Tito Drago

MADRID, Dec 3 2004 (IPS) - The only classroom for the mentally disabled in the tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea is run by two non-governmental organisations, because for the government, the mentally handicapped do not exist, an activist told IPS in Spain.

InteRed and the Teresian Institute created the only special education service for the mentally disabled in that country, Margarita Roka, an Equatoguinean nurse with Spain’s University of Granada and a member of the Catholic Association of the Faithful in Equatorial Guinea, told IPS.

The classroom, where 40 students are taught, forms part of the Virgen Mary of Africa Educational Centre, which has been providing basic education, adult literacy classes and vocational training since 1983, with support from Spain’s Agency for International Cooperation (AECI).

There are no public institutions that provide specialised health care and education to the mentally disabled in Equatorial Guinea, because the mentally handicapped "are invisible outside of their homes, especially girls and women," said Roka.

"The parents hide them away, they don’t register them in school or take them out in public," said the nurse. "You could say they are ashamed of them, of having a mentally disabled person in their family. Moreover, the government does not take this sector of society into account – it does not see addressing their needs as a priority."

In the classroom in the Virgen Mary of Africa Educational Centre, "in first place they are taught how to read and write, because no matter how old they are, we have not yet found virtually any who were literate before coming to our centre," Roka added.

"One of our concerns is that these people should be able to make a living by working. That is why we give priority to vocational training, especially workshops for learning how to make crafts. There is no social awareness in our country that the mentally handicapped can or should work.

"Now we are pressing the state to officially recognise the training certificates issued by the Centre, in order to help the graduates of our programmes enter the job market," she said.

The disabled are taught to read and write and receive vocational training in their own special classroom. But they also share cultural activities and play and interact with the rest of the Centre’s students, she pointed out.

Roka was in Spain Friday on the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons, "to seek support for the Centre from Spanish authorities and non-governmental organisations" – like the backing that already comes from InteRed, a Spanish NGO affiliated with the Catholic Church.

The Centre is in the process of being refurbished, and is to be expanded with a new wing that will hold three classrooms, a multi-purpose room, bathrooms and a storeroom. In addition, there are plans to purchase computers, a generator and furniture.

AECI has committed funds to help complete what Roka described as "an important improvement of the school."

The Centre is located in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, in the neighbourhood of Campo Yaundé, where the narrow streets are not paved, "and the frequent rains aggravate the already serious hygiene and sanitary problems," she said.

The crowded shantytown is home to 15,000 people who live eight or 10 to a shack, without electricity or piped water. "As it is easy to deduce, these difficult living conditions affect mentally or physically disabled children even more, if that is possible," said Roka.

Enormous oil and natural gas reserves have been found in Equatorial Guinea in the last 15 years, making it the third-largest oil producer in Africa after Nigeria and Angola. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the population of half a million lives in the most dire poverty.

According to United Nations figures, 80 percent of the country’s wealth is in the hands of just five percent of the population.

That situation is compounded by the absence of democracy and civil liberties, because the country has been ruled by authoritarian regimes since it became independent from Spain in 1968.

In its own modest contribution to the development of the shantytown, the Virgen Mary of Africa Educational Centre provides preschool and primary education, adult literacy classes (mainly attended by women), and vocational training in areas like dressmaking, secretarial studies, and running a microenterprise.

Of the 600 students who attend the Centre, 40 are mentally disabled.

The Centre also has a library and a game room, which are used by local youngsters and adults alike.