War vets battling mental illness

MANY veterans of the liberation struggle are still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of many years of witnessing the horrors of war.

Consequently, many ex-Plan battlefield veterans have been struggling to cope with life in peace time.

Many have turned to alcohol and excessive smoking as a coping mechanism while others have also become addicted to gambling.

One such veteran is Jarino Andreas, from Onamulunga village near Ondangwa. The Namibian met up with Andreas (54), a former Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan) combatant and a former soldier in the Namibian Defence Force (NDF), last weekend.

Andreas lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, which has significantly and negatively affected his life.

He now lives in a world of hallucinations and nightmares with his mother and siblings. Although his mental illness is severe, Andreas still vividly recalls his journey from Namibia into exile.

According to his telling, he went in exile in 1977 at the age of 21 and received military training at camps in Angola and Zambia and spent many years at Lubango, where he was stationed.

“I was a gunner, firing heavy weapons,” he said.

“My ears are damaged because of the heavy guns that I was firing,” he said, adding that they were not issued with ear protectors, and he tells how blood would come out of the ears of soldiers who were exposed to the ear-shattering noise of heavy weapons for a long time.

When he returned to Namibia from exile in 1989, Andreas was immediately conscripted into the NDF.

In 1998 he was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of the Namibian forces sent to prop up the forces of then president Laurent Kabila against rebels who wanted to overthrow his government.

Upon his return, he was first stationed at Walvis Bay and later Gobabis before being discharged on medical grounds – his mental health had been steadily deteriorating – three years later.

Although he now receives a state grant for mentally ill persons along with his pension, Andreas’ life is one of impoverishment.

His clothes are tattered and dirty while he has become a heavy drinker and snuff user. Speaking to him makes one realise just how damaged he is.

The war has never ended for Jarino Andreas.

During the interview Andreas kept saluting and drawing weapons, including mortars and hand grenades.

“Like you, I can finish you off with this. With this, I have finished off a lot of people like you,” he said pointing to a drawing of a hand grenade on the ground.

Andreas’s neighbour and long– time friend, Aron Mushoko, told The Namibian that people like Andreas need assistance in the form of counselling.

“Veterans need to be assisted throughout their lives. Government through their ministry needs to give them counselling. They need to be visited occasionally at their houses, and not only for government to wait for them to go seek counselling,” he said, adding that many veterans probably would not seek counselling on their own.

Mushoko believes that should veterans receive regular visits, many of their lives might be changed for the better.

A religious leader, who chose to remain anonymous, told The Namibian that it was not only PTSD that ravaged the minds of the veterans, but their precarious financial conditions increased their stress levels.

The clergyman said that many veterans were also frustrated by the fact that their projects are being dealt with at a snail’s pace while they are getting old fast.

“Most have also told me that they did not accumulate enough as some only worked for 10 years in government after exile,” he stated.

Last year, the veterans affairs ministry introduced counselling services for veterans of the liberation struggle and their families.

The programme, headed by Shapaka Kapolo, a consultant at the ministry, sees religious leaders counselling veterans.

Veterans affairs spokesperson Edson Haufiku could not be reached yesterday to shed light on the number of veterans who have so far received counselling since the launch of the programme across the northern regions of Namibia or the number of projects applied for and funded so far.